What is the topic of Lee Sang-min aiming for the 'first team triple champ'?... The will to win the championship in the 'Last' + 'Health Team'
What is the topic of Lee Sang-min aiming for the 'first team triple champ'?... The will to win the championship in the 'Last' + 'Health Team'
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"I had failed."
Lee Sang-min (52), the sixth head coach of the men's professional basketball team Busan KCC, calmly pointed out his past experiences first. Lee, who was one of the most popular players in Korean basketball history, chose to break through head-on even though it was a painful past that he wanted to hide.
When he was a student at Yonsei University, he drove his original "oppa unit" during the "Basketball Festival" and gained explosive popularity, leading the regular league for three consecutive seasons (1997-1998, 1998-1999, 1999-2000 season) and three championships (1997-1998, 1998-1999, 2003-2004) and being named the MVP of the regular league (MVP) for the 1997-1998 and 1998-1999 seasons in a row.
The biggest stain in his career, however, was that he retired from Samsung in Seoul and started as a leader but resigned bitterly. He started coaching at Samsung in 2014 and advanced to the 2016-2017 season championship, but later got off during the 2021-2022 season due to poor performance and a drunk driving incident of his player.
Coach Lee, who got a chance to start anew from his former team KCC, did not try to cover up the painful memories of "then." However, mentioning "failure" by oneself is not a ritualistic humble "lip service." He said, "轉敗爲功, failure is used as a springboard for success." He conveyed a strong message that "there will be no failure twice" through a cold-headed perception of reality.
His commitment is evident in the two topics that he emphasized in the interview after the appointment of the coach. "Last" and "Healthy Team." "I came to KCC thinking it was my last chance. I want to win KCC to repay the invitation of me as a failed coach," Lee said. "It became my last goal in my life to win the KCC."
Lee became the champion three times as a player at KCC, and as a coach for the 2023-2024 season. If he wins the top position as a coach of KCC, he will become the first player in the Korean Basketball League to be crowned champion as a player-coach-coach-coach in the same team. It is not because Lee, who enjoyed all the glory when he was a player, coveted the first record. "I want to retire from the basketball world in a good mood after winning the championship," Lee said. For coach Lee, KCC was a team of love and hatred that made him move to Samsung as a "compensation player" in the 2007 free agent transaction process.
However, KCC, which was not trying to expel Lee Sang-min at the time, engraved Lee Sang-min in the club's history with "permanent cancellation number (No. 11), and after returning to the coach in 2023, it paved the way for a "second leader's life." It is Lee's perception that he wants to repay the "true" team with the "best gift (champion)" that gave him the "last" opportunity.
The coach also expressed his will to rebuild the team by describing it as a "healthy team." KCC, which was the defending champion, finished ninth in the regular season last season. The decisive factor was that players who had long-term injuries such as Song Kyo-chang, Choi Jun-yong, and other players including Heo Woong, Kim Dong-hyun, and Jeon Jun-beom were not able to participate in the regular competition due to their injuries.
To KCC, the injury has been a chronic malaise in recent years. After suffering from an injury throughout the 2023-2024 regular season, he became the fifth-ranked champion for the first time since finishing fifth, because he got rid of the injury in the postseason.
Lee, who understood this situation by assisting him as a coach, will try to change the preparation process for the offseason so as not to repeat the frequent trainings of injuries after entering the season. This is why Lee decided to devise a different strengthening program instead of eliminating "Taebaek Summer Physical Training," which was considered a regular off-season course for KCC.
Notably, KCC had a golden opportunity to recover their prowess as champions of the Deum season. As for last year's championship, they were called to various events after the championship match in early May and gave belated rest after participating in the Dubai Asian Champions League, which lacked absolute preparation time. This led to negative developments in injuries during the season 토토사이트. This year, they were freed from such burdens. Moreover, the Seoul SK Wyverns and Ulsan Hyundai Mobis, which were strong teams last season, have to go through a transitional period to the extent that they have to reorganize their teams due to the large number of FA and enlisted players. Suwon KT, which has the biggest fish in the FA, will also inevitably suffer instability due to the sudden replacement of its general manager and manager. As the champion Changwon LG also finished the season on the 17th, chances are high that it will go through a similar process as last year's KCC.
Eventually, if KCC's "luxury members," who were not healthy last season, are rebuilt "healthy" as Lee declared, the recovery of the reputation will not be long. "The KCC's members are qualified for fast and aggressive basketball. We will make key players including Song Kyo-chang and Choi Jun-yong run again," Lee said. "I will run (to the top) first."