Since Yang Dong-geun retired in 2020, Hyundai Mobis has been constantly attempting rebuilding. This season, coach Yoo Jae-hak stepped down as general manager, opening the era of manager Cho Dong-hyun, and another sweet achievement of 4th place in the regular league was achieved. Let’s look back on a season of Hyundai Mobis.카지노사이트
The end of the Yoo Jae-hak era, the Jo Dong-hyun era,
ahead of the 2022-2023 season, there has been a really big change in Hyundai Mobis. Director Yoo Jae-hak put down the baton and moved to general manager. As a result, head coach Cho Dong-hyun took over the helm as the new head coach. This is the first change in manager of Hyundai Mobis in 19 years since 2004, when director Yoo Jae-hak first took office at Hyundai Mobis.
Among fans, of course, there were concerns. Director Cho Dong-hyun had tasted a bitter failure by revealing his lack of experience as KT manager in the past. The shadow of director Yoo Jae-hak, who led Hyundai Mobis for 19 years, was still too big.
However, the atmosphere at the scene was quite different. Rather, it was a “something to come” atmosphere.
Coach Yoo Jae-hak had entrusted head coach Cho Dong-hyun with many roles, such as leading training, analyzing power, and coaching during matches. He was, in effect, the next head coach. In fact, when coach Yoo Jae-hak stepped down as general manager, he said, “I thought I should hand over the position to head coach Dong-hyun Cho so that I can lead the team in a good situation before it’s too late.” This is the part where you can see how much trust director Cho Dong-hyun was receiving.
On set, director Jo Dong-hyun is known as a ‘study bug’. He never lets go of his thoughts about basketball. Habitually watch game videos, analyze and study them. People around him said, “I’m worried because I’m buried in basketball too much.” Coach Dong-hyun Cho said, “I have nothing to do. I have no hobbies other than taking a short walk, so I worry a lot while watching other teams’ games or European basketball.” Director Jo Dong-hyun’s passion and sincerity made him the new manager of Hyundai Mobis.
And coach Cho’s passion led Hyundai Mobis to the semifinals once again. Before the season, the outlook for Hyundai Mobis was not very bright. The competitiveness of the foreign players composed of Justin Knox and Gage Prim did not look strong, and it felt that the young guns called 99s, such as Seo Myung-jin and Lee Woo-seok, were not yet fully developed. However, under the steady guidance of coach Dong-hyun Cho, Hyundai Mobis succeeded in catching both rabbits this season: the growth of young guns and advancement to the playoffs in the round of 6. It was thanks to Cho Dong-hyun’s unique leadership in communicating with young players and his preparation to meticulously design every game.
As a team with energy level and speed,
“When watching the Hyundai Mobis game, it feels like the players are moving at 1.5x speed.”
During the regular season, SK coach Jeon Hee-cheol brought up this story about Hyundai Mobis during a conversation with reporters. SK is a strong player that has dominated the league for the past several years with its speed game. It was SK for a quick attack and SK for a transition. Even coach Jeon Hee-chul, who led SK to the combined championship last season, gave up his tongue when the story of Hyundai Mobis came out. This is an episode that shows how great Hyundai Mobis’ speed battle was this season.
In fact, this season, Hyundai Mobis completely deviated from low tempo basketball. He scored 8.8 points per game, ranking fourth in the league in this category. The frequency of transition attacks was 15.0%, the third highest in the league after DB and SK. This is the part where you can see how terrifying the speed battle of Hyundai Mobis was.
After Yang Dong-geun’s retirement, Hyundai Mobis, which has steadily raised the game tempo with young players as the main axis, has become a perfect quick-breaking team starting this season. And ironically, at the center of it all was the big man Gage Prim.
Usually, when it comes to transition games, it is often thought that the guards take the initiative. This is because it is a position that combines ball carrying ability and speed at the same time. It is common to see the big man as a starting point for a transition game by producing defensive rebounds, or as an additional option for a transition game by participating in a second break with a trailer. However, Hyundai Mobis was different.
Coach Dong-Hyun Cho built a system in which big men, including Gage Prim, are at the center of the transition game through team training during the season. The seal movement, in which the big men quickly penetrated the paint zone and secured space through physical struggle, was the basis for the fast attack. The guards quickly carried the ball and took on the role of maximizing penetration into the paint zone by Prim, Ji-hoon Ham, and Jae-seok Jang in a wide court, and with the quick breakthrough of guards such as Lee Woo-seok and Seo Myung-jin, it became a very difficult option to block Hyundai Mobis’ speed battle. .
