Phoenix coach puts locker room on notice

Josh King has run out of patience.

The South East Melbourne Phoenix coach has laid down the challenge to his playing group to put the team first and get out of their own heads, and he’s tired of letting them off the hook for not playing team basketball.

Things came to a head on Wednesday night at the State Basketball Centre, where the Illawarra Hawks piled on 43 points in the second quarter, a 40-minute era NBL record, on the way to a 10-point win.

Under King, the Phoenix have built their identity on pressure and containing defence, but it simply hasn’t clicked so far in NBL27.

King singled out Tanner Krebs and Dash Daniels for bringing the defensive effort he demands, and French import Yannis Morin could likely be added to that list. Beyond that, nobody was spared.

“Right now, it’s not about wins and losses for us, we need to find guys that want to compete at a high level and have pride while they’re playing out there on the floor,” King said.

“We don’t have enough guys in our locker room right now that compete at a high level and have the ultimate pride to want to play for the team.

“I’d like to see some guys challenge each other. I’m tired of challenging them, and the best teams are player-led teams, and we need more guys challenging each other, that’s for sure.

“Maybe there’s some frustration there, but we’re not doing the things that it’s going to take to win games right now, and we need to figure some things out, and I think we will.

“We’ve got good guys in the locker room, but we have too many guys, not every player on our team, but too many guys, and one is too many, that are focused only on themselves and not on the team.”

The loss was the Phoenix’s third straight and leaves them 4-8 heading into Saturday night’s Throwdown with Melbourne United. King knows the answers have to come from within.

“I don’t know if it’s a line in the sand, we’re not focused on winning basketball games or losing basketball games right now, we’ve got to put that out the window,” King said.

“We need to focus on being good teammates and being competitive, and that’s what we need to focus on. I know it sounds like under-12s stuff, but that’s where we’re at.

“We have won with this roster, but in the game of basketball, or any sport, it’s about being competitive and having a competitive spirit and fight, and we need to celebrate the little things right now.

“We’re not doing that. We’re in our own heads, and we’re not going to win until we get out of our own heads.

“That’s the message I just told the team in the locker room. It’s hard to win games in general when everything’s going well because the other team wants to win too, but it’s really hard to win when you’re in your own head.”