Gaze into future sees Kings improving depth

SYDNEY Kings coach Andrew Gaze said he won’t overreact to his side’s poor performance against the Perth Wildcats when making decisions on personnel for the next NBL season.

However, he did concede that he would need to improve the depth of their backcourt. The Kings were knocked out of the race for a finals’ spot at the Perth Arena on Friday night when the reigning champions scored a commanding 27-point victory (101-74).

Brad Newley top-scored for Sydney with 19 points, while Jason Cadee was next best with 15, though he was held scoreless after half-time.

With Kevin Lisch (nine points) being kept quiet, the Kings struggled to score, something Gaze said has been a problem too often this season. The Kings bench contributed only 16 points, with Craig Moller’s six the best of them.

“We don’t want to react to this one particular game,” Gaze said.

“There are a lot of things (that happen) through the course of the season.

“We have a good nucleus, with Brad (Newley), Kevin (Lisch) and Jason (Cadee). We look at our talent and say, where do we need to improve?

“Clearly we need more depth in the backcourt.”

The Kings have had their issues this season.

Julian Khazzouh was ruled out for the season with a quad injury before he even stepped on court, while star import Steve Blake returned to the US for personal reasons in early December, after just nine games.

Newley averaged the most points per game this season (17.5) but also missed five of the team’s last nine games, and they lost three of those five.

Sydney will look to strengthen their depth next season with the acquisition of several imports.

With 34-year-old big name American recruit Josh Powell expected to retire after an illustrious European and NBA career spanning 14 seasons, the Kings need to hit the player market to find a suitable replacement.