Changwon LG Sakers, a professional basketball team, reinforced its strength again this year by recruiting national team forward Yang Hong-seok in the free agent (FA) market. Yang Hong-seok, who started his professional career at Suwon KT with the second pick in the 1st round of the 2017 draft, obtained his first FA qualification this year and signed a contract with Changwon LG on the 18th for a 5-year contract period and a total compensation of 750 million won. moved the team
In a way, Yang Hong-seok can be said to have ‘turned around and returned to his place’. Yang Hong-seok could have made his professional debut wearing an LG uniform. In January 2017, LG acquired Jo Seong-min through a trade with KT, and in return handed over Kim Young-hwan and the first and second rounds of the draft. And KT laid the foundation for team reconstruction by appointing Heo Hoon and Yang Hong-seok as the first and second picks in the rookie draft that year, respectively. At that time, the deal was focused on Winnow for LG and rebuilding for KT.토토사이트
However, at the time, LG did not perform as well as expected, and at the same time, it had a chronic problem that the height of the forward team was inferior, resulting in a trade close to failure. At the time of the 2017 draft nomination lottery, when Yang Hong-seok was nominated by KT, the reaction of LG officials who could not hide their bitterness became a hot topic.
KT ended the dark period by recruiting Heo Hoon and Yang Hong-seok, and later emerged as a regular player in the playoffs. On the other hand, LG had to go through ups and downs for several years before rebounding under the managerial system of Jo Sang-hyun this year.
As expected, Yang Hong-seok has grown into a league all-star and national team-class forward on the professional stage. During the past six seasons at KT, Yang Hong-seok played in 298 regular league games without major injuries, averaging 12.2 points, 5.9 rebounds and 2.0 assists. In the 2022-2023 season, he played 53 games and played an average of 32 minutes, averaging 12.6 points, 5.9 rebounds and 2.8 assists, continuing his steady performance.
LG has been exceptionally active in the transfer market for the past few years. In the 2020-2021 season, Lee Kwan-hee (trade → Seoul Samsung), ahead of the 2021-2022 season, Lee Jae-do (FA → Anyang KGC) in 2022, and Yang Hong-seok, followed by Yang Hong-seok. We built a lineup.
LG traditionally has a characteristic that it is difficult to find franchise stars or one-club men who have been with the club for a long time, while the proportion of transfer students is large. Jo Seong-won and Moon Tae-jong, who were even MVPs in the regular league as a member of LG, only spent 2-3 seasons with the club. Lee Hyun-min (retired), Kim Jong-gyu (Wonju DB), and Jeong Seong-woo (Suwon KT), who debuted at LG and won the rookie of the year, have no players left until the end.
It is regrettable that there is no person who can be readily presented as a ‘player who symbolizes LG’, even though numerous stars such as current coach Cho Sang-hyun, Seo Jang-hoon, Aaron Haynes, Moon Tae-young, Moon Tae-jong, Kim Young-man, Kim Shi-rae, Jo Seong-min, and Hyun Joo-yeop have passed through. Because of their ‘middling grades’, which were neither the championship nor the bottom, they had relatively little relationship with the top picks in the rookie draft, and at least the big-name prospects used them as trade cards with players with a sense of power immediately before their potential fully bloomed, or recruited veterans past their prime. This is a jinx that came about because there were many cases of failure.
LG is also famous for its long history and popularity as a team that has no ties to the championship. Among the current 10 professional basketball teams, there are only three teams, including LG, Suwon KT, and Daegu Korea Gas Corporation, that have never won the championship. Compared to KT-Gas Corporation, which has a rather complicated history, LG joined from the 1997-1998 season, the second year of the professional launch, and is the only club that has not changed its parent company and hometown among 10 clubs. ‘ is even holding the dishonor.
LG stepped on the spring basketball stage 15 times in 26 seasons, and in the regular league, the overall win rate is over 50% (691 wins, 665 losses, win rate .510). However, despite this, the reason why he has no experience of winning the championship is because he was weak in big games, especially in short matches. LG’s playoff win rate was only .350 with 28 wins and 53 losses.
In particular, LG took 2nd place in the regular league and went directly to the semifinals 5 times, but except for the 2000-2001 season, when they advanced to the finals for the first time since the founding, all the other 4 times were ‘upset by the 3rd place team’ and were eliminated. This year as well, in the semi-finals where they achieved second place, they were humiliated by losing all three games to Seoul SK, the third place team, and were unable to take advantage of the regular league rankings at all. This is why LG has no choice but to win the championship.
After 6 years, Yang Hong-seok, who has finally traveled a long way and wears an LG uniform, will be able to become the last ‘Hwaryongjeongjeong’ to solve the long-cherished wish of the peregrine falcon. First of all, LG can quench its thirst for a tall forward, which has been a chronic weakness of the team for several years, with the recruitment of Yang Hong-seok. Despite the excellent defensive power under coach Cho Sang-hyun, LG always had a lot of regrets in the scoring ability of domestic players and forward match-ups. Yang Hong-seok is evaluated as a player with advantages in scoring and rebounding based on his excellent physical condition of 195cm and his large amount of activity.
For Yang Hong-seok, going to LG was a major turning point in his career. Yang Hong-seok showed good performance at KT, but he also failed to win the championship. Yang Hong-seok’s ability as the number one player to lead a team is still questionable. At KT, there was a certain star named Heo Hoon, so Yang Hong-seok could not escape the image of the second person.
This season, when Heo Hoon enlisted in the military, was an opportunity for Yang Hong-seok to prove his worth, but he suffered from severe sluggishness until the middle of the season and faced a lot of criticism. The team also failed to advance to the playoffs in the round of 6, and Yang Hong-seok and KT’s finish was not very beautiful.
Early on, Yang Hong-seok hinted at a transfer, revealing his desire for a new challenge in the free agency market. After Yang Hong-seok was confirmed to join LG, he said, “I had a great desire to take on new challenges in a new environment. I will do my best to play happy and enjoyable basketball with my teammates for the passionate fans of Changwon.”
KT, which missed Yang Hong-seok, filled the vacancy by recruiting another national forward, Moon Seong-gon, from Anyang KGC instead, and Heo Hoon joined later in the next season after being discharged. The performances of Yang Hong-seok and Moon Seong-gon, who moved the team, are inevitably the most direct comparison target. In addition, SK, which recruited Oh Se-geun, and KCC, where Choi Jun-yong joined and Song Gyo-chang retired, built a powerful ‘super team’ and emerged as a strong championship candidate. In many ways, Yang Hong-seok and LG’s road to the top is still rough.
LG is a team desperate to win, and in order to do so, Yang Hong-seok must grow into an ace and solver. Will Yang Hong-seok be able to become the No. 1 player at LG that each other so longed for and the adverb to win?