Why NBL experts believe Kings' reign is under threat

Write off the champions at your peril, but this year, even the pundits aren't so sure.

The Sydney Kings are stacked again for the Hungry Jack's NBL27 Season, though there's no denying they're the ones every team wants to knock off.

Chris Anstey and Derek Rucker both agree: with several of their title-winning stars moving on, this could be a tougher season for Brian Goorjian's men.

"They lost some juice on the perimeter defensively with Bul Kuol, Jaylin Galloway, and even Kouat Noi," Rucker said on NBL Now.

"Losing those guys puts more pressure on them on the perimeter. Now, the new guys have to come in and be able to defend. Sydney were number one in the league last year, defensively they were outstanding. I'm not sure they're going to have the same firepower defensively."

"I don't think so either ... or offensively for that matter," three-time NBL champion Anstey continued, met with quick rebuttal from Rucker.

"Kendric's [Davis] still there, man."

"It's why I think Kendric's going to win MVP," Anstey challenged.

"Bigger role again, potentially more minutes and greater dependency on him to score the basketball as well. He'll get his teammates involved no matter what."

Beyond Davis, Anstey worries the Kings may be leaning too heavily on veterans Matthew Dellavedova and Torrey Craig.

"Matthew Dellavedova sits in the same boat as Joe Ingles, doesn't he? Age catches up to all of us, he's not getting better every year," he continued.

"I'll wait till I see him round 1. But it's round 15 and round 16 by the time you get through, and that's the thing with Torrey Craig as well. He was the most perfect signing coming in mid-season, 'give me some juice, help me win a championship, know your role, you've got a short burst, let's go'.

"To get through a full Goorjian-coached season as Torrey Craig, that's a whole different thing.

"I think he's got the absolute potential to be one of the best handfuls of imports in this league if he's switched on for the entire league. But what you saw with Torrey Craig last year was he would quite happily hand over to his team and say, 'You guys go for a bit, then I'll pick and choose my times and I'll go', and he was incredible when he went. He's going to need to go a lot more this season than what he did last."

Asked whether the Kings could go back-to-back, Rucker and Anstey had differing views, but one key takeaway: never rule out a Goorjian-coached team.

"I don't think so, considering the way the other teams have built, but you can never, you just can't count Goorjian out," Rucker said.

"They have two high-level guys in Kendric Davis and Xavier Cooks, and those guys know what it takes to win. Cooks is a great leader, and when he's on top of his game he is so unique in our competition. It's hard to entirely dismiss Sydney at any point."

"I don't think you can dismiss them as a championship contender," Anstey said. "I don't see them finishing top two and having that home-court advantage all the way through. But I'm one of the Brian Goorjian camp where I'll never dismiss the team that he's coaching, he's been doing it too well for too long."

The Kings split their results at the CODE Sports NBL Blitz, losing to the Phoenix before a big win over New Zealand.

Sydney travels to Tasmania for a pre-season game on Saturday night from 6pm AEST, live on NBL.com.au and the NBL App.