Abdelfattah rings praises of Kings' Next Star Toohey

Sydney head coach Mahmoud Abdelfattah has praised the maturity of Next Star Alex Toohey, following the crucial role the 19-year-old played in the Kings’ Sunday afternoon win over the Brisbane Bullets.

Toohey added 12 points and three rebounds in the nine-point win and ended the clash with a game-high plus/minus of +27.

The Next Star has recently been surging up draft boards and has been ranked as the 83rd best player in the upcoming NBA Draft by ESPN’s Jonathan Givony, but Abdelfattah says Toohey possesses a skillset he has never seen despite his extensive experience with the Houston Rockets.

Watch Mahmoud Abdelfattah and Alex Toohey discuss Sunday's win in the post-game press conference via Sydney Kings' YouTube channel above. While you're there, be sure to hit subscribe, to ensure you never miss out on any of our great videos.

“CP (Chris Pongrass) being with the Grizzlies before and me being with the Rockets for the last six years, I’ve seen a lot of guys come through draft workouts,” Abdelfattah said following the win.

“Some of the stuff he does with where he is in comparison to where they project some of these guys, he’s as talented as I’ll get at.

“Some of the stuff that’s added on – his basketball IQ is through the roof. If you came to coach him you’d think he’s been in the league and been a pro for the last ten years with some of the things he does.

“There are things he does that won’t get charted, there’s no stats for it, but he's made winning plays for us and is a big reason why we win the close games.

“I truly think he’s talented and everyone can see that and the skills he has, but the way he plays, his ability to guard one through five, I’m not sure who else can do that.”

“Being able to make the open shot when my teammates create for me is a big thing, and everyone knows how to get each other going by playing off each other and feeding each other with some good looks,” Toohey added.

“[It’s] early in the season I’m still trying to learn as much as I can, but I feel comfortable out there and now it’s about putting more things together.”

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Toohey and the Kings managed to fight back from a 14-point deficit mid-way through the second quarter to enter half-time just six points down, and went on another massive offensive run to close the game out.

They added the final 15 points of the game after trailing 89-94 with just over three minutes to go in the game, and a pair of late DJ Hogg baskets sealed the victory in front of the Qudos Bank Arena crowd.

“Basketball is a game of runs,” Abdelfattah said. “They didn’t score in the last 3:12 or so. Guys just battled through, we made some subs ... I think I went through eight guys in that timespan and they all contributed in their role.

“You can’t win every game easily, they’re not going to quit. It was a dogfight but I’m proud of them, they battled back.

“To finish the game on a 15-0 run is hard to do.”

The Kings will next travel to Melbourne to take on the ladder-leading Melbourne on Sunday, November 19.