Just four games into the NBL season, Australian basketball icon Andrew Gaze is under the pump.
After a disappointing first campaign as an NBL head coach, there was already pressure on Gaze to turn the under-performing Sydney Kings around.
That has racheted up after a 1-3 season start capped by Thursday night's ugly 90-73 thrashing by the NZ Breakers in Auckland, which had Gaze publicly slamming his players for failing to produce any semblance of his gameplan at an extraordinary post-match media conference.
It only gets harder, with the Kings on a two-day turnaround before they front up in Adelaide on Saturday to face the 36ers, who ran them ragged in round one.
Former Kings star and coach Shane Heal predicted on Friday they would get smashed in that clash.
Six of the Kings' next seven games are on the road and Gaze must be privately ruing the club's high-profile trip to the US to play the Utah Jazz just days before their season opener, with his players appearing sluggish as well as confused on court.
A frustrated Gaze blasted the Kings' "putrid" rebounding, a long-standing team issue, after the Breakers pulled down 49 boards to his team's 29.
But there is no sign of a quick fix there.
Rather than recruit a big rebounder, the Kings chose to use their third import spot on journeyman point guard Jeremy Kendle as an injury replacement when skipper Kevin Lisch was ruled out for two months last week.
Heal had no doubt where they really needed help.
"I said before the season started I thought they needed to bring an American big in.They are under-manned on the boards," Heal told FoxSports.
"They are starting a six-foot-six centre in (American) Perry Ellis and he had two rebounds last night. He is a really good player but he is playing out of position so it's a little hard on him as well."
A former Boomers teammate of Gaze, Heal turned the heat on the players, accusing them of lacking desire and effort on court in the absence of Lisch.
"They have got a highly-paid roster ... they have enough talent. But it starts with mindset and desire and just a bit of toughness to get through a tough period," Heal said.
However, Gaze will face mounting questions about his coaching if he continues to struggle to instil successful gameplans or get his team performing consistently.
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