(DANIEL EADE is a freelance journalist, basketball fan, and BPL contributor)

The Sydney Kings have not shied away from wielding the axe this season, having already cut imports Rod Grizzard and Taj McCullough, along with Luke Kendall after only one game. They have been swift in severing ties with players as they romantically search for a saviour to rescue their embarrassingly underachieving team.

Last night, the Kings dropped their 12th consecutive game, drowning in the NBL standings with a 1-12 record. The Violet Crumbles have never been such a sad excuse for a basketball team as they are now.

With their belief, however delusional, that they should be a team challenging for the playoffs, how long will the Kings keep import Trey Gilder once the calendar changes over to 2011?

In his short time in Australia, for a total of five games, Gilder has shown that he is capable of making quality moves to the basket, but it is his lack of production over a full game that is going to eventually lead to the Kings packing his bags for him and ending their relationship.

It is unfair on Gilder, because he is stuck with a team that is so lost when they have the ball that even Andrew Gaze commented on the Kings' offence that if the ball isn't going inside to Julian Khazzouh, "I'm not sure what they do."

With their playoff dreams killed long ago, and the Kings standing side-by-side with head coach Ian Robillard, in all likelihood Gilder will be shown the door.

While they are still wait for Mark Dickel to play, injury continuing to hold back the Kings newest addition, it will stop the Kings from chasing or acquiring an import point guard, believing that Dickel is the chosen one and that when he does eventually debut everything will start smelling like roses in an instant.

Gilder will play on New Year's Eve against the Cairns Taipans, but will he survive until the next game, on January 8 against the Townsville Crocodiles? With the Kings having a bye the following week, and their next game not until January 21 against the Wollongong Hawks, now would appear the obvious time for a change - if the club goes down that path.

In five appearances so far, Gilder has averaged 10.6ppg and 5.8rpg, not the worst production from an import in recent years, but not enough to stop him from being scared if the coach asks for a chat one day.

While the Kings check to see if Rodney Overby has met any other NBA Future Hall-of-Famers in TGIFs in the last decade (see Allen Iverson, and our column on BPL last week), the club is desperate for the next Dwayne McClain or Leon Trimmingham to stumble upon them and push the team in the right (winning) direction.

Unfortunately for Gilder, he could be the scapegoat for the Kings, recent poor form, which outdates his time with the team. But when excuses need to be made, the Kings have a history of axing their imports.

How the Kings handle this will be interesting.

If they soon make a decision to replace Gilder, in a similar way Robillard sent McCullough off, it will be a swift and harsh move to say the least.

But if the Kings say that they are after a bigger import to mix it up in the paint, and also want to free up more court time for rising star Ben Madgen, the move becomes more acceptable than just pointing the finger and blaming Gilder.