Brian Goorjian and the backgammon path home to Sydney
brian goorjian says a late-night conversation and a long memory helped shape the move that brought him back to the Sydney Kings. The coach tied his return to Luc Longley, a bond first built over backgammon in China 10 years ago and revisited in early 2024. The timing matters now because Sydney is back on its home floor for the winner-take-all final game of the Championship Series.
The call that changed the path
Goorjian said Longley first planted the idea in 2016, when the two connected while Goorjian was coaching in Guangzhou and Longley was an assistant coach under Andrej Lemanis. Their relationship grew through late-night games of backgammon, and Longley made an offhand remark about Goorjian finishing his career with the Kings.
Goorjian said that idea was not on his mind at the time. But the conversation stayed with him, and the link between the two men remained in place as Goorjian later took the Boomers job in 2020 and then returned to the NBL with the Illawarra Hawks.
Why the moment felt different
In early 2024, Goorjian had several options in the background before the Paris Olympics, including Adelaide, the Phoenix and a potential future coaching role with a new Newcastle franchise. He said the call from Longley one night while he was sitting on the couch with his wife Amanda changed the way he viewed the Kings opportunity.
“You get to that age where you have a feeling and what was out there I didn’t really have any energy towards, ” Goorjian said. “But when Luc called about the opportunity of going back to the Kings, I was like, ‘wow’. ”
He said Longley reminded him of the earlier comment about finishing his career in Sydney and then asked him to speak with owner Robyn Denholm. Goorjian said Denholm’s vision around community and growing the brand helped make it feel like the right decision.
What the Game 5 backdrop adds
The Sydney Kings are now preparing for the deciding game of the Championship Series against Adelaide. The pressure is high after Sydney let strong positions slip in both games in Adelaide, turning the final contest into a season-defining night.
Goorjian’s focus inside the team has stayed on effort and control. He said the group’s mantra through the playoffs has been TNT, short for “takes no talent, ” and that the priorities remain communication, pressure on the ball and running the floor hard.
Immediate reactions from the sideline
Goorjian framed the task in simple terms. “Our whole mantra, especially through the Playoff series, has been TNT, ‘takes no talent’, ” he said. “Walking into the locker room for the minute before we walk on court, the crowds are irrelevant, the refs are irrelevant, and the opposition is irrelevant. Just control everything that you do that involves effort. ”
He added that the approach has been tested over the year and that the team believes it will get what it wants by the end of the season if it stays locked into the process. Lanard Copeland, an NBL legend, has also pushed the conversation around the stakes by raising the question of whether failure to close out the series would amount to the “biggest choke in history. ”
What happens next
All eyes now turn to the final game, with the Kings back home and the championship on the line. For Goorjian, the journey back to Sydney began with a backgammon board and a call from Luc Longley, and the full meaning of that path could be settled in brian goorjian’s next result.
