Basketball League Set to Kick Off on Friday

The Korean Basketball League (KBL)’s 2004-2005 season will start on October 29 with the game between the defending champions KCC Egis and the LG Sakers in Jeonju.

The 10 teams will play a total number of 270 games during the regular season; each team will play 54 games over six rounds until March next year. The games will be played every day except on Mondays, and the games will start at 3:00 p.m. from Fridays to Sundays and holidays, and at 7:00 p.m. from Tuesdays to Thursdays.

The top six teams will advance to the postseason and play two rounds of playoffs before reaching the finals. The first round of the playoffs will be best of three, the second round the best of five, and the championship series best of seven.

The level of the 10 teams has relatively leveled out, as some of the top players returned to the league from the army and teams have been freely searching for and signing foreign players instead of drafting players from tryouts. This is the ninth season of professional basketball in Korea.

Experts say that it is almost impossible to predict how things will turn out this season. Based on the teams’ performances in exhibition games and the level of foreign and domestic players, it can be roughly summed up that there are three strong contenders, five average teams, and two weak teams.

The Daegu Orions have two strong foreign players. Nate Johnson scored 47 points on October 20 as the Orions defeated the TG Xers 101-97 in an exhibition game. The Orions won all four of its preseason games. The other foreign player, Robert Jackson, is also a skillful player, and guard Kim Seung-hyun and the two imported players get along very well on the court.

The defending champions, KCC, is still strong. The Egis were not at the top of the game in the preseason because it gave many chances to its bench warmers and the sixth man. However, the core members of the last year’s championship team--Lee Sang-min, Cho Sung-won and Choo Seung-kyun--are still going strong.

Last year’s runner-up, the TG Xers, lost its captain Hur Jae as he retired after last season, but its star players such as Kim Joo-sung, Yang Kyung-min, and Shin Ki-sung are still at the top of their game, and its sixth man Shin Jong-seok shows good skills.

Challenging the three contenders are the LG Sakers, Samsung Thunders, SK Knights, KTF Magic Wings, and SBS Stars. The Knights, in particular, draw attention from the speculators when its two speedy players, Im Jae-hyun and Cho Sang-hyun, rejoined the team after having fulfilled their military service, and ace Chun Hee-chul and foreign player Chris Lang are diligently playing their positions.

The Thunders have an edge over other teams in height. Center Seo Jang-hoon and forward Lee Gyu-seop, and a foreign player will form a “triple tower” and try to reach the playoffs. The Sakers have signed Gerald Honeycutt, the first KBL player with a full-time record with an NBA team. The Magic Wings, led by Hyun Joo-yup, is a dark horse as well.

On the other hand, the ET Land Black Slamers and the Mobis Phoebus are thought to be on the weaker side. Black Slamer shooter Moon Kyung-eun is injured.

Former head coach of Mobis, Choi Hee-am, said that there are not many differences among the 10 teams in competency. “We can even say that there are eight strong teams and two average teams,” said Choi. “We will be able to tell which teams are stronger and which are not only after the season is halfway through. This season will be so fun to watch,” Choi added.

Won-Hong Lee bluesky@donga.com