Sydney Kings Have Already Been Handed Their NBL27 Motivation

Look, if I am Sydney, I am printing those expert predictions out and sticking them on the fucking dressing-room wall.

Twenty-eight championship selections across the NBL26 and NBL27 panels. Zero for the Kings.

Not one.

And Kendric Davis has noticed.

That is the part I like.

This is not some bloke at the end of the bench desperately manufacturing disrespect because somebody left him off an Instagram graphic. Davis is coming into the season with Finals MVP credentials and Sydney are still getting treated like the team everybody politely mentions after Adelaide, Melbourne United and South East Melbourne.

Beautiful.

Keep doing it.

Because as a Kings supporter, I actually prefer this position.

I have watched enough Sydney teams across different sports to know what happens when everybody starts carrying on about favourites before a ball has bounced. Suddenly every loss becomes a crisis, every rotation decision becomes a referendum and every dickhead on social media thinks the championship should have been won by Round 4.

Fifth on some scout's ladder?

Fine.

Eighteen and fifteen?

Whatever.

That basically says Sydney are dangerous enough that nobody wants to play them, but apparently not dangerous enough for anybody to put their name against them.

That is the sweet spot.

Kendric Davis has basically been given the season slogan for free:

Nobody picked us. Again.

And you know what makes it better? The rest of the league is busy making noise.

Melbourne United are pushing Joe Ingles and Cole Anthony like they are launching the Avengers. Adelaide are already talking about managing Bryce Cotton's minutes. New Zealand are moving pieces around injuries. Tasmania just locked Scott Roth down for another two years.

Meanwhile Sydney are just sitting there.

Quiet.

A preseason game in Tassie. A sponsor announcement with the Flames. Not much circus.

Good.

Because I do not need the Kings winning September on social media.

I want them winning when everybody starts getting tired, rotations shorten, legs get heavy and somebody has to create a bucket with seven seconds left.

That is where Davis matters.

The funny thing about expert predictions is everybody remembers them when they are right and suddenly develops Alzheimer's when they are wrong.

So save the screenshots.

Because if the Kings are standing there late in NBL27 with another Finals run brewing, I want every single one of those zero votes dragged back out.

Not because Sydney were entitled to be picked.

That is not the point.

The point is much simpler.

If you keep telling a reigning Finals MVP and a proud club that nobody believes in them, eventually you are no longer analysing the team.

You are writing their motivational speech.

And apparently the experts have volunteered to do it for free.

Kings discourse heading into NBL27: not favourites, not broken, not panicking. Just pissed off enough to be interesting.

Rico Holt  ·  ricoholt.com