“We thought he could scratch an itch.”
The WKBL announced the results of the 2024 free agency on Thursday.
KB, which is challenging for the top again, acquired shooter Na Yoon-jung in free agency and released Kim Ye-jin as a compensation player.
The reason for the signing is clear. Highly regarded for her shooting ability, Na averaged 7.2 points and shot 36.8% from three last season. Her defense has also improved since the beginning of her career, helping Woori Bank win the Upset last season. 먹튀검증 It’s also interesting to note that the opponent was KB, her current team.
Coach Kim Wan-soo saw Na Yoon-jeong as the right person to scratch his itch. She’s not classified as a big fish, but she can definitely be utilized. KB’s inability to get over the final hurdle in the championship game last season was largely due to poor outside shooting.
“He was a player in the position we needed,” said Kim Wan-soo. As a result, we were disappointed with last season, and when the free agency came, we were looking for positions to strengthen, but (I) Yoon Jung-jeong’s first round of free agency negotiations fell through. We thought she was a player who could scratch our itch, so we brought her in.”
As for the departure of Kim Ye-jin as a compensatory player, he said, “We should have given away a player as much as we brought in, but it hurts that it was Kim Ye-jin. I’ve known Yejin since I was a kid, but in a way, other teams saw her ability. I’m very happy that Yoon Jung-jeong came, but on the other hand, I have a lot of mixed feelings about Ye Jin-yi leaving, and I’m sorry. However, I also feel a responsibility to raise Yoon Jung-jeong as well as she came,” he said.
KB also parted ways with longtime club player Shim Sung-young in the free agency market.
Kim said, “(Shim) Sung-young was a player who has been with the team for a long time and was a franchise star. I’m always sorry that I didn’t give him many opportunities while I was here. From my point of view, even if I wanted to help him more, it was difficult to do so, and he must have wanted to challenge himself. I hope both Sung-young and Ye-jin go to Woori Bank and do well,” he encouraged.
Shim’s compensation is guard Kim Eun-sun. Kim is a promising prospect who has shown promise on the court and is an excellent scorer. However, the team will give him plenty of time to rehabilitate from his ACL injury.
“Eun-sun (Kim) was a player we were really excited about since the draft, and it was a shame that she was selected so early. Before he was injured, he was showing very good form for Woori Bank, but we were worried because he was injured, but it wasn’t that the player pool was small, but we thought that he could show good performance in the future by giving him enough rehabilitation period, so we chose him as a compensation player with high expectations.”
With the compensation player decided, KB’s free agency activities are effectively over. However, there is still one more important gateway to build the roster. This is the selection of players for the Asian quota, which is new this season.
“We are also preparing for the Asian quota. “We don’t have the exact list yet, so we’ll be able to prepare in more detail when it comes out. We need to see how those players can help us when they come. We’ll try to look at them very carefully to make sure that they’re picks that help the team rather than meaningless picks.”