Coach Kim Seung-ki said, Lee Jung-hyun, “We need to aim for the best 5 MVP
Head coach Kim Seung-ki expressed his affection for Lee Jung-hyun.
Goyang Carrot met Ulsan Hyundai Mobis and lost 83-88 in the 2022-2023 SKT A-dot professional basketball regular season game held at Goyang Gymnasium on the 27th.
Lee Jung-hyun (187cm, G) has averaged 9.7 points, 2.7 assists and 2.6 rebounds since his debut season. It became sharper in the first playoff appearance of the first time. He played six games and averaged 15 points and 2 rebounds. He showed a “strong heart” that was not like a rookie, recording a 53 percent field throw success rate, a 43 percent three-point shot success rate, and a 88 percent free throw success rate.
That’s why Lee Jung-hyun’s season has raised more expectations. Also, Lee Jung-hyun will have a new manager this season. I met Kim Seung-ki, who raised Byun Joon-hyung (187cm, G). He had more time to be reprimanded than praised, but he steadily grew under head coach Kim. As a result, he averaged 14.8 points, 4.2 assists and 2.6 rebounds in the season.
Lee Jung-hyun’s team Carrot was expected to be in the lower ranks, but Jeon Sung-hyun (188cm, F), Didrick Lawson (202cm, F) and Lee Jung-hyun made a splash to advance to the playoffs.
Recently, Lee Jung-hyun’s performance has become more important. The reason is that Jeon Sung-hyun (188cm, F) may not be able to make the playoffs beyond the remaining regular season due to cochlea problems. In the last two games without Jeon Sung-hyun, Lee Jung-hyun scored 23 points and 19 points.
Head coach Kim also said, “There are no (former) Sung-hyun and (Han) Ho-bin. Now (Lee)Jeonghyun has to do more. “I hope we can grow further through this opportunity,” he said, calling for Lee Jung-hyun’s performance.
And in the match, Lee Jung-hyun had to lead the team’s attack without Jeon Sung-hyun. Although he lost the game, he threatened his opponent to the end with 24 points and 6 assists.
Carrot was able to set the tone from the beginning of the first quarter. Because Lawson led the attack. Lee Jung-hyun scored two points but led 11-4 thanks to Lawson’s performance. But then Carrot failed to score for 3 minutes and 28 seconds. It was Lee Jung-hyun who broke the trend. He scored a breakthrough in the 11-14 situation. Later, he scored seven consecutive points, including a free throw in a team foul situation and a basket count. With Lee Jung-hyun’s performance, the score from 11-14 became 18-14.
However, since then, Lee Jung-hyun has been somewhat quiet. In the second quarter, only one of the five shots attempted went into the rim. He added four points and two assists in the third quarter, but Carrot failed to set the tone. In the second half of the third quarter, he allowed his opponent to score three fastballs.
Lee Jung-hyun led the team’s offense by doing his best until the end of the fourth quarter. In particular, the fast transition score 48 seconds before the end of the game and the free throw score 21 seconds before the end of the game made the opponent nervous. However, the gap in scores already widened and failed to overturn it and lost the game unfortunately.
Lee Jung-hyun, who continues to be active, is selected as a candidate for the Strong Skills Development Award. However, head coach Kim said, “Jung Hyun should aim for the best 5 MVP in the future. “It’s good to win the skill development award, but I hope you aim for something bigger,” he said with affection. As head coach Kim said, Lee Jung-hyun is growing as the best guard in the league.