Danbi Kim is Korea’s hope for future and present

REGENSBURG (David Hein's Eye on the Future) - Shinhan Bank S-Birds are well on their way to winning their fifth straight Women's Korean Basketball League (WKBL) title. And a huge reason for that has been Korean national team all-arounder Danbi Kim.

Kim has helped S-Birds to the past three crowns and the 21-year-old Incheon native is looking forward to a huge 2012.

The 5-foot-11 forward is the third-leading scorer for the S-Birds with 14.0 points while ranking second best with 6.3 rebounds. She also averages 3.7 assists as well as 1.2 blocks – first on the team ahead of fellow Korean national team member Kang Young-Suk.

Kim, however, is 11 years younger than Kang and five years younger than any of the others in the top five of S-Birds’ rotation. And playing with veterans like Kang has been a huge help in the development of Kim.

The S-Birds have rushed out to an 18-3 record for a 3.5-game lead over Winnus in the six-team WKBL. And Kim’s team being beaten in the playoffs in March and April would be a huge upset as the S-Birds have lost just one game total in the last three post-seasons.

So, Kim will most likely be celebrating a league crown in 2012. But the year will also see a huge event come 25 June-1 July when Korea play in the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament (OQT) in Turkey for one of the final five spots in London 2012.

And Kim will have plenty of familiar faces around her as the 2011 Asia Championship squad – which took silver in Japan – featured six current S-Birds with Dal Shik Lim as head coach.

And following another huge season in the WKBL, Kim will play a leading role in Korea’s chances in Turkey, at just 22 years of age. This summer will be Kim’s third with the senior national team and she has grown more and more confident the past two summers.

As a 20-year-old at the 2010 FIBA World Championship for Women, Kim impressed with 13 points and two steals against Brazil in Korea’s opener. But she never scored in double digits the rest of the tournament and shot a disappointing 35 percent from the field.

A summer after a Worlds quarter-final loss to the USA and classification defeats against France and Russia, Kim came back even stronger at the 2011 FIBA Asia Championship, averaging nearly 11 points as well as almost four rebounds and 1.6 assists. Kim dropped 26 points on Japan and proved her ball control skills with four assists and one turnover in the Semi-Final win over Chinese Taipei.

But playing against older competition is nothing new for Kim. Back in 2007, she collected double-doubles against Argentina and Czech Republic and had seven points and seven assists against Lithuania as a 17-year-old at the FIBA U19 World Championship for Women.

And Kim is showing in the Korea league that she can take over games, scoring 31 points in one game against Woori Hansae, while also collecting four double-doubles and seven games with at least five assists.

If coach Lim continues to watch Kim excel the way she has, there is no doubt he will use her in as many different ways as possible at the OQT in Turkey.

Kim may represent the future of Korean women’s basketball. But she’s also doing quite well at the present.

David Hein

FIBA

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