Abdelfattah Motivated by Past Kings' Reign

Wednesday, July 5, 2023

Sydney coach Mahmoud Abdelfattah has revealed his familiarity with the NBL heading into the new season.

Incoming Sydney coach Mahmoud Abdelfattah may be something of an unknown quantity to a large portion of NBL fans, but the NBL isn’t an unknown quantity to him.

Abdelfattah is the latest of a line of former NBA G-League coaches to come to the NBL and, for the most part, his predecessors have experienced some level of success.

Out of the past four coaches the Kings have had, Abdelfattah will be the third coach coming into the NBL with no experience of the competition, rather having forged the first part of his career in the American high school, collegiate, and NBA systems.

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“I’ve been following [the NBL] a lot more since Will Weaver’s been a part of it, and then Chase as well,” Abdelfattah told SEN. “The NBL has grown dramatically over the last five to seven years.

“It’s more head coaching experience with one of the best organisations outside the NBA, and probably the best organisation in the NBL.

“I think the NBL – and I’ve said it multiple times – is the closest thing to the NBA and the G-League outside of the States. Similar rules, type of play, type of physicality.

“So, it’s going to be a great opportunity for me to be back in a head coaching position and give me the opportunity to grow.”

Although the Kings’ pre-season is still close to a month away from starting – and Abdelfattah is yet to touch down in Sydney – preparations are already being made to create a platform for the new-look team to thrive in NBL24.

Although the entire starting five is likely to be changed from the title-winning side of last season, the Kings have retained a key part of their success.

“We’ve got good depth on the bench,” Abdelfattah said. “I think with everybody from [Kouat] Noi to [Angus] Glover to Makuach [Maluach] and down the line, those guys that can give the potential imports and starters a run for their money is going to make practice more competitive and give us that next step throughout the season, to have more depth.

“I think we can go 10, 11 deep without missing a beat.

“Whatever’s going to happen from the start date to the last game of the potential finals we’ll be hopefully be playing in, we’re going to put in our best effort and that’s all we can ask.

“Obviously we want a lot more wins than losses, and at the end of the year we’ll hopefully be hoisting the back-to-back-to-back, [but] I don’t look at it as trying to win a third championship.

“I look at is as my guys getting better every single day.

“If I’m doing my best to prepare them for the season we’ll be successful every night against our opponent, no matter who that is.”

The Sydney Kings will open their NBL24 season against local rivals Illawarra. They’ll travel up the freeway to Wollongong on Saturday, September 30.