The Sydney Kings sit last on the ladder but new coach Joe Connelly believes his side has the talent to make a run to the NBL finals.
The former NBA assistant coach was on Monday appointed as interim coach for the rest of the season, taking the reins from Damian Cotter, who was sacked on Saturday following a 96-90 defeat to Illawarra.
It was the Kings' ninth loss from 12 games this campaign under Cotter, but with star import Josh Childress fit and Connelly bringing a fresh approach, the glamour club are ready to step it up.
With 16 regular-season matches remaining, Connelly said the play-offs were still a realistic goal.
"More than anything I'm excited to come into the current situation because of the calibre of players we have on this team," said Cotter, whose first match in charge will be a road trip to Cairns on Friday night.
"Already it's clear that they are on board and ready to work.
"Life is all about embracing challenges and we believe the play-offs are still within reach so this is the perfect situation for us to do something special."
In a sign of the franchise's intention to release Cotter, Connelly was brought on as a specialist coach a fortnight ago.
The Baltimore native, together with his three brothers, all have strong links to the NBA, where Joe spent three years as an assistant coach with the Washington Wizards between 2011-14.
His strength lies is in player development, where he has mentored the likes of superstars John Wall and Carmelo Anthony.
"It was essentially Joe's genuine qualities, interpersonal skills and coaching experience that led the club to offer Joe the interim head coach position," said head of basketball operations Tim Hudson.
Cotter's axing was met with fierce criticism from both Australian legend Andrew Gaze and Heal, who accused current chairman Phil Hudson of lacking leadership, having overseen just one play-off appearance since re-entering the league in 2010.
Gaze said he was disappointed with the decision to fire Cotter, who has only had star import Josh Childress on the court for two of their 12 matches this year.
"If he's not the best player in the competition, he's certainly one of them, and when you don't have your best player, and you're being assessed on that, it's difficult," Gaze told Fox Sports.
KINGS RECORD SINCE RE-ENTERING THE LEAGUE
2010-11: 8-20, last
2011-12: 11-17, 7th
2012-13: 12-16, 5th and out in first round of the play-offs
2013-14: 12-16, 6th
2014-15: 9-19, 7th
2015-16: currently 3-9 and last
COACHES
Ian Robilliard: 16 wins, 33 losses at 33 per cent
Shane Heal: 27 wins, 35 losses at 44 per cent
Damian Cotter: 12 wins, 28 losses at 30 per cent
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