Uncomfortable truth bomb King dropped on Phoenix

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South East Melbourne Phoenix head coach Josh King’s assessment after his side gave up a 40-minute era NBL-record 43 points in the second quarter was as brutal as any a boss could give.

Almost every word had a sting in the tail for his 4-8, ninth-placed squad after Illawarra's 120-110 mauling in Round 9 of NBL27 on Wednesday, November 11, 2026.

"Right now it's not about wins and losses for us," King said.

"We need, 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 because we don't have enough guys in our locker room right now that compete at a high level and have the ultimate pride and want to play for the team."

King didn't name-check any specific player but did praise NBL Next Star Dash Daniels ($115,000) and Tanner Krebs ($150,300) for his desire to crash the boards.

"I'm not going to name names right now," King said.

"That's not in my nature. That's between the guys in the four walls, but I think they know who they are. And it's unfortunate. It's a little disappointing to me as a coach. But I'm not going to give up on these guys.

"They know that. I told them we're going to keep fighting. We need to find guys that have fight, fire in the belly, because I think we can find some guys in that locker room.

"We do have guys that have that, and there were some guys out there. It's not everybody. But we need, I just told you, one's too many, and that part is the most disappointing part to me because I would have never forecasted that going into the season. That's the real unfortunate part. We're fighting ourselves right now."

Following King's no-holds-barred interview, basketball.com.au analysed South East Melbourne's numbers between NBL26 and NBL27. It's not pretty:

• The Phoenix went 22-11 in NBL26 and are 4-8 after Round 9 of NBL27.
• 10 players from last season's roster are gone. They took with them half the club's points (1,676 of 3,324), 54% of its rebounds, 58% of its assists and 59% of its steals, along with 56% of its minutes.
• The damage is at the defensive end. John Brown III (66 steals), Owen Foxwell (35) and Malique Lewis ($207,900), with 30, accounted for 131 of the 307 steals in NBL26.
• Steals have dropped from 9.3 to 6.8 a game, and opponent turnovers from 16.2 to 12.8.
• Points allowed are up from 92.8 to 97.8, and opponent assists from 18.5 to 21.7.
• The average margin has fallen from +8.0 to +0.4.
• The Phoenix are 0-3 in games decided by five points or fewer (3-3 last season) and 1-4 away (11-6).
• Points scored are down only 2.5 a game (100.7 to 98.2). Two-point shooting is up from 51.4% to 56.0%, and rebounding is up from 36.6 to 38.2.
• Three-point percentage has dropped from 35.2 to 31.6, and the side is turning it over 11.4 times a game, up from 9.8.
• Nathan Sobey ($379,600) is still the leading scorer at 18.8 a game, down from 22.0.

Live by the three, die by the three.

• NBL26: 45.0% of shots were threes (1,203 of 2,674), made at 35.2%. Twos at 51.4%.
• NBL27: 48.7% of shots are threes (462 of 948), made at 31.6%. Twos at 56.0%.
• Threes made up 38.2% of their points in NBL26 and 37.2% in NBL27.
• The Phoenix are taking more threes and making fewer, while their best shot, the two, has improved but is being taken less often.

This is the verbatim 12-minute Q&A that demanded accountability, buy-in and effort from his entire squad.

Question: Coach, did you have any inkling that was coming tonight from your team?

"You always go into the game thinking you're going to win," King said.

"We haven't proved that we can pressure and contain the ball in a while. We're a pressure team, but we're not a contained team. And the blowbys are getting out of hand.

"They were out of hand on Sunday. So we have to, we have to figure some things out there.

"I just told the guys in the locker room I'm not surprised by the result because I said, 'You know, let me see the box score'.

"If I didn't watch that game, if someone just handed me the box score ... whichever team gave up 43 points in the second quarter didn't win the game. I don't know who that ... that was us.

"So we ultimately lost that game in the last five minutes of the second quarter, and, just, just disappointing.

"Right now it's not about wins and losses for us. We need, 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 because we don't have enough guys in our locker room right now that compete at a high level and have the ultimate pride and want to play for the team."

