By Roy Ward
Josh King is frantic. One moment he’s down in a defensive stance, the next he is sprinting up the sideline.
Something will go wrong and his head will hang in his hands, at least for a second, before he locks in on the next defensive play.
South East Melbourne Phoenix coach Josh King.Credit: The Age, Getty Images
The only difference between King and the rest of the South East Melbourne Phoenix roster is that he is the coach, not the college sharpshooter who was once so enraged at missing a few shots that he ripped his jersey in two.
The North Carolina native is a basketball blur in a polo shirt. He hates losing, he drinks too much coffee and competes like every possession matters because to him it does.
King parachuted into the NBL at the end of October after the Phoenix parted ways with respected coach Mike Kelly following a 0-5 start. He’d just finished a coaching job in Turkey.
Since King’s arrival, the Phoenix have gone 15-8 to book themselves into the best-of-three semi-final series against the Illawarra Hawks, starting in Wollongong on Friday night. Game two is at John Cain Arena on Sunday. They are now five wins from the title.
Maybe some of them think I’m batshit crazy but they’ve allowed me to be myself and coach this team the way I want to.
South East Melbourne Phoenix coach Josh King
Hyper-energetic coaches don’t always work out in professional sport, sometimes they are too much for their players who start blocking them out.
“I’m going to be myself coaching, and if a player can’t accept that, it’s going to be really tough,” King said.
“These guys have accepted me for who I am or we wouldn’t be having this kind of success.
“Maybe some of them think I’m batshit crazy, but they’ve allowed me to be myself and coach this team the way I want to. The buy-in from this group is tremendous and that is why we have had success.”
South East Melbourne Phoenix coach Josh King reacts to a bad play.Credit: Getty Images
While some players follow King’s energy, forward Malique Lewis, age 20, admits it is sometimes a bit much. Lewis has performed strongly playing a key defensive role in the comeback win over Adelaide 36ers in the play-in game to reach the semi-finals.
“I just try my best not to look at it because he reacts to everything,” Lewis said.
South East Melbourne Phoenix coach Josh King speaks with forward Malique Lewis.Credit: Getty Images
“First time I was like “Damn, what’s he doing?
“When you actually get a coach who is into it like that, you just have to understand whatever he does on the sideline is not personal. You miss a shot and see him holding his head, it’s not really towards you, it’s just him expressing himself.”
The competitive drive that King has brought to the Phoenix has been with him all his life.
In his playing days at college in Eastern Carolina and Eckerd College, King had the nickname of “Bulldog” due to his tenacity on court.
“I hate to lose. I hate to lose. Still to this day, I get it that it’s part of the process and the experience and you learn more losing blah, blah, blah, but I hate losing. I’m a sore loser,” King said.
“That’s part of the fear. I don’t want to lose this game. I don’t want to lose this possession and in order to win the game, you have to stack possession after possession and that’s why every one of them is important.”
King’s former teammate at Eckerd College, Joey Cantens, now the head coach at Daytona State, added King’s ferocity was on show from his college years.
“He is one of the most intense competitors I’ve ever been around,” Cantens said.
“He was a great college basketball player, but what made him special was his competitive spirit. I still have a vivid memory of “Bulldog” getting so mad after missing a few shots that he ripped his jersey and [our] coach made him pay for it to be replaced.”
King has made an immediate impact on his players, although some worry he could injure himself during a game.
South East Melbourne Phoenix guard Angus Glover.Credit: Getty Images
“I’m more worried he’s going to ping a calf or a hamstring as he’s not warming up,” Phoenix guard Angus Glover said with a laugh.
“But he actually provides energy for us on the floor, with the way he’s carrying on and getting into every single play on the offensive and defensive ends. It’s easy to play for a guy like that.”
What offsets his mannerisms is his clear instructions and a player-first mentality, he’s also established a rapport with those players including Glover whose hamstring comment quickly drew a response.
“Angus can chill. I will be fine,” King said, feigning anger.
South East Melbourne Phoenix coach Josh King urges his players on.Credit: Getty Images
“I don’t do any stretching. My wife tells me all the time that I need to stretch because I’m getting older, but I’m in OK shape.”
King never knew about international basketball until he visited Cantens while he was coaching in Germany. He has since coached in Germany, Czechia and Turkey, and his philosophy on basketball is simple. He wants to play the game fast, defend full court and treat every movement like it is life or death.
“Players can get frustrated with me as every single play matters to me,” King said.
“Everyone wants to treat the last play or the last two minutes or the last quarter as special, but to me, the fourth play of the first quarter is just as important as those plays.
“I haven’t been a head coach that long, but there have been times where I’ll be like, I will try to act differently … but I can’t.
“Once the game starts, it’s go time.”
He had to work quickly to implement this style with the Phoenix, which he did by giving the team his “big picture” of how he wanted to play and then pushing them to follow it.
“He wants to play fast-paced at both ends and get up the floor [defensively] for 94 feet [full court] – teams aren’t used to that in the NBL,” Glover said.
“I played under Chase Buford [at Sydney Kings] who was very similar in pushing the pace offensively as I think that is a recipe for success in this league.
“Josh has learned some things whilst being here and he has adjusted quickly, but a lot of his philosophies have translated straight away.”
King’s energy isn’t just fuelled by basketball but coffee. The Australian flat white, with an extra shot, won him over early until he traded out the milk and moved to a long black.
“It could be six, seven. It could be eight [coffees per day]. I don’t know but I know it’s not good that I drink that much, so I’m trying to cut back,” King said.
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