Alex Toohey calls it "scary".
Bul Kuol says it's a "well-oiled machine".
The Sydney Kings are talented and deep, but it's what they have the capacity to do on the defensive end that's the identity of this team.
"I haven't had a team like this before," Kings head coach Brian Goorjian told ESPN.
It starts with Kuol and Toohey up top, as a pair of long, athletic, active win defenders. What if one of them checks out of the game? In comes Izayah Le'Afa, who's one of the best point-of-attack defenders in the league, or then Jaylin Galloway, who uses his own length and athleticism to be a pest guarding off the ball.
If that's not enough, waiting inside the paint is the versatility of Xavier Cooks, the athleticism of Cam Oliver, and the strength of Keli Leaupepe. There isn't imposing height up front, but there's positional size to theoretically make up for that. All in all, the Kings have built a roster that can have multiple players guard primary scorers at an elite level, with the positional size and versatility to throw a heap of different schemes at you, and under the guidance of a proven defensive-minded coach in Goorjian.
"It's everybody on a string," Goorjian said. "It's everybody in the right spots. All the rotations are right, the communication. This is long, athletic, in the lanes, doubling, rotating, flying around. It's a different deal.
"It's different to the league, and the league is getting different... In the league in general, the athleticism side of it is growing, and we, in the recruiting, have got athleticism, we've got length, and the defence can get us playing at pace.
"I've had some pretty good defensive teams, but when I talk about this style of defence, it's new to me; it's different. The answer is no, I haven't had this style, and this depth, and this length and quickness before."
The Kings are coming off a season -- under short-lived head coach Mahmoud Abdelfattah -- that was a departure from previous seasons from a defensive standpoint.
The team finished bottom-three in defensive efficiency -- allowing 113.4 points per 100 possessions -- operating in what ended up being a scheme of unyielding switching of everything. It was a far cry from the two seasons prior, under Chase Buford, where the Kings finished with a top-three Defensive Rating. So, in a league where defence is, more often than not, the determent for success, the 2024-25 season's Kings were clearly built to excel on that end of the floor.
"It's a well-oiled machine," Kuol said. "It's a lot of guys with the same mentality. I know they've got my back, whenever I'm picking up full court. They've got the same approach as well. If my guy beats me, I know they're right there. We have each other's backs, and we're all aggressive. Not one guy is standing out, because we all have the approach. It's a fun mix to be around."
The recruitment of Cooks was key. He was the top priority for Goorjian and CEO Chris Pongrass when constructing this roster, with the pair traveling to the Philippines early in the off-season to pitch to the talented forward while he was still playing for Japan's Chiba Jets.
Once Cooks was in, the rest fell into place. Next on the list was Kuol, who the Kings tried to bring to Sydney the previous off-season. It was widely known that the three-and-D wing was looking for a change of scenery after three seasons in Cairns, and the Kings were almost immediately at the top of his list this time around. Le'Afa was also a priority signing for the Kings this off-season, and the team shrewdly kept a roster spot open in the chance Galloway became available late in the piece; he did, adding to Goorjian's embarrassment of riches on the wing.
"They're all such different defenders, in a sense," Cooks said.
"Bul is more physical, in your face. So is Izayah. Whereas other guys are smarter with their distance and that. It's awesome to see how everyone works their things. The thing I like most about this team is that everyone's enthusiastic to play defence. You don't have to ask anyone to have effort on defence. We're the kind of team where, if someone has a great defensive play, we're all getting around them; it's not just offence. On the defensive end, we're taking real pride in that."
Combine all of those acquisitions with what's expected to be quite a substantial leap from Toohey -- the team's Australian Next Star -- and the Kings have the potential to throw countless lethal defensive combos out there.
"I get excited," Toohey said. "Especially Bul and I, we're kind of just on that page where we don't have to communicate; it automatically switches. I can go for a steal, get out of position, and he'll cover for me, and then I'll do the same thing with him.
"That kind of connection is super important. We've got some talented offensive players but having that is definitely scary. The others are incredible athletes. The amount of hands we get on balls, and how we get in the lanes, and press up the court, it's gonna be scary."
We saw a glimpse of what the Kings could be during their opening game of the NBL Blitz. It was a team that was flying around defensively, causing havoc in the lanes, then running like crazy. Kuol cited conditioning as a factor, while the team also scrimmages significantly more than they used to.
"It's fun," Kuol said. "I think that's our brand of basketball. That's why we scrimmage so much. We get used to doing that at practice so, when games come, it's just common; it's normal."
What's interesting is that, even though these Kings have seemingly been built to be a hyper-effective defensive team, we only really saw glimpses of it over the preseason. There's an aspect of the team still tightening their rules, and developing general chemistry with one another, as they aim to reach their ceiling on that end of the floor. The offensive side has actually been where they've looked particularly high-powered, and that will only improve once they truly find their footing defensively, with that facilitating their ability to push the pace even more.
The Kings open their regular season at HoopsFest with a matchup against the Adelaide 36ers, and that's where we'll get our first taste of what they look like on both ends in a meaningful game.
We'll see when the Kings reach that defensive potential; it could be in game one, or it could take a few. What does seem clear, though, is that the vibe around this team feels substantially healthier than it did at the same point last season. There's more connectivity and energy -- both in games and in practice -- and more structure, buoyed by the leadership and selflessness of Cooks, under the guidance of Goorjian.
"The biggest indicator for me is just the communication at training; how feisty everyone is," Toohey said.
"We've got Cam yelling at X, X going at Cam, me going at X, JG talking. It's trash talk, I guess you can call it, but it's all pushing each other to get better. We're training super hard, so I think that'll definitely show. We feel like we're a pretty fit team.
"I think it's the personalities; guys wanna win no matter what. Guys will sacrifice anything for that. Feeling that, it's one of those teams you can't really describe, but, when you watch us play, you can kind of feel it: like, man, if this team figures it out, we're gonna be scary."