Longley on why Kings can’t win NBL title ... and why it will be sweet when they do

Luc Longley’s official title at the Sydney Kings is “special adviser”, although in the course of writing this piece others within the organisation call him a “consultant”, “mentor”, “shadow cabinet minister”, “the fire department” and “Yoda”.

“I ride shotgun with the coaching staff,” is how the former Boomer and Chicago Bulls hero explains it.

Whatever it says on his business card, Longley has become a critical piece for the Kings as they storm towards a possible championship, their first since 2005.

Ask him if the Kings — who are on a tear of 16 wins from 17 matches — should win the title, Longley doesn’t dither.

“Absolutely not,” he says. “There’s no way with the lack of continuity, with a brand-new coach, with a maniac owner, with a crazy consultant, with a hodgepodge cast of weird characters, there’s absolutely no way we should win a championship.”

Wait for it …

Luc Longley says he ended up at the high-flying Sydney Kings almost by accident.Credit: Nick Moir

“And that’s why it’s going to be so f---ing brilliant when we do!”

Bang! Bang!

Longley earlier this week woke before dawn at his farm on the south-west heel of the country, in Denmark in the Great Southern Region of Western Australia, drove five hours to Perth Airport and then flew into Sydney.

He’ll be courtside for the Kings’ final match of the regular season against Illawarra Hawks at Qudos Bank Arena on Sunday afternoon and won’t leave until the side’s finals run is over.

In another life, he was the owner of the Perth Wildcats, buying the franchise off Seven West owner Kerry Stokes in 1999 and winning a championship.

Now, he’s the wise soul in the background at the Kings, helping plot basketball success in Sydney, the most hated team in the league because, well, it’s Sydney.

“No, I didn’t think I’d be helping the Kings,” Longley, who grew up in Fremantle, chuckles. “But it’s a contagious organisation and they’ve been brave enough and creative enough to put me in charge of parts of their business.”

Longley was shoved back under the international spotlight two years ago when he didn’t feature as prominently as many expected in The Last Dance, a deep dive into the Bulls’ rise under Michael Jordan in the 1990s.

Jordan later regretted Longley’s absence, telling Australian Story: “He matters to me. He had an impact on me; he made me better as a player, as a person.”

Luc Longley and Michael Jordan pictured in 1997.Credit: Reuters

While all that was playing out, few were aware Longley had become a consultant to the Kings “by accident” because of his association with former coach Will Weaver when they were both assistant coaches at the Boomers.

Since then, Longley has taken years of experience and knowledge from playing amongst and against giants of the game and sprinkled the magic dust over individual players at the Kings.

His pet project this season has been 211cm centre Makur Maker, the cousin of Thon Maker, who until recently was playing in the NBA. Thon’s brother, Matur, also plays for the Kings.

Makur — “MK” as he is better known — is on a similar trajectory to Thon, playing for Howard University before the Kings signed him as part of the NBL’s Next Stars program, which has become a stepping stone to the NBA for players like Josh Giddey and LaMelo Ball.

Then he hurt his ankle in the pre-season and returned for two matches before medical staff sidelined him for almost two months as he recovered from soreness.

Makur Maker has become a genuine threat for the Kings thanks to the advide of former Chicago Bull Luc Longley.Credit: Getty

One day, at a training session, Longley watched on as Maker and another player did their “daily vitamins”, which is basketball-speak for skills training before the main session.

“I wasn’t particularly impressed with what I saw,” Longley recalls. “So, I asked to jump in and put some accelerant on the whole thing. I thought, ‘I’ll rough this kid up. I’ll challenge him, push him around’. Fifteen minutes later I was exhausted and bruised. I’m 53 and have a fused ankle. I wrote a cheque my body couldn’t cash. I was sore for days. I hobbled, I crawled to the coach’s office and said, ‘This guy’s a weapon. He’s really, really strong’. That’s when I decided to put some air in his tyres and get him rolling.”

Maker roars with laughter when I tell him this story.

“Man, that’s funny,” the 21-year-old says. “’Cos we had been talking on Zoom before I got here, and everything is virtual, that was the first time he’d seen me. He thought I was going to be skinnier, but in real life it was different. They all underestimate me until they play against me.”

Soon after, Longley pulled Maker aside.

“Can I have your permission to be really, really candid with you?” Longley asked.

The three-time NBA champion didn’t mince words when helping the current crop of Kings become the title threats they now are.Credit: Nick Moir

“Yeah,” Maker replied. “That’s how I like it.”

