"Lee Gwan-hee, who was also with me 12 years ago": Head coach Kim Sang-sik's special request... "I only talked about one thing"

*This content was translated by AI.View Original

"I didn't talk to Lee Gwan-hee about anything else; I only talked about that."

Head coach Kim Sang-sik of the Seoul Samsung Thunders in the professional basketball league left a special request for veteran Lee Gwan-hee.

Samsung, led by head coach Kim Sang-sik, lost 76-90 to Seoul SK in an away game against them at the Seoul Jamsil Student Gymnasium on the 1st in the 2026~2027 season professional basketball regular league.

With this result, Samsung recorded a 9-win, 1-loss record and suffered its first defeat of the season. Samsung had won against Goyang Sono in the previous game to achieve a nine-game winning streak at the start of the season, a first in KBL history. However, failing to overcome their "rival" SK, whom they faced for the first time this season, brought an end to their winning streak.

Even so, Samsung is still leading the league on its own. The gap with second-place SK (5 wins, 1 loss) is also two games. This is an even more surprising turnaround given that Samsung had remained in last place for five consecutive seasons.

While foreign players Kerem Kanter and Chris McCollum lead the offense, domestic players are also fulfilling their roles. In the game against SK, Kanter scored 15 points and McCollum scored 14 points.

In particular, veteran Lee Gwan-hee's role cannot be overlooked. Lee Gwan-hee, who recorded 8 points in the game against SK, is playing as a key scorer for Samsung this season. Although he showed somewhat sluggish form at the start of the season, he has gradually regained his skills and is contributing to the team's upward momentum.

Lee Gwan-hee has appeared in 10 games in the league this season, averaging 10.4 points, 2.4 rebounds, and 1.2 assists. He is scoring the most points among Samsung's domestic players. He also ranks seventh in the overall league scoring rankings for domestic players.

Although his average playing time is only 20 minutes and 19 seconds, he is demonstrating his presence by recording double-digit scores.

His long-range shooting strength is also formidable. Lee Gwan-hee averages 1.7 three-pointers per game with a success rate of 38.6%.

Lee Gwan-hee has become the team's oldest player, yet he continues to show competitiveness in offense without change.

In this context, head coach Kim revealed that there was a specific point he emphasized particularly for Lee Gwan-hee in the game against SK this season.

The two have a long history. Head coach Kim took office as an assistant coach to then-Samsung head coach Kim Dong-kwang in 2012 and shared the same team with Lee Gwan-hee. In January 2014, when head coach Kim Dong-kwang stepped down, he served as acting head coach and finished that season.

After ending his connection with Samsung, head coach Kim took the helm again this year, 12 years later. After a long time had passed, he was reunited with his former disciple Lee Gwan-hee.

Head coach Kim explained, "It's not that there is a problem with something else. Because his tendency to score is strong, there might be some aspects regarding teamwork. I put in a lot of effort to control that."

Lee Gwan-hee is a player who usually shows strong desire and competitiveness for scoring. On the court, he actively expresses emotions and also lifts the atmosphere with confident play.

However, head coach Kim also considered it important how such a tendency might be received by his teammates.

Head coach Kim emphasized, "It may be good for him personally, but it can affect the other players. Because they might think he is trying to be selfish on his own," adding, "I didn't talk to Lee Gwan-hee about anything else; I only talked about that."

It was not a criticism of Lee Gwan-hee's scoring ability. Rather, it meant being careful so that his strong desire for offense would not have a negative impact on teamwork. It is close in meaning to asking him to create better offense together with his teammates, given that he is a player with scoring ability.

Conversely, the fact that head coach Kim emphasized teamwork intensively over other aspects can be seen as an indication of his trust in Lee Gwan-hee's skills and experience.

In fact, Lee Gwan-hee is fulfilling his role while leading the scoring among Samsung's domestic players this season.

In reality, he is not focusing only on scoring. He records an average of 1.2 assists, providing the third-most assists among Samsung's domestic players. He also contributes by grabbing an average of 2.4 rebounds.

Lee Gwan-hee is also repaying the head coach's trust in various ways.

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*This content was translated by AI.View Original