Tall (203 cm) center Lee Jong-hyeon (29, photo), brought by professional basketball player Jeonju KCC at the trade deadline, is emerging as a hope for spring basketball.
KCC won the 2022-2023 SKT A-Dot Professional Basketball Changwon LG home game at Jeonju Gymnasium on the 5th, winning 87-64. The secret to revenge against LG, which was completely defeated by 19 points on the 22nd of last month, is the revival of competitiveness under the goal, which was a weakness.
Lee Seung-hyun, the pillar behind the goal, left the team due to an elbow injury and fell into a pit of five consecutive losses until the previous game. At this time, KCC ranked 9th out of 10 teams with an average of 33.6 rebounds, an important indicator of competitiveness under the goal, and on this day, it caught a whopping 40 rebounds. As the bottom of the goal stabilized, Yatoo, which was a hunting game, came back to life and overpowered LG.
If there was anything that had changed in KCC, it was Lee Jong-hyun, who was recruited after sending Kim Jin-yong and Park Jae-hyun to Goyang Carrot on the 1st. KCC coach Jeon Chang-jin hoped that Lee Jong-hyun would help Lee Seung-hyun, who was out for about three weeks due to injury, to at least partially fill the void in the semifinal playoff fight. There was also a sense of psychological stability and anticipation that Lee Jong-hyun could resurrect his relationship with Korea University’s senior, ‘best friend’ Lee Seung-hyun.
On this day, before his KCC debut, Lee Jong-hyun recorded 4 points and 3 rebounds while playing 15 minutes and 42 seconds. Performance was not bad compared to the time. Lee Jong-hyun was brought in at the beginning of the second quarter, when KCC was leading 23-19, and he focused on helping his first-time teammates. It is true that his name value, which was selected as the national team since his days at Kyungbok High School and was called the future of Korean basketball, is still lacking.
Still, Lee Jong-hyun’s playing on the court was obviously of great help to KCC, which has no tall players over 2m. If Lee Jong-hyun focuses on defense and rebounding, La Gun-ah can freely run under the goal. On this day, La Gun-ah, who flew wildly while pouring out 32 points, welcomed, saying, “Lee Jong-hyun came and his height has increased.” The two also had a relationship that led to the combined championship by eating rice in one pot at Hyundai Mobis in the 2018-2019 season. 안전놀이터
KCC, which ended its losing streak with Lee Jong-hyun’s joining, gained hope again. KCC recorded 17 wins and 20 losses, rising to the sole 6th place, the final line of the 6th round. Before the opening, KCC recruited Lee Seung-hyun and Heo Woong as free agents (FA) at once and pledged to win the championship, but with Lee Jong-hyun joining, KCC raised expectations for a rebound again.