Andrew Bogut likes what he's seen of new teammate Jerome Randle, in what looms as potentially one of the great little and large combinations the NBL has seen.
Towering 213cm former NBA title-winning centre Bogut and 175cm former NBL MVP Randle are two of the reasons why Sydney have been installed as competition favourites by betting institutions.
Bogut and Randle have played just one-pre-season game together over the past few weeks.
Both could both be part of the Kings squad for two matches against reigning NBL champions Melbourne United later this week.
"He's great, he puts a lot of pressure on the other team, especially attacking the paint," Bogut said of Randle.
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"Very good defensively for us with his ball pressure.
"As long as he continues to do that and he keeps buying into what we're doing we'll be fine."
Bogut believes the addition of two long distance shooting bigs in Boomers stalwart Daniel Kickert and new import forward David Wear will help Randle and himself find more room in the paint.
He said Sydney had had improved a lot offensively and defensively at training, but looked forward to testing themselves against United in Bendigo on Thursday and in Melbourne two days later.
"They are the pinnacle of our league," Bogut said.
"For us to go in there and compete against a team that we consider the championship favourite, it will let us know where we're at."
Melbourne guard Chris Goulding was more concerned with developing his side's cohesion and style than sussing out Sydney's star-studded new lineup.
'"It's more an opportunity for us to try and play some games with a new team and work in our systems and get guys comfortable with each other, as opposed to looking too far into what they (Sydney) are going to be doing,'" Goulding told AAP.
He doubted there would be any extra external expectations or pressure on his club, who have lost two key players in Casey Prather and Tai Wesley.
"Obviously, we want to try and stay at that level," Goulding said.
"But I would have said there was probably more pressure last year when we'd assembled a pretty impressive roster and everyone was thinking like we should win it."