In fact, recently all teams in KBL are pursuing a transition game. This is because, in a situation where the average defense organization of each team has risen to a tremendous level, scoring production through a 5-5 attack is limited. In particular, a team that lacked experience and game management skills like Hyundai Mobis had no choice but to do so. In the end, Hyundai Mobis chose to strengthen their transition game as a way to keep their strengths and compensate for their weaknesses, and that choice led to great success this season.
Rapid Growth of Young Guns
This season, Hyundai Mobis was a very young team from domestic to foreign players. Even the foreign players became young as Gage Prim, born in 1999, who originally joined as a 2 option, became younger as he was reborn as a 1 option. Ronjay Avarientos, who joined the Asian Quarter of the Philippines, was also born in 1999. It was completely different from other strong players, such as KGC, SK, and LG, who had relatively experienced and seasoned players.
Of course, there were many cases where such a player composition acted as a risk. Head coach Cho Dong-hyun was anxious throughout the season, saying, “Our team always loses its performance when the score gap widens.” Sometimes, even though he dominated the game with his youthful energy level, the moment he relaxed, he gave the opponent a lot of offensive rebounds and even made a mistake and collapsed.
However, despite such uneasy factors, Hyundai Mobis continued to grow calmly. In particular, the performance of Seo Myung-jin, who showed a completely different appearance from the past two years, was impressive. As a guard, Seo Myung-jin, who always struggled with the opponent’s pressure, showed a level of growth this season with aggressiveness and combat power. It is rumored that coach Jo Dong-hyun encouraged Seo Myung-jin, who rebelled against him, during team training for his growth.
Shin Min-seok, a 2-meter tall shooter, also succeeded in stepping up. In the 6th round, Hyundai Mobis faced a big crisis against the big man team as Ham Ji-hoon left due to a back injury and Jang Jae-seok with a shoulder injury. In response, coach Dong-Hyun Cho tested the single post lineup by giving Choi Jin-soo and Shin Min-seok time to play.
The presence of Ronjay Avarientos and Lee Woo-suk’s continued performance are also not to be missed. Avarientos was a player who changed the Hyundai Mobis guard line, which was unstable until last season. Although there were some downsides such as excessive shot selection and weak defense, Avarientos’ creative and sensuous play has been reborn as a new weapon for Hyundai Mobis this season. Lee Woo-seok contributed to Hyundai Mobis’ speed battle through his unique one-man quick attack. Lee Woo-seok’s quick attack, which combines great height, ball handling and speed, was one of Hyundai Mobis’ powerful offensive options.
Added to this are veteran Ji-Hoon Ham’s dominance in the match and Jin-Soo Choi’s performance in the 6th round, Hyundai Mobis was able to finish the regular league in 4th place. In the playoffs, Carrot unfortunately knelt down, but it would be difficult for anyone to refute the part that Hyundai Mobis’ season was successful. It was a team that was told before the season that it might be difficult to make it to the semifinals.
Team MVP | Gage Prim
54G 27:18 18.7 points 10.7 rebounds 2.3 assists 1.4 steals
Gage Prim, who joined Hyundai Mobis as the lowest-paid foreign player in the league, has been reborn as a foreign player representing KBL in just one season. Combining excellent power, delicate shooting touch, and tremendous mobility, Prim is undoubtedly the most important option for Hyundai Mobis air defense.
Even before the season, he suffered from poor emotional control, but if it wasn’t for Prim, Hyundai Mobis would never have reached a high position this season. It is surprising that a young player who had just graduated from college performed so well on the overseas stage.
Team RISING STAR | Kim Tae
-Wan 33G 11:42 2.8 points 1.2 rebounds 1.3 assists 0.5 steals
In last year’s rookie draft, Hyundai Mobis was aiming to reinforce the guard. And the player that Hyundai Mobis nominated as the 5th ranked player in the first round after much consideration was Kim Tae-wan, who declared his professional career a year earlier at Korea University.
Kim Tae-wan is also the younger brother of Kim Soo-chan, who played for Hyundai Mobis until last season. Kim Tae-wan, who received attention from manager Cho Dong-hyun for his excellent defense from the time of the draft, has received many opportunities since his rookie season with stable defense and reckless offense. Head coach Cho Dong-hyun said, “I will harass Kim Tae-wan to the fullest in the coming summer,” and has already singled him out as a key player in the team.
