The monster center's smile disappears
Coburn's smile is fading away. Samsung faced a crisis from the beginning of the season.
The Seoul Samsung Thunder lost 69-77 against Ulsan Hyundai Mobis Fever in the 2023-2024 professional basketball regular league at Ulsan Dongcheon Gymnasium on the 9th.
Last season, coach Eun Hee-seok's first year in office, Samsung suffered from foreign player problems. 1 Option Emanuel Terry lost his presence, and Marcus Derrickson was excellent in attack but left with an injury. Darral Willis, who was brought in to entrust one option instead of Terry, failed to show his skills properly due to injury and the season ended.
Kofi Coburn, a 210-centimeter tall center, has been selected as the first option this season to solve the atrocities of foreign players. He was determined to solve the competitiveness problem inside for sure.
Coburn's performance is as good as expected. Of course, there are weaknesses, but it is a level that remains sufficiently covered with advantages. So far, he has recorded an average of 24.1 points, 10.9 rebounds, and 2.8 assists in eight games, and in terms of performance alone, he is not easily pushed back compared to foreign players of any team. If unexpected variables do not occur, Coburn is likely to end Samsung's one-option brutality.
Teams facing the game against Samsung must wrap their heads up to prevent Coburn. The players who faced him put their tongue out on overwhelming power and inside control after the game.
But Coburn's exuberant smile is gradually disappearing. Despite his strong performance, Samsung has not won. Along with a series of bad injuries, the lack of support from other players is at a desperate level. Samsung, which had maintained a 50% winning rate in the early part of the first round, recently lost four consecutive games.
In the match against Hyundai Mobis on the 9th, Samsung also failed to escape its losing streak. The reason was poor scoring ability that failed to exceed 70 points in two consecutive games. He finished the first half with a lead of 39 points, but his team's scoring ability fell into a sharp turmoil in the second half.
Coburn did his bit again on this day. He scored 23 points, 10 rebounds, and 3 assists with 12 field throws and 9 high efficiency, achieving 20-10, which symbolizes elite big men. But he was lonely. In the first half, Lee Jung-hyun woke up from the slump and Lee Dong-yeop was ahead with his outside shot, but support from domestic players disappeared in the second half.
Coburn has already reached 20-10 in three games this season with over 70% fielding percentage. It's a stat line that's close to "Hard Carry". However, Samsung lost all of the games where Coburn set the record. In other words, the brilliant performance is not leading to the team's victory.
Lee Jung-hyun, who is under intensive checks from the backcourt side, has ups and downs in his performance, and none of the rest of the players show steady performance. Coburn's inside partner Lee Won-seok also has a bad start to the season. The presence of Avan Nava in the Philippines' Asian quarter has not been revealed much.
There are many chaotic situations in attack. Coburn's own turnovers are also frequent in the process before the ball is put into Coburn, or in the situation where defense is concentrated. During the four-game losing streak, Coburn's average turnovers were 4.8 and the entire Samsung team committed 13.8 turnovers. Samsung is also the team that has committed the most turnovers (12.3) on average among the 10 teams.
Director Eun Hee-seok said, "There are a number of problems in series. It has to be burst from the outside, but Lee Jung-hyun is blocked by all teams and Lee Dong-yeop burst in the first half, but in the end, there is a limit to the resources that can score from the outside in the match. It's a serious problem we have. Therefore, Coburn is also overloaded, irritable, and worse. I'm also sensitive to referee calls," he said.
Although he is a member of KBL's Shaquille O'Neill class, O'Neill was a winning player who led the Lakers' three fit. For Coburn to be the real Shaquille O'Neill, he needs more support from his colleagues. That way, his bright smile can be revived.