Familiarity does not necessarily breed contempt!

KUALA LUMPUR (Mageshwaran’s AsiaScope) - The most significant aspect of the Korean campaign at the 26th FIBA Asia Championship was that the East Asian team was the only one amongst the three medalists to field a roster comprised of players who had all played in the domestic league.

China counted on Yi Jianlian’s NBA exposure with the Washington Wizards to take them to the gold medal and book their place in 2012 London Olympics; Jordan had the CBA experience of Sam Daghles, Zaid Abbas and Zaid Al-Khas and the multi-national experience of Rasheim Wright to rely upon; but even the naturalised player in the Korean ranks – Jarod Stevenson, who later came to be called as Moon Taejong – had played in the domestic KBL.

Forming a national team from such domestic talent is not new in any part of the world, but to marshal these resources of familiarity to winning a medal against oppositions who are counting on other exposure was for sure an achievement.

Korea, while winning the bronze medal in Wuhan, China, and thus making their way to the FIBA Olympic qualifying tournament, were good publicity for a strong domestic league.

Coach Hur Jae, who was picked to lead the team by virtue of his leading KCC Egis to the title in the KBL, used this familiarity rather well.

“The familiarity helps us in more ways than one,” Moon Taejong said moments after scoring the clutch three-pointer and effecting the block that brought Korea the bronze medal against Philippines.

“It helps us know our strengths, but to me more importantly, it helps us in covering each others’ weakness well. After all, each of us has played against each other all year long. And we know exactly what the other person cannot do. That prepares us to give that extra bit."

Complementing each other’s strength is common knowledge, but it looked like the Koreans had mastered compensating for a teammate’s weakness.

It was almost like Hur Jae was counting on Moon to effect just that block or fire in just that long-ranger to serve the team’s goal of winning the game and a medal.

“There are plans for each player. But I am not sure if we can execute those plans if I don’t know them so well,” the rigidly reticent Hur Jae opened up at the end of FIBA Asia Championship.

“Yes there are training camps and practice sessions, but the fact that I have seen all of them in action from close quarters helps one hell of a lot.

“I am not sure if that is the best way to go about it, but as long as we win medals, I won’t complain,” he chuckled.

In fact, Korea have added an entirely new dimension to the familiarity concept by naturalising all eligible players and fielding them in their very own league.

After all, wasn’t the current Korean Basketball League Technical Commissioner Kim Dong Kwang the first-ever mixed blood Korean to play in the KBL, and subsequently the Korean national team itself!

The concept of naturalising players is neither uncommon nor incongruous for national federations to look for players who can enhance their team’s chances. But the manner in which some federations have gone about looking for players more with desperation than purpose has sometimes made the whole concept rather comical.

This is where the approach of Korea and KBL in terms of naturalising players comes into play to help the national team.

Players like the Sandrin brothers – Eric and Daniel (aka Lee Seung-joon and Lee Dong-joon) – and Moon’s own brother Greg Stevenson (aka Moon Tae-Young) as well as the prodigious point guard Chon Tae-poong (formerly known as Tony Akins) all play in the KBL like every other Korean in the same bid to make the national team.

This is in contrast with many other countries where the naturalisation is done with the sole purpose of handing out the national colours and then forgotten, with no long-term development of sport in the country in mind.

It’s probably the reason Korea have won a medal at 23 of the 26 FIBA Asia Championships!

Now, if only this familiarity can lead to their first Olympic appearance since 1996 as they prepare to play in next summer's FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament, then the concept will gain even more credence.

So long…

S Mageshwaran

FIBA Asia

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