The sensational DB, the controversial Sono… What happened in the first half of professional basketball?
The first half of the “2023-2024 Cheonggwanjang Professional Basketball” ended with a game between Busan KCC and Seoul SK on the 11th. KCC won 90 to 75 in the game, stopping SK’s 13-game winning streak.
This year, unexpected things happened in professional basketball. The advancement of Seoul SK and Suwon KT, along with Wonju DB, which defied expectations before the season, is also outstanding.
The bottom-ranked Samsung is in danger of facing the disgrace of being the bottom-ranked Samsung for three consecutive seasons. The Goyang Sono, which had a lot of noise apart from the game, was criticized by many. Let’s take a moment to look back on the first half of this season’s professional basketball league.
Even before the season, only a few predicted that DB would make a splash this season. In order to strengthen the team’s power, they recruited valuable resources such as Min Se-soo and Kim Young-hyun, rather than big names, even in the offseason. There were also questions about the leadership of manager Kim Joo-sung, who was promoted from acting coach to official coach.
There was no significant reinforcement, but DB maximized synergy and rose to the top of the team in the first half of the season. DB finished the first half of the season with 25 wins and 6 losses (80.6% win rate) in 31 games.
DB’s average score in the first half reached 91.2 points. This is the league’s highest score ever, which is nine points higher than the league’s average score (82.2 points). It is the first time in 19 years that DB’s average score exceeded 90 points in the last minute of the third round since the 2004-2005 season of Daegu Orions.
Lawson’s one-two punch combination with E’Sean Albano is the biggest hit of the season. Lawson has averaged 22.29 points (4th in the league), 10.23 rebounds (7th in the league) and 4.84 assists (4th in the league) in all 31 games played by DB this season. Albano also leads the team’s offense with an average of 15.87 points (11th in the league) and seven assists (1st in the league).
Domestic players are doing more than their share, too. Twin Towers Kim Jong-kyu (average 12.3 points, 6.3 rebounds) and Kang Sang-jae (average 14.3 points, 6.03 rebounds, and 4.13 assists) have improved significantly compared to last season. Besides scoring his own goals, he is watching to create chances and taking advantage of them for his teammates. In addition, sixth male players of various styles, such as Choi Seung-wook, Kim Young-hyun, and Park In-woong, enriched the team’s depth. Guard Du Kyung-min’s return in the middle of the season from a knee injury was also a huge boost안전놀이터
Everyone is paying attention to whether DB will be able to break the highest winning percentage in the regular league in the second half of the season.