Longley then delivered some home truths about what it meant to be a professional player: the mindset, the attitude, the sacrifice.

“A lot of men come into professional basketball and think that means playing and getting paid,” Longley says. “They’ve often come out of an environment where they dominate and they’re the star, and then it’s a shock when they aren’t.

“Earlier in the year, he said, ‘They have to get me the ball in my spots and I’ll go to work’. That’s not realistic when you’re a rookie. That’s not how the game is played here. If you’re playing in a match at a time when you’re not expecting to play, if that blows you up, you can’t be a professional basketballer.

“He’s really shifted and changed. I’ve been impressed with him.”

Asked if he was taken aback by what Longley had to say, Maker replies: “It’s the message that’s important. You can’t listen to the way it’s delivered. Where I’m trying to go, what I’m trying to be, you have to be prepared to hear the things you don’t like to hear. If there’s anything I’m not doing, tell me. If I’m fatigued, and I’m making mistakes, I want to know.”

Typical of the man, Longley was wary about taking the limelight off the coaching staff, headed by new coach Chase Buford, for this story. He even went so far to contact some to assure them he “wasn’t taking the credit for anything”.

Maker works daily with highly regarded assistant Kevin Lisch, a former Kings captain, but Longley delivers insight only a three-time NBA champion can provide.

“I spoke to him about playing with Jordan,” Maker says. “Back then, it was a different style of basketball, but everyone contributed to those championships. Every man on the team had a role and they contributed it. Jordan doesn’t win all those rings without Luc being on the floor.”

The Kings certainly play a style far different to what Longley knows.

Buford, the American coach who joined the Kings last summer, has adopted a modern-day “five-out motion” offence. In basic terms, it means all five players start outside the three-point line and are then constantly in motion.

It means the offence isn’t reliant on one or two key players and a lot of points from outside the three-point arc.

Longley watches the Kings warm up during the 2020 NBL semi-finals.Credit: Getty

“It’s been a hard pill for me to swallow,” Longley admits. “Chase plays a position-less style where nobody lives in the keyway, and that’s where I lived as a player. I couldn’t play for Chase Buford. I couldn’t play in the modern NBA. I was an inside player. Now, there’s no inside. The whole design is to keep the inside free of monsters so the little guys can drive in there and do their thing.”

It’s taken some adjustment: the Kings started this season sluggishly, winning three from their first six matches, but now they’re rolling. A win over the Hawks is likely to secure second place ahead of next week’s play-offs.

“Finding ways for our big guys to play in that system was one of the reasons we had a slow start,” Longley says. “The inside is their territory, their backyard, they’re taught to protect it. We had to re-learn how to play in Chase’s five-out system.”

That includes Maker, whose become critical to the Kings down the stretch of a gruelling season. (Sunday’s match will be the Kings’ sixth in 15 days).

“The Kings are a lot like Sydney. We are unashamedly optimistic, unpredictable and back people and their nature. What we’re not is plodding and dour. If you want a guaranteed product, go buy Kraft Cheese.”

Luc Longley

“When I was young, just having someone who you respected saying they believed in you, that’s all it takes to shift gears,” Longley continues. “The reason I coach, the reason I get involved with basketball, is because I like seeing young people surprise themselves. Seeing them struggle is fun, because you get to see how they respond to that, and can you help them.”

Will Longley help them to a ring? Will his prophecy of a Kings championship come true?

I was fortunate enough to sit next to him at a Kings game against Melbourne United in late 2019. The home side was down by about 20 points in the third quarter but as the crowd’s enthusiasm waned, he was adamant about the result.

“The Kings will win this,” he calmly predicted.

He explained Weaver’s philosophy of sharing minutes evenly across his players, meaning they’d have just enough petrol in the tank in the dying minutes to overrun Melbourne.

In the final minute, the ball found Brazilian import Didi Louzada, standing on his own just inside the three-point arc. He coiled like a cobra before striking, his jump shot securing victory.

Maybe Longley really is Yoda.

Just before he boarded his flight to Sydney earlier this week, he sent me a text.

“You got me thinking … The Kings are a lot like Sydney. We are unashamedly optimistic, unpredictable and back people and their nature. What we’re not is plodding and dour. If you want a guaranteed product, go buy Kraft Cheese. You won’t find us on the shelf … Anyway, our chat got me all Kings proud so please forgive me.”

Luc Longley, Proud Sydney King. Put that on the business card.

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