Perhaps it was because Kim Nak-hyun (#6) broke the jinx of the ‘believing KU guard’ in the 2017 rookie draft, but the KU craze was strong in the 2018 draft. Although the team had the stigma of “Byun Geobak” (Byun Joon-hyung and Park Joon-young), they were able to take three players in the first round, including Park Joon-young as the No. 1 overall pick, Kim Jun-hyung at No. 4 and Jeon Hyun-woo at No. 6, and knocked the wind out of rival Yonsei University’s sails.
Yonsei, which had been dominant for a while, had no picks except for forward Jae-hyun Min, who was selected in the third round with the third overall pick. KU’s momentum continued in 2019. Park Jung-hyun beat out Kim Kyung-won (Yonsei) for the honor of being the No. 1 overall pick, while Kim Yoo-taek’s son, Kim Jin-young, was also selected at No. 3.
Of course, it’s true that 2018 and 2019 were immediately criticized as the Valley Generation. However, it must have felt good for KU to have back-to-back No. 1 picks that represented the best players of the year. The biggest takeaway from the 2019 draft is that there were more big men available than any other year.
Park Jung-hyun (27‧202.6cm) of KU, Kim Kyung-won (27‧198.1cm) of Yonsei, Lee Yoon-soo (27‧202.7cm) of Sungkyunkwan, and Park Chan-ho (27‧201cm) of Kyung Hee University were dubbed the “big four centers” of college basketball. In addition, the addition of Kim Hyung-bin (23‧200.5cm), who appeared on the popular entertainment program “Ask Me Anything” as a basketball prospect alongside Yoo Yoo-sang, Yang Jun-seok, Lee Won-seok, and Park Moo-bin, was also talked about.
He graduated from Anyang High School and entered the draft as an early entry, adding fuel to the already hot fire. In fact, he was selected higher than Lee Yoon-soo and Park Chan-ho, as well as Park Jung-hyun and Kim Kyung-won. This shows that the perception of high school prospects has completely changed after Song Kyo-chang. Park Gun-ho (27‧198.8cm), who was the last player to be selected in the fourth round with the 9th pick, also plays center. 보스토토 주소
Unfortunately, none of these players have made the leap to the starter’s level yet, but they are still young, so the future is unknown. The biggest upset in this draft is the Rookie of the Year. Given that no player was particularly overwhelming, it seemed like the rookie of the year would come from one of the players mentioned above, but the reality was different. Kim Hoon (27‧193cm), the fifth overall pick in the second round, took home the honor of Rookie of the Year, as he was on a leave of absence after withdrawing from Yonsei University.
▶ 2019 KBL Domestic Rookie Draft / 1st Round
1st pick: Park Jung-hyun (Korea University center, selected by LG) / 2nd pick: Kim Kyung-won (Yonsei center, selected by KGC)
3rd place Kim Jin-young (Korea University guard, selected by Samsung) / 4th place Orion (Sangmyung University guard, selected by Orion)
5: Kim Hyung-bin (Anyang High forward, selected by SK) / 6: Lee Yoon-soo (Sungkyunkwan University center, selected by DB)
7th: Moon Sang-ok (Chungang University forward, drafted by KT) / 8th: Kim Se-chang (Chungang University guard, drafted by KCC)
9th: Yang Jae-hyuk (Yonsei forward, drafted by E-Land) / 10th: Park Jun-eun (Sungkyunkwan University forward, drafted by Hyun