‘You don’t coach forever’: Goorjian wants Kings job to be his last

Sydney Kings coach Brian Goorjian hopes his latest appointment can be the last of a career that has featured six NBL championships and a first Olympic medal for the Boomers.

Goorjian, who led the Kings to three consecutive championships between 2003 and 2005, said he would coach until he ran out of energy, calling the opportunity to return to Sydney on a three-year deal “beyond my wildest dreams”.

Brian Goorjian coaches his players during a Kings training session. Credit: James Brickwood

“I’m going to coach until I’ve lost my passion,” Goorjian, 71, told this masthead. “But ... you don’t coach forever. It’s coming, but I’m just living in the moment, and I hope I keep this [job] for a while.”

Goorjian ended his first stint with the Kings in 2008, months before the NBL stripped the team of its licence. He had another year left on his contract but knew the team was in trouble.

Goorjian then moved to Melbourne to coach the South Dragons to an NBL championship in the 2008/09 season, their last before also falling into administration.

The one-time NBL player felt he had no option but to leave Australia after the Dragons were dissolved, calling the NBL a “basket case” at the time. He spent the next decade in China, which was the booming overseas market of the 2010s.

Brian Goorjian celebrates winning the 2005 NBL championship with the Kings.Credit: SMH Sport

After two seasons at the Illawarra Hawks, one in Hong Kong and a second stint with the Boomers, Goorjian returns to a vastly different Kings organisation.

The Kings - backed by an outspoken ownership group led by Paul Smith that also includes Australian basketball royalty Andrew Bogut and Luc Longley - make no secret of wanting to be the best organisation outside the NBA.

Goorjian helped lure Xavier Cooks, who led the Kings to their 2022 and 2023 championships, back to Sydney.Credit: James Brickwood

The team won back-to-back championships in 2022 and 2023 - the first since Goorjian was at the helm - and are odds-on title favourites again this season after luring back Xavier Cooks on a deal believed to be the richest in league history.

The Kings’ underwhelming 2023/24 season - which saw them finish fifth with a 13-15 record - prompted huge upheaval among coaching and playing ranks.

It left Goorjian with two players under contract, allowing him to handpick a squad for a season that starts with a match against Adelaide on Sunday.

Goorjian doesn’t think this year is a championship-or-bust campaign for the Kings, saying the standard across the league had become too good for an out-and-out favourite to exist.

“We’ve done an amazing job of putting it [together] and now what we’re trying to do as an organisation, on and off the court,” Goorjian said.

“All my energy is towards this, I’m really excited about this first-year team, what it can be, and I’m excited about the strength of the league and where the NBL is going.”

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