Just how good are the Sydney Kings?

Sydney currently sits second on the NBL ladder with a new coach, new import trio, and the pressure of gunning for just the second three-peat in the history of the club. In the surface it looks like the Kings are thriving, but Derek Rucker believes some cracks have been papered over in the opening eight rounds of the season.

The importance of Sydney’s Round 7 capitulation against Melbourne is yet to truly be felt through the competition, but had the Kings held of for the win the would be a full game clear of Tasmania in third with a game in hand, and just one game behind United at the top of the ladder.

Instead, they’re now one of three teams to have won seven games for the season, and are threatened with potentially being pulled back into the chasing pack, should they not leap out of the games following the mid-season break.

“I don’t think they’re playing well. Realistically they could have lost that New Zealand game, they should have lost the Brisbane game, and they blew the lead against Melbourne United,” Rucker said on NBL Now.

“I haven’t seen them win convincing game in a while against a good team.

“I think eventually they have enough talent – those guys are only going to get better the more they play alongside each other and once they get Jordi Hunter back that’s going to be a complete team.

“They showed in 25 minutes of basketball they can blow Melbourne United straight out the water. They just didn’t know what to do when they got into the boat.”

Part of the difference between head coach Mahmoud Abdelfattah and his predecessor Chase Buford has been the former's willingness to allow his players to play through adversity early into his tenure.

The Kings failed to halt Melbourne’s momentum in the second half of their last game, and were almost on the wrong side of another immense comeback against New Zealand. The Breakers had the opportunity to win that game of a last second shot, but Shaun Bruce locked Parker Jackson-Cartwright up to guide the Kings to victory.

“He’s (Abdelfattah) new to the league, and he’s used to dealing with prima donna type dudes in the G-League who think they’re going to make the NBA based off one play,” Damon Lowery said.

“He comes here and he has to get the players’ trust. He’s that guy who’s not going to over-coach and be yelling and barking, he’s letting them figure it out on the fly, he’s trusting his guys that way.

“I think moving forward the more he’s there, the more they’re together that relationship will get stronger as a result of him letting the players figure it out for themselves.

“I feel like that championship DNA is there. They’ve still got (Jaylin) Galloway to come back into the team, (Makuach) Maluach has turned out to be this other new player – and Alex Toohey – all the pieces are there and they’re going to be there when it’s all said and done.”