Rillie: 'Kings deserve to be title favourites'

Perth coach John Rillie says the Sydney Kings are the “title favourites right now”, providing the perfect early season test for his team on Friday night.

The Wildcats started their season strongly with an eight-point win over the South East Melbourne Phoenix in Round 1, but now come up against a Kings’ unit brimming with talent – the likes of Jaylen Adams, Xavier Cooks and Cam Oliver leading the way, under one of the greatest coaches of all time, Brian Goorjian.

“Their team, rightly so, title favourites right now,” Rillie told the media.

“So for us to get tested this early on in the season is just a good litmus test for us.”

Perth will be sweating on the fitness of young gun Ben Henshall, who missed practice on Thursday through illness.

The Kings have a clean bill of health, outside of Kouat Noi, who is also battling illness and will be a game-day decision. 

“Talent all over the floor — one through five — the pace that they (Sydney) want to play the game at, that’s going to be the battle for us,” Rillie continued. 

“Can we consistently slow them down so they can’t play at that relentless pace that they want to manufacture?”
 
Rillie piled praise on import Kristian Doolittle, who pulled in 13 rebounds to go with 9 points in the Wildcats’ season-opener.

“Kristian, I think people are finally realising how important he is to our team, particularly at the defensive end with his versatility,” he added. 

“You saw the benefits of (Dylan) Windler and Doolittle when they pursue it with the aggression they did.”

Perth hosts Sydney on Friday night at RAC Arena, with tip-off from 9.30pm AEST (7.30pm AWST). The game will be live on ESPN via Kayo.