Self-Confident Rookies, ``Court Is Too Narrow for Us``

All 19 rookies made a debut in the 2001-2002 professional basketball league. But there is no need to watch carefully over these rookies. Among the rookies, only three players are worthy of being watched.

They are Song Young-Jin (LG Sakers), Jeon Hyung-Soo (Korea Tender Prumi), and Kim Seung-Hyun (Dongyang Orions), who were selected as No.1, No.2 and No.3 in the rookie draft. Thanks to the excellent performance of those three rookies, last year`s second place LG earned its 3rd consecutive win to be a leader, and last place Dongyang and 8th place Korea Tender tied at the second place.

Song Young-Jin can be compared to all-time most offensive rookie of the year Lee Kyu-Seop (Samsung Thunders). Song and Lee have the same height (1m 98) and the same position (forward). Experts thought before the season opening that Song could not be comparable to Lee. But Song succeeded to transform himself in a most magnificent way after joining the LG in which he met again Head Coach Kim Tae-Hwan, who was a head coach of his college team.

In game with SK Knights on 7th, he presented that he was no longer a `green` rookie, recording 25 points for 30 minutes even under the intensive pressure of `defensive expert` Roderick Hannibal and `Goliath center` Seo Jang-Hoon.

Song recorded 20.3 points per game in recent three games (3 rebounds and 3.3 assists per game), which was almost two times more than Lee`s last year record, 12.7 points per game. And he had concentrated on the play within paint zone in his college days, but he has now grown up to an all-around player who is excellent in penetration, perimeter shot, and defense.

Song Young-Jin said, ``I was too nervous to discern the opponent players in the beginning. But I have tried to shake off the burden so that I can now figure out the flow of the game.``

As he led the team`s victory against the Samsung Thunders in spite of his injury, Kim Seung-Hyun has been praised as comparable to the next-generation best point guard Joo Hee-Jung (Samsung). Kim Seung-Hyun bumped with Artimus McClary to injure around his eyes in the second quarter, but returned to the court with a bandage after being treated in near hospital. Such a fighting spirit held his team together to win this game. He has a smaller size (1m78, 74kg) than Joo Hee-Jung (1m 81, 78kg), but he has changed the team`s mood, recording 6.7 assists per game (11.3 points and 3 rebounds per game) with a fast dribble and passing ability.

As both point guard and shooting guard, Jeon Hyung-Soo became a team`s main scorer, recording 17 points per game (3.3 assists) with an accurate shooting.

hyangsan@donga.com