Question: Why are so many of you guys down? Jordy Hunter looks like a shell of himself. Tanner Krebs isn't making his three-ball.  What is it? Why are they so down?

"Well, first off, Tanner Krebs is doing everything that he can do to help the team," King responded.

"He's not making his shots at a high level, but I think he led us in rebounding tonight. He's doing what he can do, to the best of his ability.

"I don't know. You'd have to ask those other guys that question.

"We need more guys focused on the team; this is a team game, and we're not playing ... I don't think we have enough guys that are focused on our team. They're focused on themselves."

Question: So I don't know how much you can say about the change with the import. I'm not sure whether that's official, but it's obviously happened. You've got two guys out, too. How much does that hurt your team with the way that you play?

"We have enough to win basketball games right now in this league," King said.

"We have won with this roster, but you need guys that, again, I'm going to repeat myself right now. The game of basketball, 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.

"We're not going to win until we get out of our own heads. And that's the message I just told the team in the locker room, and 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."

Question: I felt like that's as frustrated as I've seen you, or very close to it, and I felt palpable frustration in your group, with some little spot fires and things like that between teammates that were pretty evident. Is that a reflection of where you're at now in terms of whether it's the way the group is, or is it a result of the way you're playing?

"I don't know," King responded.

"I'd like to see some guys challenge each other. I'm tired of challenging them.

"The best teams are player-led teams, and we need more guys challenging each other.

"So maybe there's some frustration there, but again, it's, you know, this is we're not, we're not doing the things that it's going to take to win games right now. We need to figure some things out, and I think we will. We've got good guys in the locker room, but again, I'm going to repeat myself. We have guys that are focused too many guys, not every player on our team, but too many guys, and one is too many, but we have more than one that are focused only on themselves and not on the team."

Question: Josh, is this a line-in-the-sand sort of moment for you and this group?

"I don't know if it's a line in the sand," King said.

"We're not focused on winning basketball games or losing basketball games right now. We've got to put that out the window. We need to focus on being good teammates and being competitive. That's what we need to focus on. I know it sounds like under-12 stuff, but that's where we're at."

Question: Josh, can you give us an idea of the players you're referring to when you say guys are playing for themselves?

"I'm not going to name names right now," he said.

"That's not in my nature. That's between the guys in the four walls, but I think they know who they are. And it's unfortunate. It's a little disappointing to me as a coach. But I'm not going to give up on these guys.

"They know that. I told them we're going to keep fighting. We need to find guys that have fight, fire in the belly, because I think we can find some guys in that locker room.

"We do have guys that have that, and there were some guys out there. It's not everybody. But we need, I just told you, one's too many, and that part is the most disappointing part to me because I would have never forecasted that going into the season. That's the real unfortunate part. We're fighting ourselves right now."

Question: Josh, does it just come down to, you know, intent, attitude, focus, and effort when it comes to, you know, I mean, you guys blitzed him to start that second quarter. You scored 15 points in, I think, from 8 to 5, from the 8-to-5 minute mark, within three minutes. Does sustaining consistency within a game more often come down to effort, as you said?

"It's a focus thing. It's definitely an effort thing. The way we want to play it's hard, man. It's not for everybody, and I believe in the system, but we need to get more guys playing better. I just said earlier, pressure. We're a pressure team, but we're not a contained team. We're just getting blown by. So clearly need to help some guys out with that."

Question: It seems that whenever you've needed energy and hustle out there so far, Dash has provided it every single time. What sort of growth have you seen in him since day one, when he walked into this building?

"I'm really proud of Dash Daniels," King responded.

"He's had an amazing year so far for us. He's been our most probably consistent player. It's been an awesome surprise. I knew he was a good player. That's why we wanted him on our roster. But I said it, I don't know, a game or two ago, when you got to count on an 18-year-old to be the guy to, 'Hey, watch this guy', that's not a good sign. Dash has been awesome, and hopefully, we've got some guys following his lead.

