Coach Buford leans on the 'next man up' mentality

The Brydens Lawyers Sydney Kings remain vigilant despite the injuries and COVID concerns in the early stages of this season.

With bouts of COVID absences and the pesky injury bug seemingly not going away just yet, coach Chase Buford will have to lean on the “next man up” mentality in this coming stretch of games.

In the post-game press conference, coach Buford spoke about how Wani Swaka Lo Buluk’s career-high effort of 17 points on Thursday night is the kind of production the team needs from the entire roster.

“Like I said, we like our squad and we have got a bunch of guys who can play and it’s the next man up. We’ll be ready,” Buford said.

“The whole league is dealing with it [roster availability], we aren’t the only ones. No one is going to sit here and make excuses for our injuries or COVID or whatever.”

Buford remains optimistic, saying that the team is one of the deepest in the league and each game another player always takes a step up.

“Like I’ve said many times before, we have a deep group,” Buford said.

“I thought [Jaylin] Galloway came in tonight and gave us some good minutes. Grabbed some big offensive rebounds, some hustle plays, some steals, a couple of assists. It helped us in the first half to get back into the game.”

The Kings’ standout from the Hawks loss was Wani Swaka Lo Buluk, whose career-high of 17 points and three 3-pointers was required in keeping the game close.

“I got teammates that trust me and a coach that trusts me. But it was good to get going tonight,” he said post-game.

“But my main focus is defence. I put my hand up, I should have done a better job with my assignments. I think it was good to get it rolling tonight,” he said.

The Kings take on the New Zealand Breakers at home, on Sunday 16^th at Qudos Bank Arena. Get your tickets here.

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