Would Samsung Thunders be healed up from its scar by worst performance?

Would Samsung Thunders be healed up from its scar by worst performance?. May. 22, 2015 08:01. elegant@donga.com.

With Joo Hui-jeong, Moon Tae-yeong and Kim Jun-il at the front, will Korean Basketball League’s Samsung Thunders challenge the dominance of Mobis?

Having been humiliated with the dead-last ranking during the last season, the Seoul Samsung Thunders is pitching in to bringing back its glorious name by beefing up the fighting power. On Wednesday, it successfully recruited Moon Tae-yeong (aged 37) as a free agent who is recognized as the league’s best player at a forward position.

Having played critical roles for the Ulsan Mobis Phoebus in winning three consecutive seasons with Yang Dong-geun and Hahm Ji-hun, Moon gave other teams a hard time with the performance of an average of 16.92 points and 6.3 rebounds in every game during the previous season. His strong offence near the three-point line and right under the basket is heavy burden to opposing teams.

Samsung also brought veteran point guard Joo Hui-jeong (aged 39) from the Seoul SK Knights. During the last season, Samsung saw its lines for guards and forwards almost collapsing. As its line guarded by Lee Jeong-seok, Lee Shi-joon and Park Jae-hyeon was penetrated by the counterpart players, forward players were daunted as well. Junior player Kim Joon-il was the only one who struggled to fight back right under the basket.

With Joo Hui-jeong and Moon Tae-yeong joining together, Samsung immediately shook off its headache. For starter, the team now has higher possibility for scoring points. It came dead-last in a team score (70.2 points) of each game during the last season. “It appears that we will have higher scoring average with Moon in the team. He will be mainly in charge of perimeter area and under-the-basket zone, giving more opportunities to forward players such as Im Dong-seop to throw three-pointers,” said Samsung coach Lee Sang-min. "Samsung is not like Mobis with many seasoned players. As most of our players are relatively young, Moon has to change his way of thinking and should be more responsible in leading the team.”

Along with Samsung, the Seoul SK Knights is also said to have successfully enhanced its fighting power. The team has secured Samsung`s Lee Jeong-seok who will support guard Kim Seon-hyeong from behind and Lee Seong-jun whose height is 204 centimeters. Having lost its forward Park Sang-oh to the Busan KT Sonicboom and Choi Boo-kyeong to Sangmu Team, SK is seen to have enhanced the team’s fighting power by securing much-needed players who can support Kim Seon-hyung from the back.

On the other hand, Mobis gained nothing in the free agent market. With its point guard Kim Shi-rae now in Sangmu Team, the Changwon LG Sakers will either smile or cry depending on the contract result with Jeon Tae-pung who has recently showed his willingness to be a free agent.