Anyang KGC coach Kim Sang-sik won the regular season championship in the first year of his return to the KBL. At the start, he followed the gaze of concern, but put the team to the top with his unique soft leadership.
In the 2022-23 SKT A-Dot Professional Basketball regular league match between Changwon LG and Seoul SK held at Changwon Gymnasium on the 26th, KGC confirmed the regular league championship as second place LG lost 69-74. KGC, which had the winning magic number 1 left before the game, became the regular league champion regardless of the results of the remaining games.
It is the second regular season championship in six years since the 2016-17 season. In particular, KGC took the honor of winning the regular season wire-to-wire for the third time in KBL history (taking regular league supremacy without giving up first place from the opening day).
Coach Sang-sik Kim, who left the KBL field after acting as manager for Seoul Samsung in the 2013-14 season, tasted the joy of winning the championship in the season he returned after 8 years.
Coach Kim, who made a name for himself as a ‘great shooter’ during his active career, took over as coach of Anyang SBS Stars (now KGC) in 2004 and entered the leadership path. Since then, he has served as an acting coach and manager at Daegu Orions (now Goyang Carrot) and Samsung.
Coach Kim, who voluntarily resigned from the Orions coach in the 2008-09 season due to poor performance, had been away from professional basketball for a long time.
In 2014, he briefly served as an acting coach for Seoul Samsung, and since 2015 he has been working as a national team coach, assisting coach Heo Jae, and since 2019 he has been in charge of the men’s national team.
After coming down from the national team coach in January 2021, he took the helm of KGC, which can be said to be his parent’s home, in May of last year after going through a short savage life.
In fact, no one paid attention to KGC before the start of this season. As coach Kim Seung-gi, who led the 2020-21 season championship championship and 2021-22 season championship runner-up, and main gun Jeon Seong-hyun left for Carrot, KGC was classified as a lower rank.
It was unknown what kind of performance coach Kim, who had been away from KBL for a long time, would achieve on the professional stage.카지노 KGC’s concerns seemed to become reality as they failed to advance to the semifinals in the cup competition held before the opening of this season.
But once the season started, things changed. Coach Kim led key players such as Omari Spellman, Byun Jun-hyung, and Moon Seong-gon based on his experience of leading Korea’s best players in the national team.
In addition, with a thorough opponent analysis and customized tactics, he rose to the top from the start and eventually defended the top spot until the end.
Coach Kim, unlike his predecessor, Seung-gi Kim, united the team full of personality with soft leadership. However, once he entered the game, he became a cool-headed fighter.
When necessary, he did not hesitate to shout loudly toward the team. When the referee’s judgment was judged to be unfavorable to the team, he protested with great action and provided a strong background.
In particular, coach Kim delegated a lot of roles to head coach Choi Seung-tae and coach Cho Seong-min, without getting involved in everything himself, and gave strength to the coaching staff.
As a result, KGC continued its solo system throughout the season, winning 10 consecutive victories, the club’s most since 2011, when it changed its team name from SBS to its current name.
Earlier this month, he also became the first champion of the East Asian Super League (EASL), which was launched to determine the strongest East Asian professional basketball.
At the end of the season, due to the deterioration of physical strength of key players, they fell into three consecutive losses, but escaped from the crisis thanks to the performance of the sixth men.
Coach Kim, who coached the team unwaveringly even after returning to the field after a long absence, eventually achieved the sweet fruit of winning the regular league championship in the first year.
Coach Kim, who has been able to play the remaining two regular league games with a comfortable mind, is now challenging for a combined championship in the playoffs.