Korea Aegis? There’s also Korea Boom!
There’s even a community reaction, “Heo Jae’s Bokko energy has passed to Heo Hoon”. KT got lucky again.
Suwon KT won the No. 1 pick in the 2023 KBL Rookie Draft Ranking Lottery held at the KBL Center on Thursday.
KT, which finished eighth last season, had the highest probability (16%) of winning the top pick, along with Seoul Samsung, Daegu Korea Gas Corporation, and Wonju DB. It was number 32 out of 200 balls, and when Kim pushed the button, the ball with KT’s name on it was the first to come up.
It’s nothing new for a team that missed the playoffs to get the No. 1 pick, but when it’s KT, it’s a different story. KT has had the good fortune to hold the No. 1 and No. 2 picks for the past seven seasons, starting in 2017 when they held two of the rotational picks in a trade with Changwon LG.
Prior to KT, it was former Busan KCC coach Heo Jae who was considered to have the best aura in the draft. Wonju DB (then Sambo) won the No. 1 pick in 2002, when Heo was a player-coach. DB selected Kim Joo-sung, who was playing for the national team, to lead the team to six regular season titles and three championships.
Heo also won the No. 1 pick in 2008, after taking over as head coach of KCC. KCC drafted the first Korean NBA player, Ha Seung-jin, and won two championships in three consecutive seasons, starting with the 2008-2009 season when Ha made his debut.
KCC also won the No. 1 pick in the 2009 Naturalized Mixed-Blood Draft with a 1/N probability, selecting Jeon Tae-pung. Then, in the 2012 Foreign Player Draft, they pulled off a miracle that is still talked about. With only a 1.5% chance of getting the first pick. The rebuilding KCC selected Courtney Sims with the first pick and acquired Kim Hyo-beom and Chris Alexander in a trade with Seoul SK during the 2012-2013 season.
Coincidentally, Heo’s second son, Heo Hoon, played for KT before enlisting in the military and will be discharged in November. It’s not unreasonable to say that Heo’s good fortune has been passed on to Heo Hoon.
In this year’s draft, Moon Jung-hyun, Park Mubin (Korea University), and Yoo Yoo-sang (Yonsei University) are considered the top three candidates. Of the three, Moon was selected for the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games, while Park and Yoo are considered immediate contributors.바카라사이트
In the offseason free agency market, Choi Jun-yong joined KCC, giving the team the nickname “Korea Aegis”. The team already has Heo Woong, Lee Seung-hyun, Song Kyo-chang, and Ragan-ah, and Choi Jun-yong is a superstar with national team experience. KCC isn’t the only team with a strong roster. KT also has Heo Hoon and Ha Yoon-ki, who are both serving in the military, competing in the Asian Games. If it weren’t for an ankle injury, Moon Sung-gon would have also been in the mix.
And one of the ‘Moon Yoo-bak’. At this point, it’s the “Korea Boom” (Korea + Suwon KT Sonic Boom), and I’m curious to see how KT, one of the three teams that has never won the championship along with Changwon LG and Daegu KOGAS, will perform this season as the “Korea Boom”.