Coach Chase Buford says acting like "arrogant pricks" on the road to last year's NBL championship will make the Sydney Kings public enemy number one in their title defence.
Following a slow start to his first season at the helm, Buford saw results once he began preaching a "dog mentality" to the Kings.
The Sydneysiders parlayed their philosophy into a 13-game winning streak and ultimately their first championship since 2005.
"It's a mentality that resonated with our group," Buford told reporters.
"We're going to be arrogant. We're going to come in and be ourselves and be a bunch of dogs and not concern ourselves with what everyone else thinks of us."
It wasn't without its pitfalls; Buford was fined $10,000 for name-dropping the referee he hoped would not oversee the Kings in the playoffs, while guard Dejan Vasiljevic received social media threats after taunting the Tasmania JackJumpers' home crowd during the grand final series.
Buford said he didn't expect the Kings' rivals to have forgotten about their hijinks last season.
"We've got a target on our backs, for a variety of reasons," he said.
"One, we're the champs, two, we were a bunch of arrogant pricks all of last year. Everyone wants to knock us down a peg or two."
That won't stop the Kings from reprising their dog mentality this season, though.
Fronting the media on Thursday, Buford donned one of the "Dawg" jumpers he and his staff had made for exclusive use by the team last year.
The Kings have wasted little time indoctrinating their teammates, with new import Justin Simon saying Buford's ethos had resonated with him in the pre-season.
"I take pride in my work on the defensive end and playing for (Buford) has made me even more fiery to be on the ball and be a pest," Simon said.
While Buford is expecting backlash from last season's dominance, he said the new-look Kings could not expect their championship season to assure them success this time around.
"We have to know that nothing we did last year is going to help us. We're going to have to do it all again," he said.
"We're going to have to work harder, we're going to have to come together."
Overcoming the departure of all three of their imports looms as a hurdle on the road to title defence.
NBA champion Ian Clark, first-choice centre Jarell Martin and reigning league MVP Jaylen Adams left Australia in the off-season and all three were crucial to the Kings' ascension last season.
But Buford said it was not up to the new imports on their own to lift the side into championship calculations once more.
"We're going to have to get the most out of them to have a successful year but it won't be just on them," he said.
"It's going to be on us as a group."
