Korea - Biggest catch

From www.koreatimes.co.kr
Download source here

The Korean Basketball League (KBL) scrapped a rule limiting the height of one foreign player on each team to 2.08 meters last December.

The league made the change because it believes current players' sizes are not feasible to defend 2.23-meter Ha Seung-jin, a potential No. 1 pick in this year's KBL draft.

In addition, a few teams, which have losing records, were rumored to have given up last season to snatch Ha as the No. 1 pick.

As South Korea's first National Basketball Association (NBA) player who returned to Korea last year after spending two seasons in the United States, Ha has been the center of the KBL beyond its draft, which will be held on Jan. 29, before his arrival.

The 22-year-old giant was taken in the second round of the 2004 NBA draft as a 46th pick by the Portland Trail Blazers and spent two seasons with the Milwaukee Bucks and Portland. He averaged 1.5 points per game and 1.5 rebounds per game.

With his NBA-caliber physical advantage, Ha is expected to be a sensation in the domestic league, threatening Korean big men Kim Joo-sung of the Dongbu Promy and Seo Jang-hoon of the KCC Egis, who have dominated the league with their heights of 2.05 and 2.07 meters, respectively.

Ha showed he had evolved into a quality player while playing for Korea's national basketball team at the 2006 Asian Games in Doha, Qatar and at the 2007 Asian Basketball Championship in Tokusima, Japan.

Acquiring him is expected to make a KBL team into a top contender at once, while the rest of the league will suffer in trying to stop him.

In this year's draft, the ET Land BlackSlammers, the SK Knights, the Promy and the Egis have the rights to select from No. 1 to No. 4, according to last season's standings.

If either the Promy or the Egis snap up Ha, they can compose the best Korean twin towers ever. And to the other two teams, which have perimeter weapons, his addition would be a big factor in raising them close to contention.

Even for teams that miss out on Ha, the draft still has silver linings because of a deep talent pool.

The national teams' undergraduate quartet of Kyunghee University standout Kim Min-soo, guard Kang Byung-hyun, forward Yoon Ho-young of Korea University and Choongang University forward Cha Jae-young will also enter the draft.

Kim, who changed his nationality from Argentina, plays power forward and center under manager Choi Boo-young on the national team and the college team. The 2.06-meter 26-years-old is resilient and strong enough to battle with imported players, which brands him as a potential No. 2 pick following Ha.

A tall point guard, Kang, who stands 1.93 meters, is a versatile player, while the 1.96-meter Yoon has defensive skills for a scorer.

Cha is a swingman who can play any position from shooting guard to power forward and has good leaping ability that enables him to dunk.

There are 40 players registered to the draft.