Choi Jun-yong, one of the biggest free agents, wears the uniform of Jeonju KCC. With this, KCC became a team with as many as five national representatives.
KBL version of ‘Super Team’. Heo Ung, Choi Jun-yong, Song Gyo-chang, Lee Seung-hyeon, and even La Gun-ah. KCC has risen again as the strongest candidate for the championship in the upcoming 2023-24 season.
However, there is one concern. It’s a bigger problem than I thought to say one thing. It is that I cannot be with them all summer (except for Song Gyo-chang, who is scheduled to return in November). Heo Woong, Choi Jun-yong, Song Gyo-chang, Lee Seung-hyun, and La Gun-ah were all listed on the 35-man preliminary list for the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games.
It is no exaggeration to say that this summer is the season for the national team. It will be convened in early June at the earliest or in mid-June at the latest, and the national team schedule will continue until early October, starting with two domestic warm-up matches against Japan. It lasts for up to 4 months.
First of all, on July 22nd and 23rd, there will be an evaluation match against Japan at the Jamsil Student Gymnasium. And from August 12 to 20, the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) Pre-Olympic Qualifying Tournament will be held. From September 23rd to October 8th, the Hangzhou Asian Games await.
It’s a very tight schedule. As the Hangzhou Asian Games were postponed for a year, the off-season increased and the opening of the 2023-24 season was also delayed. From KCC’s point of view, even after making a ‘super team’, it has become a situation where they cannot be together at all during the off season.
It’s not just the off-season. International competitions continue throughout the season. The FIBA Asia Cup 2025 qualifiers begin in November. KCC cannot help but consider the fact that key players are selected to the national team during the season.
Heo Ung, Choi Jun-yong, Song Gyo-chang, Lee Seung-hyeon, and La Gun-ah were all players who wore the national team uniform until recently. It is unknown which of them will be excluded, but it would not be strange if all of them become national representatives in the future.
KCC coach Jeon Chang-jin is one of the leaders who thinks the off-season is very important. He’s made it clear that he doesn’t trust players he doesn’t spend the offseason with. So, it was also very surprising that newcomer Song Dong-hoon in the 2022-23 season received a lot of opportunities.스포츠토토
Of course, this may be an exception for national team players. However, not being able to keep up with the existing players during the offseason can be a huge burden for the former coach as well as the players. If you leave the national team and only look at KCC, that is the case.
This year is the most important year for the national team. It is an opportunity to recover the title of Asian powerhouse as much as it suffered humiliation in the quarterfinals’Gwangtal’ in the last FIBA Asia Cup 2022. It won’t be an easy journey, but since we don’t know when Australia and New Zealand, the ‘heavy opponents’, will be incorporated into Asia, it’s time to think of it as ‘the last’.
As much as KCC is delighted with the ‘super team’ right now, it is necessary to prepare for how to overcome their hiatus.