Rising Phoenix a 'legit championship contender'

The South East Melbourne Phoenix have flown under the radar to date, just going about their business.

But after solidifying second spot on the ladder, following their fourth-straight win on Sunday, people are starting to give the Phoenix the flowers they deserve.

During Monday's episode of Moments That Mattered, presented by Mitsubishi Motors, 1990 NBL MVP Derek Rucker labelled Josh King's 6-2 side a "legit contender" for the Hungry Jack's NBL26 championship.

"South East Melbourne are a legitimate basketball team, they are a championship contending team," Rucker said.

"The fact that they defend the basketball so well, they understand who they are as a team and offensively they have improved since last season.

"A lot of that is due to Nathan Sobey and Owen Foxwell, both these guys are shooting the basketball well.

"In fact, Sobey is at career-high levels and he's scoring in a number of different ways.

"He's a legitimate three-level scorer, who can come down and shoot the ball in transition, while shooting at over 40 per cent for the season from deep, which is something that we have wanted to see from him.

"That was always going to be the next evolution of his game."

While Sobey is averaging a career-high 21.6 points per game and is in the MVP conversation, the continued improvement of Owen Foxwell, averaging career-best numbers in points (11.6), assists (4), rebounds (2.6) and free-throw percentage (81.8), is a big factor in one of the club's best-ever starts to a season.

"He's such a valuable piece because he's a local that is producing almost at an import level," Rucker continued.

"[On Sunday] he had 20 points, seven assists and hit a huge three down the stretch to lock the game away.

"The thing I like about Foxwell is that he's not afraid, and he's got a little bit of swag about him."

The other element in the rise of the Phoenix is coach Josh King, who has guided the Heartland club to a 20-9 regular season record since his arrival.

"Josh King's a great coach, and one of the keys to being a good coach is getting the team to play to the blueprint, to the game plan during the week, and also get the effort up," Rucker said.

"He's got all that covered at the moment."

The stats back up Rucker's statements too, with South East Melbourne currently second in net rating (+13.8), pace (82.7) and turnover percentage (9.1).

Next up for the Phoenix is a trip to Launceston to play Tasmania on Thursday, tipping off at 7.30pm AEDT, live on ESPN.