SK, KCC 3 and 4 Straight Wins in Korean Professional Basketball Exhibition Games Respectively

The results of the exhibition games in professional basketball league are likely to be the exact opposite from the final standings of last year’s league standings.

SK, in last place among 10 teams last year, is taking the lead with three straight wins in the group B exhibition league and KCC, second to last place, finished their games as the only team in group A with four consecutive wins. They showed a complete turnaround just before the regular season gets started on October 25.

It is true that Lee Sang-yoon, manager of SK, and Shin Sun-woo, manager of KCC, didn’t have high expectations for their exhibition games. Manager Lee said, “Our capabilities did not improve considerably compared to those of last season.” Manager Shin grumbled, “Lee Sang-min and Choo Sung-kyun were transferred to represent Korea, and the replacement players joined us late.”

But they turned out to be only a big fuss when the games were played. SK won by an average of 4.3 points margin in the three games, with each game being very close. KCC showed great basketball skills as they won both their overtime games.

The reason why SK improved so much is because Manager Lee, who took Korea Tender into the final four last season, brought a new managing system using strong tactics. He respected the players’ opinions and appointed both starting players and bench players without strict lines, inspiring their morale and focusing on defense and teamwork which proved correct.

Cho Sung-won (32), a veteran player who worked out to increase his physical strength during the summer without a day’s rest, lead the team with an average of 22 points per game. Son Kyu-wan, who had complained about his lack of playing time, scored an average 13 points per game from both the inside and outside. Manager Lee Sang-yoon said pleasingly, “The perception of us as a weak team is now changed.”

The improvement of the sixth man is remarkable to KCC. Pyo Myung-il and Choi Min-kyu were qualified for being back-up players to Lee Sang-min and Choo-Sung kyun respectively, and Manager Shin figures KCC will have enough reserve players for each position. Minlend, selected first in the subsidiary player draft, was given attention because of his exceptional shooting ability despite his poor conditioning. Manager Shin sun-woo said satisfactorily, “The exhibition games were opportunities for us to gain some confidence ahead of the regular season.”

Jong-Seok Kim kjs0123@donga.com