Rucker delivers mighty Kings spray

Two-time defending champion Sydney Kings are a “Play-In team at best”, according to 1990 NBL MVP Derek Rucker.

After the Kings’ 101-85 defeat to title favourites Melbourne United on Thursday, which sees Sydney’s record sit at 10-9, Rucker has delivered a frank assessment of where he views Mahmoud Abdelfattah’s squad.

When asked on NBL Now if the Kings are still a title threat, Rucker said, “are you kidding me?”, before highlighting Sydney’s downfalls.

“You watched the second half, did it look like any semblance of playoff-ready basketball defensively? Not at all,” Rucker said.

“Did it look like any remote semblance of the type of pride in their performance that we’ve seen over the past two years? Zero, zilch. It just wasn’t there.

<iframe src="https://omny.fm/shows/nbl-now/nbl-now-jan-5/embed?style=artwork&image=1&share=1&download=1&description=1&follow=1" allow="autoplay; clipboard-write" width="100%" height="180" frameborder="0" title="NBL NOW | Jan 5 | Melbourne get the job done & the BIG round ahead"></iframe>

“The way they relented when Melbourne United decided to show real championship basketball play and commitment to excellence, the way the Kings just bowed down in front of their fans was really surprising and alarming.

“They’re a Play-In team, at best. They’re probably playing seventh or eighth best in the league. They don’t deserve a Play-In opportunity, they’re not at that standard.”

Rucker believes it will be “really tough” for the Kings to hold onto their top six spot, but did note they have the roster to make it happen.

“They have enough talent, but they got to play that talent,” Rucker said.

“They got to stop messing around with all these lineup changes, trying to be tricky ... get your seven best players and play them the most, that’s going to give you the best opportunity to win.”

Sydney has a chance to bounce back on Sunday against the Brisbane Bullets at 4pm AEDT, live on ESPN via Kayo Freebies, 10 Peach and 10 Play.