“Knox, focus on strengths rather than weaknesses”
Ulsan Hyundai Mobis signed Justin Knox (33), a seasoned foreign player, as a main foreign player and Gage Prim (23) as a sub foreign player before the upcoming 2022-23 season.
Reactions to the signing of Knox have been mixed. However, most of them have a negative view. The fact that he was a sub foreign player for Wonju DB in the 2020-21 season and now plays as a main foreign player cannot be welcomed by many.
Of course, it should be taken into account to some extent that the difficulty in recruiting foreign players is particularly severe this year. The terms of the G-League two-way contract have improved, and G-League players are frequently called up to the NBA due to COVID-19. This has caused the ransom to go up a lot, and they often stay in the United States with the hope that this will continue.
Even when compared to Asian countries, KBL lags far behind. In particular, the conditions for recruiting foreign players from the B.League in Japan, a country that are close and far away, are so good that they cannot be compared with those of the KBL. It is more attractive than KBL in a number of ways, including a multi-year contract, a schedule that only plays on Wednesdays and weekends, and a tax and guarantee contract. There is no reason for foreign players to come to the KBL. In fact, most of the high-level foreign players who played in the KBL recently left for the B.League.
In the end, it is known that KBL clubs did not get most of the players they wanted in this year's foreign player recruitment match. The same goes for Hyundai Mobis. Just signing Knox as the main foreign player tells us how bad things were.
In a phone interview with MK Sports, Hyundai Mobis coach Cho Dong-Hyun said, “Even if I tried to sign contracts with foreign players, the conditions were too strict. It is impossible to sign a contract with a good foreign player with the given amount. I would like to sign a contract even for a foreign player who does not meet the standards I think, but even that is too expensive.”
In the meantime, signing a contract with Knox was the best way. Coach Cho said, "I asked the agents for a list of foreign players who can sign now. The most notable of them was Knox. When he played for DB, he watched the footage and watched how he played basketball in Japan as well. What stood out was the efficiency. The field success rate is really good. DB had a lot of injured players at the time, but we have Ham Ji-Hoon and Jang Jae-Seok. He thought it would be good to use it well.”
On the other hand 스포츠토토탑, there is no guarantee that Hyundai Mobis and Knox's companion will continue throughout the season. It is also difficult to ignore the possibility that another foreign player will replace Knox at the end of the year or the beginning of the year when foreign players are being replaced. The foreign sub player who was younger and stronger two years ago is now the main foreign player.
