Rally with Delly? Why Kings are missing veteran presence

Brian Goorjian admits the Sydney Kings are missing the calm presence of Matthew Dellavedova in their rotation, with too much responsibility left on the shoulders of Kendric Davis and an inexperienced backup guard rotation.

Davis has had an impressive start to the season and is well and truly in the mix for MVP honours, but the Sydney coach says he simply cannot do it alone, sweating on the Boomers champion’s return from illness.

Goorjian is hoping Dellavedova will be back in the next couple of weeks.

“I think one of the things in this league is if you sit here and complain about injuries you can get laughed at, because everyone is dealing with it in a big way, but he is a really important piece for us and we are excited to get him back,” the six-time NBL championship coach said after the Kings’ loss to Tasmania.

“Man, there was a lot of pressure on Kendric tonight. Could not take him off the floor really. He carried a very heavy load.

“The Delly factor … tonight we just had to play Kendric into the ground and the ball in his hand the whole time and just that piece that he (Dellavedova) adds to us in an environment like that in the pressure like that.”

Goorjian said he could not question the effort of his players, with a dominant second quarter display from Tasmania ultimately the difference between the sides in a 23-point defeat.

“Offensive rebounds … just absolutely smashing us on the glass,” he said. “When you play down here in Tasmania, when you play them with the pressure they put on and the pressure they were putting on the scoreboard … it was kind of the hurdle that we were trying to attend to after last year was the guard position and our bigs, and I thought they dominated us inside on the glass and got Tim Soares and Xavier Cooks and Bul Kuol in foul trouble in the first quarter.

“Then full credit to these guys. I said they have lost whatever games in a row, but everybody talks about the culture here, the community here. I was involved in basketball for a long time and I was here when the Devils played their last game and the sadness of losing the Tasmania team and now to see a team like this doing such a great job … they represent the people down here. They fight. They are well coached. They play hard. I have nothing but respect.

“I want to beat them and they are in our way to make the Playoffs and we got them another time and I am looking forward to that, because they have slapped us around a few times. But I love what Scott Roth has done here. I love the way they go about their business and the community piece and the environment out here is first class. So they are great for the NBL and a great example for the league.”

The Kings go into the FIBA Break at seven wins and six losses, having won four of the past five.