Changwon LG’s rookie draft luck has been good lately. While Suwon KT has been so dominant, LG’s roster has been steadily growing as they continue to acquire rotational picks. In the five years between 2018 and last year, they drafted Kim Jun-hyung (4th), Park Jung-hyun (1st), Yoon Won-sang (6th), Lee Seung-woo (5th), and Yang Jun-seok (1st). There are three rotational picks and two first-round picks. In the most recent lottery, he won the third pick.
Considering that in the 20 years prior to that, five rotational picks had two No. 1s (Song Young-jin and Kim Jong-kyu), you can see the difference. While the team doesn’t have a big name like Lee Jung-hyun or Ha Yoon-ki, they are talented players who were picked high, and are expected to thicken the wings of the Songol Falcons over time.
After not having a single rotational pick since its inception until 2000, LG broke through in 2001 when it selected Song Young-jin with the No. 1 overall pick. At the time, LG had weaknesses at both the 1 and 4 spots, and they were torn between Song Young-jin, who was known as the “Twin Towers” at Chung-Ang University, and Kim Seung-hyun, the best point guard in college, and opted to go high.
While Kim was recognized as a point guard prodigy, it would have been hard to pass on Song even if it were a different team, given the value of a homegrown big man in the starting lineup. However, they didn’t pick again until 2005, and it wasn’t until 2006 that they selected Lee with the third overall pick. It wasn’t a great draft, but Lee did his part and became the first rookie of the year in LG’s history.
The following year, the Golden Draft selects Jung Young-sam with the fourth pick, but he is sent to the E-Land due to a trade the previous season. In the midst of this string of bad luck, there was a silver lining: the 2009 naturalized mixed-race player draft. There were quite a few mixed-race players, but there were only three that really stood out.
Jeon Tae-poong (Tony Akins) and Lee Seung-jun (Eric Sandlin) were the favorites, with Moon Tae-young (Gregory Stevenson) being lumped in with the group, so teams needed to be in the top three to see the benefits of a mixed-race draft. Luckily for LG, they got the third pick and were able to take Moon Tae-young. It had been a long time since Song Young-jin had joined the peregrine squad.
With the third pick in the October 2012 draft, the team selected long-shot guard Yoo Byung-hoon, and with momentum, the team won its second No. 1 pick in 2013 to select center Kim Jong-kyu. As shown by the examples of Seo Jang-hoon, Kim Joo-sung, Ha Seung-jin, and Oh Seung-geun, the national big men were expected to finally break the championship doldrums as the formula of winning sooner or later continued,
The team then drafted Kim Jun-hyung at No. 4 in 2018 and Park Jong-hyun the following year with the third No. 1 pick in team history, just as they did with Song Young-jin and Kim Jong-kyu. However, it wasn’t a high quality draft, and even with the same number one pick, the atmosphere was different from the previous two. The top picks continued to gain momentum.
As if to prove it, last year’s draft also saw the team use the No. 1 pick to select a guard (Yang Jun-seok) instead of a big man for the first time in team history. The team also had a big man in Lee Doo-won, but since there were quite a few talented big men in the team, they chose to reinforce the guard. And this year, they have the third pick, and while KU forward Moon Jung-hyun (22‧194cm) is considered the best big man, there is a high probability that they will select the remaining resource among KU guard Park Mubin (23‧184.4cm) or Yonsei guard Yoo Yoo-sang (22‧188cm), who are grouped together as a big three.온라인카지노
With KCC’s move to Busan, the Yeongnam region will have four teams next season, including the existing Changwon LG, Ulsan Hyundai Mobis, and Daegu Korea Gas Corporation. LG is the only team that hasn’t changed locations. Their fan support has been tremendous. It’s unfortunate that the team hasn’t won a championship game, but with the current crop of prospects, the team is well on its way to conquering the top. With their draft luck, we’re looking forward to next season.