How do they hide their talents? When this reporter met him at the SK training center in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province on April 20 when he was about to rank No. 1 in the regular season league, he was always funny. He was funny when he said so. At the All Star game in January, there were usually "vibes" that made the crowd laugh some 9,000 people with "referee" and "squid game parody." "I'm not talented, but I think I have a desire (to be funny)," he said. "I'm just doing my best in any situation."
This season, SK is having as much fun as the coach's talent. It already confirmed its men's professional basketball team rank No. 1 in the regular season. It has become the lowest number of games played (46 games) in men's professional basketball history. It is the fourth team to rank No. 1 after 2012-2013, 2019-2020, and 2021-2022, and Jeon has won two of them. Jeon is set to take the lead for the second time in this season after 2021-2022, the first year since his inauguration. "I think it will be more difficult for us to show good performances while being careful of players' injuries in the remaining regular league. If we rank No. 1 so quickly and fail to win the combined championship, it will be even more so…." The words were worrying, but the mouth kept smiling.
SK's galloping performance was unexpected. Due to lack of reinforcement of its capacity unlike other teams, the team was expected to rank fourth or fifth ahead of the season. Jeon cited reasons such as hard work in training during the off-season and lack of major injuries throughout the season. As he laid down basic skills, he displayed fastballs (1st place, fastballs (1st place) and defense (1st place) that come to mind when it comes to SK despite hard call variables. Jamil Warney also performed well. New and old players such as Kim Sun-hyung, Ahn Young-joon, Oh Jae-hyun and Oh Se-geun played evenly.
All the credit goes to the "players," and at the center of the "fun" season is Jeon's leadership with communication and data. When Jeon lost his first three games in a row after winning nine games in a row, he analyzed all the video clips for his team's answers. "After five days of hard work, I found out who was holding the ball for an unnecessary long time and how the movement was tangled. I was beaten early so I could solve the problem early." Players tend to have personal greed when performing well, but the excessive play disappeared as we discussed through data. "I said it depends on the basketball I want to go to, and I'll take responsibility. The players trusted and followed me. I'm grateful." 안전놀이터
One of the best players who trusted Jeon is Warnie, who played for six seasons in the SK Wyverns. Jeon's performance in this season (34 minutes, 24 seconds, 23.5 points, 12.3 run balls, etc.) is attributable to Jeon's efforts since he was a coach. Jeon trusted Warnie more than anyone else when he was a coach and even corrected his jumping shot posture. Even ahead of this season, Jeon had a lot of conversations with him. That's why Jeon has a unique affection for Warnie. "I don't want to imagine an SK without Warnie," he said with a smile.
"Coach has to deal with all the issues that are going on in his team," he said. Such an idea stems from his long career in SK, where he has thoroughly read into the internal situations of the team and players' strengths and weaknesses. Jeon retired and experienced not only the power analyst and operation team leader, but also the second-tier coach, the first-tier coach, and the head coach. As for a company, he became a CEO after experiencing various departments, starting with the employee. "Experience in other fields helped me learn about society and broadened my horizons. Being the operation team leader helped me the most. I would not have known better if I were a coach, but I also saw the backside of how the basketball team works." Having spent 12 years coaching experience also helped me become a good leader. "A lot of what I saw, learned, and took notes about (about the coach) over the years has become my asset now," he said.
"A coach is as stressful as he is attractive," he said. "He relieves stress by experiencing new machines." "It's an early adapter!" He replaced his laptop with the latest specifications after failing to make it to the round of 6 playoffs last season. Is it okay not to experience a new one this time? "I heard 'Crazy Player' should come out in a short-term match, but since we have a good teamwork, the first thing to do is to analyze the opponent team well. And we will try to do what we are good at." He added, "Fast attack, defense and WONY!" that other teams knew but failed to block.