Torrey Craig is glad he's part of the Sydney Kings from the start of this NBL season, he showed he's still got plenty of lift in his legs and is happy to be part of what is becoming a stifling defensive line-up.
Craig marked his return to the NBL last season playing the last 14 matches to be part of the championship triumph as the last piece of the Kings puzzle, but he is now here for the start of NBL27.
Sydney have hit the ground running as defending champions, now the last remaining undefeated team at 3-0 after Wednesday's 93-78 win at Afterpay Arena against the Brisbane Bullets.
Key to the win for the Kings was keeping the Bullets to 44 points over the last three quarters and Craig was instrumental in limiting the impact of Lithuanian point guard Arnas Velička.
He had 25 assists over the first two games for Brisbane but just five on Wednesday night with Craig and Matthew Dellavedova teaming to limit his impact, and deny him the chance to play in the pick-and-roll with Tyrell Harrison.
Craig won a Defensive Player of the Year award at the Bullets back in NBL17 and enjoys still having a big impact at that end of the floor.
"Just in general we wanted to establish a level of physicality with everyone and it just happened to be me and Delly on him (Velička), but I just kinda wanted to set the tone for the whole team," Craig said.
"I think the guys did a great job just defending overall and not just on him, but making it tough for Tyrell and a lot of those guys.
"I think tonight especially from the second quarter through the rest of our game that was more to our standard and that's a good baseline of how good we can be when we're locked in and focused on the defensive side of the ball."
Having arrived to make his first appearance on January 22 last season, Craig is also glad to have been here now in time for the start of the championship defence for the Kings.
While he obviously enjoyed being part of the championship last season, he already feels much more part of the team in NBL27.
"It feels good to build chemistry early with the guys and going on a couple of road trips in pre-season, and then getting together in Sydney has been great," Craig said.
"I enjoyed it last year as well, but I'm definitely enjoying it now because I remember last season was kind of off to a slow start so we've made it a big emphasis on getting these wins early because they're important."
One teammate of Craig's who was key to their championship triumph last season especially after Bul Kuol's knee injury was Makuach Maluach, but he's gone to another level again so far to start NBL27.
He is providing great energy, defending at a high-level and shooting the ball tremendously, and again against the Bullets he provided 19 points with 8/12 shooting including going 3/5 from the outside.
Craig couldn’t be more impressed with his continued growth.
"It's just growth and he played amazing for us last year, but I think he's been even better this year," Craig said.
"I think the game has slowed down a little bit for him and I think that's what playing deep in the season does for you, and then you have the strong off-season where he picked up where he left off.
"I think that's what he's doing and his decision-making has been good, he's playing under control and he's taking shots that he works on and that he can make.
"He's definitely playing at a high-level right now."
Not only is Craig making an impact defensively at 35, but he also shows he still has plenty of lift in his legs when late in the game against the Bullets; on the open floor, he got up to catch the alley-oop pass from Kendric Davis and throw it down.
He wasn’t sure the angle was there for the pass initially, but once the ball was out of his point guard's hands, he knew he had to make it work.
"I'm just fortunate that it went in, I'd seen an angle and I just pointed up for KD to throw it but I didn’t think he would," Craig said.
"But once we threw it, I just thought OK here we go, and I'm glad I was able to finish that and kinda get the crowd a little showtime plus the win so that was good."