"But we need more of them. But he's been our most consistent player thus far. You see, his plus-minus tonight. When he's out there on the floor for a long period of time, we win the game. He's plus-five there. Plus-five when Dash Daniels for 25 and a half minutes is out there on the floor. I'm happy he's with us, and his development, this is not because of South East Melbourne, it's because of Dash Daniels, and he works hard every day, and it's night and day from the guy you saw last year."

Question: You're in this limbo situation with Skylar and his exit and that, but is that almost what Dash does for you? And I know in the second quarter, a minute in, you were like, didn't like what you saw and like, 'Alright, come on, Dash. We need you back in'. Is that an indicator of what you need to bring to this group in terms of a player that can set the table or has, you know, a more experienced point guard that can be steady in some of those moments when you're turning the ball over a bit, your offence looks a little bit disjointed.

"I knew we were going to get good looks. Look, Dash is a work in progress, though. He's 18. He makes some mistakes on the ball, but like, we're going to pour into him a little bit. Let him play a little bit more on the ball because he can do it. But he's got to get the reps, and when he makes a mistake or two, it's okay because he's 18, and when you play with that much energy, that much effort, and that much fight consistently, you can live with some mistakes. That's why I said earlier, Tanner Krebs, like we can sit here and talk. I'm not worried about his shots.

"I like the fight and the effort that he plays with, and it's again we're a plus team when he's out there, and he led us in rebounding tonight, Tanner. So, it's not everybody, but we need we need to get more guys on board."

Question: Yeah, Josh, just a couple quickly. The most frustrating part, it looked like, at least from here, was when I think it was in the last quarter, you see a defensive possession that you didn't like, you call a timeout, you tell the boys what you want to see, and they go out and do the complete opposite. You have to call a timeout immediately again. Was that the low point for you? Was that as frustrating as you've been?

"No. Look, I'm singing Dash's praises. I think that was the one we were in a switching defence, and we don't switch a lot, and that's a concentration thing, but it was, I would say it was a miscommunication thing. I got to see it on film. You switch on contact when you're playing switching ball screen defence.

"Dash came and said he thought he could get over the screen, which is tough. But I think it was a miscommunication thing. I got to watch that play back. But I was frustrated because I thought we missed the switch, which is something that's very easy. That's why a lot of teams just switch ball screens because it's easy to do. And I figured that we should try to go to something that's easy. We can contain the ball."

Watch

NBL27

South East Melbourne Phoenix vs Illawarra Hawks | Round 9 Highlights

Watch the highlights as the South East Melbourne Phoenix take on the Illawarra Hawks in Round 9 of NBL27 on November 11, 2026.

Question: You've talked about how you like to play your defence, and we've seen how well it's worked over the last two years. Are you still confident that you've got the players right now that can play that way, or is there a point where you might have to reconsider, you know, the way you play a little bit?

"We need to change a little bit how we can teach containing the ball," he said.

"That's something that we got to watch the film contain.

"But we're going to be a high-pressure, high-energy team and because that's how basketball should be played, with pressure and intensity and not just an absorb and let teams just do whatever they want. Now again, we're getting driven like crazy, but to sit back and just let teams be nice and comfortable, that's not a philosophy I believe in defensively.

"But we need to try to help the guys working on containing the basketball, but we're going to be a high-energy, pace team for sure, and that won't change. And the last thing I should have said: congrats to Illawarra on the win. They also played pretty well tonight and shot the ball well, but we allowed them to get comfortable, and when you allow any team, they're a high-octane offensive team. And when any team, professional team, feels comfortable, especially early on in the game, it becomes really, really difficult. So, I probably should have said that first, but congrats to them. And they shot the ball really well and made plays when they needed to."

Question: Coach, just quickly, I don't want to get you in trouble, but can you just shed some light on what was going on with getting the players to sit down or something? Like, we couldn't tell what was going on in the stadium. What was happening?

"I plead the fifth," King said.

The Phoenix face Melbourne United in the third Throwdown of NBL27, and they have 72 hours to respond to King's demand. Only time will tell.