Reigning NBA champions the Golden State Warriors are the league's best, but they want to be better and they've recruited a Queenslander to help them.
Former Australian rugby sevens strength and conditioning coach Lachlan Penfold will be the Warriors' head of physical performance and sports medicine this season.
He has already embarked on his daunting challenge of helping make a team led by NBA MVP Steph Curry better.
While most players don't return until mid-September, a handful including Curry, Andre Iguodala, Harrison Barnes and James McAdoo are back in the gym in Oakland, California.
And so far, Penfold says the NBA's benchmark has been receptive to potential improvement.
"This is a really good playing group, they're a hard working, honest, humble group of guys I've met and they're really open and accepting," he said.
"I'm just trying to build a relationship with them and find out what works and doesn't work them and how to help them become better.
The Warriors' chemistry, lauded by players and pundits alike on their way to a drought-breaking championship in June, attracted Penfold to the franchise in the first place.
Where many champion teams just try to maintain their systems, the Warriors want an edge and Penfold said sport science is an area where Australia is miles ahead.
"The Warriors decided they wanted to move ahead in this year," he said.
"It's a pretty big call when the best in the league do that, most are happy to sit on their hands but they felt this was an area to improve," he said.
Penfold said the depth of US talent meant they were behind Australia in monitoring players' training loads.
"In Australia... we don't have the depth of athletic population to mess up so you've got to optimise every player you've got," he said.
"Here in the US is a lot of good players, not a lot of superstars but maybe if you didn't maximise every player or maybe it doesn't really matter if you burn a couple."
Penfold has held roles with the NRL's Sydney Roosters, AFL's Brisbane Lions and the Australian softball team.
While he's ready to implement change, perhaps the most important piece of knowledge Penfold has is not to try and reinvent an already impressive wheel.
"I guess one of the big things is they were successful last season," he said.
"If it worked, you want to leave it there, but if you can tweak it to make it better where there's room to improve (that's good)."
