Mahmoud Abdelfattah sacked by Sydney Kings after one NBL season as coach

Sydney Kings have axed coach Mahmoud Abdelfattah, making an inevitable call after months of mounting pressure that culminated in an NBL finals elimination debacle.

• Inside story: The turmoil which buried Kings coach

Sydney has axed coach Mahmoud Abdelfattah with a year to run on his contract after a torrid season that ended with the Kings dumped out of the NBL playoffs amid off-court turmoil.

As revealed by Code Sports, Kings officials met over the past 24 hours to weigh up the pros and cons of sticking with the former Houston Rockets’ assistant, ultimately deciding to end his rocky tenure in the Harbour City.

The Kings confirmed the 35-year-old’s departure on Friday afternoon.

“This was an extremely difficult decision to make — however, we have an obligation to our members and fans and felt a change was needed,” Sydney chief executive Chris Pongrass said.

“We would like to thank Mahmoud for his contributions to the Kings organisation and the Sydney community as a whole.

“He is a well-respected and talented coach and it was a pleasure to work alongside him this season.

Mahmoud Abdelfattah has been sacked after one season as Kings coach. Picture: Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images

“Mahmoud’s character, work ethic and constant positive outlook cannot be questioned.

“We are grateful for everything he has done this season and for the impact he made on this club.”

The Kings will now begin the search for a new mentor, with former Perth Wildcats nemesis Trevor Gleeson a key target.

The public groundswell of support among the club’s faithful for legendary three-peat coach Brian Goorjian has grown louder by the day.

Goorj is open to coaching in the NBL once his Boomers Paris Olympic commitments are completed but, after removing himself from the race for the Adelaide coaching vacancy, Goorjian told Crosscourt this week the 36ers were the only NBL club to make contact with him and he hadn’t heard from the Kings.

Abdelfattah’s Kings reign began in a blaze of glory, with seven wins from their first 10 games that put them second on the NBL table behind Melbourne United.

Then the wheels fell off.

The Kings would win just six of their next 18 contests, relying on a 55-point hammering of a decimated South East Melbourne on the penultimate day of the season to sneak into the top six.

But, off-court, the Kings group was splintering, with much-loved dual champion Angus Glover banished to the bench after clashing with star Jaylen Adams.

Abdelfattah’s last game in charge was the finals loss to New Zealand. Picture: Josh Chadwick/Getty Images

Glover sat and watched as New Zealand eliminated the Kings from the playoffs on their home floor.

The writing was on the wall when Sydney mulled parting ways with Abdelfattah after a bad loss to bottom-of-the-table Adelaide on January 11.

He survived, but a new low came two weeks later when the Kings lost to a South East Melbourne side missing all three imports and five rotation players.

The Kings leaked 104 points in that contest — the only time the Phoenix hit triple figures in the final 14 games — and that was characteristic of their season.

Abdelfattah rolled out a funky ‘switch-at-all-costs’ defensive scheme that not every player loved but NBL coaches picked that apart and, while the Kings gifted arsenal produced the second-best offensive rating in the league (117.7 points per 100 possessions), they were second-worst at the other end behind only the bottom-placed Phoenix (conceding 114.6 per 100).

Part of the Kings’ thinking behind the decision to hire the well-regarded Abdelfattah was to improve optics at the club. Dual title-winning coach Chase Buford was wildly successful in his two years in Sydney but some Kings’ officials had grown tired of his antics.

Buford had a Phil Jackson-Dennis Rodman-esque relationship with star former MVP Jaylen Adams. Adams could be a difficult character who would miss practices but Buford understood the American was a figure who needed time and space and they found a happy medium.

The more regimented Abdelfattah, from day one, demanded more from the former NBA guard and would not tolerate tardiness or lack of attendance, which created tension between coach and star.

The Kings knew the move was a risk, amid private concerns their revamped roster was not quite in the league of Buford’s back-to-back championship squads.

Originally published as Mahmoud Abdelfattah sacked by Sydney Kings after one NBL season as coach