'Korea's best guard' Lee Jung-hyun "I wish I could have met Lee Hyun-joong and Yeo Jun-seok on the national team"
'Korea's best guard' Lee Jung-hyun "I wish I could have met Lee Hyun-joong and Yeo Jun-seok on the national team"
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Lee Jeong-hyeon (25, Sono), who has risen to become the best guard in Korean professional basketball, was filled with regret and envy this summer.
We had to watch our neighboring country Japan's national basketball team battle it out against world powers at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Japan almost beat the hosts and runners-up France in the group stage, but lost 90-94 in overtime after a questionable foul call in the fourth quarter.
Lee Jung-hyun, whom we met on the 13th in Taipei, Taiwan, Sono's training camp, said, "I felt a lot while watching the Japan match. I had a lot of thoughts while watching the team that played the evaluation match with us play a match on par with top-level countries."
Lee Jung-hyun was particularly impressed by the performance of Japan's ace Yuki Kawamura (23, Yokohama). Kawamura, who is only 172 cm tall, scored 29 points and 6 assists against France's tall defense.
Lee Jung-hyun said, "I got goosebumps. I think it's amazing that an Asian team can compete with a European team like that."
He continued, "If you look at just his individual performance in the two evaluation matches against Japan, he was not behind Kawamura. I think it was a close match," but added, "Kawamura showed such performance against European players. He's amazing."
Lee Jung-hyun hopes that the day will come when our country will be able to compete on a major international stage like the Olympics.
However, the national team has not been fully operational in recent years.
This is because Lee Hyeon-jung (23, Illawarra), who is considered the 커뮤니티 most skilled player, and Yeo Jun-seok (22, Gonzaga University), a promising player, are focusing on challenging themselves on overseas stages rather than on the national team.
They are Lee Jung-hyun's peers. Lee Jung-hyun expects that the two players will join the national team once they have established themselves in their respective teams or achieved what they want.
In that case, the national team, which is supported by existing mainstays such as Lee Jung-hyun and Ha Yoon-ki (25, kt), will be significantly strengthened by adding a young forward over 2m tall with mobility, height, and perimeter skills.
Lee Jung-hyun said, "We've never talked about meeting up on the national team," but added, "We've both been playing together since the youth national team, so I think we both have that kind of thought in our hearts."
Lee Jung-hyun, who rose to become the best guard in the country last season with 22.8 points and 6.6 assists, also wants to test his competitiveness in overseas leagues.
Lee Jung-hyun said, "When a season ends, I spend some time for myself and look back. No matter how well I played last season, I was disappointed with the team's performance," and added, "As Coach (Kim Seung-gi) said, if I improve in these areas, I think I will get a chance to challenge myself overseas at least once."
He emphasized, "Last season, I received the spotlight because of my good personal performance, but I always felt empty inside. In basketball, you have to win no matter what."