The 2024-25 KCC professional basketball begins on the 19th.
On the 19th, a match will be held at Sajik Gymnasium in Busan between Busan KCC and Suwon KT, who faced each other in the championship game last season. Starting with three games, including this one, the regular league will last for about six months until April 8, 2025.
On the 15th, the professional basketball opening media day was held at Blue Square in Yongsan-gu, Seoul. Wonju DB received the most votes as the winning candidate predicted by the coaches and representative players of the 10 teams on the field. The performance graph of KCC, a ‘super team’ comprised of brilliant stars, is also of interest. In addition, Changwon LG is attracting attention with its bold team composition that changes most of the best five. If you pay attention to these three teams at the beginning of the new season, the fun of professional basketball will increase.
◆ Will DB be the final winner of the short-term match? = DB won ‘wire to wire’ in the regular league last season by maintaining first place in all rounds. This season, foreign player Didric Lawson, who played a key role in the team’s last regular season championship, left the team. However, newly added center Chinanu Onuaku maintained his solid height and won the KBL Cup competition that ended on the 13th.
At Media Day on the 15th, 4 out of 10 professional basketball teams, or 40%, nominated DB as a candidate for the championship. Park Moo-bin of Ulsan Hyundai Mobis said, “DB has good depth (player base) in all positions and Onuaku previously played for DB. “I think we work well together because we have enemies together,” he said.
However, DB suffered from being eliminated by KCC in the semifinal playoffs after winning the regular season last season. DB coach Kim Joo-seong said, “This season, our goal is to advance to the championship and win the championship overall.”
◆Super team KCC will ride another roller coaster = KCC ranked 5th in the regular league last season, but won the playoffs with tremendous momentum and even won the championship.
KCC, known as the ‘super team’ due to its brilliant lineup of star players including Heo Woong, Song Kyo-chang, Choi Jun-yong, and Lee Seung-hyun, fell to the bottom of the rankings due to a series of injuries early in the season and poor player chemistry. However, they showed their determination in the second half of the season and even achieved victory for the first time in history as a 5th place team in the regular league.
KCC coach Jeon Chang-jin sighed, saying there was a lot of bad news ahead of the season. He explained, “Song Kyo-chang is in rehabilitation, and Choi Jun-yong has to rest for about four weeks due to an injury to the sole of his foot.” Foreign player Tyler Davis left the team right before the start of the season due to unsuccessful rehabilitation, and naturalized player La Gun-ah also left at the end of last season.
KCC, unable to operate at full strength in the early stages, is likely to be a slow starter like last season. Coach Jeon Chang-jin said, “I look forward to the synergy between Lee Seung-hyun and Dionte Burton.”
◆How far will LG go after all the changes? = LG recruited shooter Jeon Seong-hyun and guard Doo Kyung-min during the off-season. With the addition of Cal Tamayo, a 2m2cm tall player from the Philippines national team, as the new Asia Quarter player, the team color has completely changed to aggressive. The change is such that it’s safe to say that the team has become a different team, except for Assem Marey’s constant defense of the goal.
If the new faces create a synergy effect, the explosive power is expected to be great, but if the organizational power is not revived, the worst result may occur. tvN commentator Moon Kyeong-eun said of LG, “I think they can cruise along if they quickly come up with a new combination and get at least 5 wins in the first round.”
In addition, KT and Hyundai Mobis were predicted to be in the top rankings due to their well-balanced offense and defense. Seoul SK, Daegu Korea Gas Corporation, and Goyang Sono were predicted to be in the top six, while Anyang CheongKwanJang and Seoul Samsung were predicted to be in the bottom half due to their relatively weak power.
Reporter Eun-kyung Lee [email protected]
