Jordan of Korea, Trimmingham

"Tim Duncan is my friend. In Virgin Island, only Duncan is more famous than me."

"When I play in Australia, they called me `Michael Jordan of Australia.`"

That is how Leon Trimmingham (31, SK Knights) introduced himself when he first came to Korea.

Duncan is one of the best star players in the NBA, and one of the best NBA forwards. How could he put himself even on the plane with Duncan? And who would buy his allegation?

But what he had said proved true. It would be fairer to say that we had to believe. With the opening of this year`s season, he has demonstrated his power and speed armed with exploding resilience. Looking just at his play, no one would believe he is player in his 30s.

Naturally, he has earned lots of fans. One of the fans is Park Jong-chun, a sports commentator of KBS. Park won the championship three times in a row as the coach of Hyundai (now, SK). McDowell also contributed to Park`s triumph.

Park lauded, "Trimmingham has got what a forward has to have. He maneuvers excellently under the basket. On top of that, he is even good at throwing long-range shoots. He is just for the Korean pro basketball."

Park compares him with Hiks, who played in Korea last year. In other words, he is the best among the foreign players in the Korea pro league.

What would be Trimmingham`s judgment on Hiks? In the first round, Trimmingham lost the game. In the second, however, he paid back. He said, "I am stronger and faster than Hiks. I know he was the best player last season. However, that would not happen again."

One thing desired more of Trimmingham is his weakness in body checking under the basket. But he makes up for this weakness with accurate shooting and elasticity.

What he aims now is to add one more championship to his resume. Right upon graduating Cliff University in US, he went over to Australia. In 1994, he was selected for the Best 5 with second-most scores and 5th-most rebounds, earning himself a nickname Michael Jordan of Australia. Again in 1998 and 2001, he got his teams championships in Venezuela and Puerto Rico, respectively.

As of Dec. 2nd, he is leading two races with 27.59 points and 2.65 blocking per game. Moreover, he also records 10.12 rebounds and 2.12 blocking shoots per game.

Sang-Ho Kim hyangsan@donga.com