Will Kim Seung-ki be able to pick the rookie he wants?

Sono coach Kim Seung-ki has three rookies in mind. Can he select two of them?

On Thursday, each team’s picks for the 2023 KBL Rookie Draft were finalized. Changwon LG and Goyang Sono, who reached the quarterfinals together last season, were evenly matched. LG earned the third pick, while Sono slipped to the eighth pick.

Coach Kim Seung-ki has been hoping for a top pick in this year’s rookie draft since last season, as the team needs a solid roster for a bright future.

Considering LG’s third-ranked pick, it wasn’t in vain, but unlike his time with KGC Ginseng Corporation (now Chung Kwan-jang), he wasn’t as lucky.

Kim Seung-ki watched the players in the draft from a young age, around the same age as his second son, Kim Dong-hyun (KCC). He has a more accurate picture of the players’ skills.

While he was disappointed to see his pick drop to No. 8, he still had players in mind that he wanted to take with that pick.

“The players who will be picked 1-3 are A-grade players who lack one or two things out of 10,” says Kim. The rest of the players have five or more deficiencies. We need to fill them. If you go below that, you have one or two. If you have one or two, you can use them,” he said. “Even if you only have one or two, we want to grow them and make them like Moon Sung-gon and Jeon Sung-hyun. Lee Jung-hyun filled two of the 10 deficiencies, strength and leading. The players I’m going to pick this time are either lacking five or have one or two. Even if they have one or two, they can use them on the court.”

Yoo Jae-hak, the former head coach of Hyundai Mobis, also had a strong tendency to select rookies based on their one or two strengths rather than their deficiencies. His reasoning is similar to Kim’s.

Two of the players he has in mind are higher than his first-round picks. Looking at the current projected rankings, one of them could be available at #8.

The other isn’t even a second-round candidate in scouts’ projections. However, the upside is clear. Kim already has an idea in his head of how he would use the player if he were to select him.

Kim Seung-ki took the unexpectedly high 14th pick in last year’s draft and used it to good effect 스포츠토토.