Dongbu Coach Jeon Chang-jin and KT&G Coach Kim Dong-gwang

The uniforms are still new but already soaked in sweat.

Dongbu coach Jeon Chang-jin(left) and KT&G coach Kim Dong-gwang. They will be manning the bench of their new teams this season, which begins on October 21, as Dongbu and KT&G took over TG Sambo and SBS, respectively.

Their debuts are fast approaching, but they are expected to be met with difficulty at the beginning of the season.

Dongbu, aiming to repeat as champion, was slow in deciding whether to buy TG Sambo. That lowered the morale of the players and left little time for training. Its coach Jeon Chang-jin and main center Kim Joo-sung joined training camp only last month after having been selected for the national team. The departure of Shin Ki-sung, the point guard who left for KTF, seems to have left a vacuum on the team.

KT&G took basketball fans by storm last season by advancing to the semi-finals. But the team started training only this week because its main players, Yang Hee-seung and Kim Sung-cheol, suffered injuries. Dante Jones, a star foreign player, is said to be not doing as well as he had previously. In addition, KT&G skipped the team opening ceremony, citing tight schedules, which surely affected the morale of the players.

However, Jeon and Kim are confident about the upcoming season. They each believe that they can become the champion. They said in one voice, “We will do our best to play well and give our fans a new look.”

Jong-Seok Kim kjs0123@donga.com