Former Coach Heo Jae, “I tried not to let my kids play basketball… I wish I had gone to Game 7”

Two sons, Heo Woong vs. Heo Hoon, ‘fierce match’ in the professional basketball championship game.

Basketball President' Heo Jae, former national men's basketball team coach, recently enjoyed 'family glory' thanks to his two sons.

The eldest son, Heo Woong (KCC), and the second son, Heo Hoon (KT), competed fiercely in the professional basketball championship game of the 2023-2024 season, and former coach Heo Jae looked on with a happy expression from the stands.

In the championship battle between brothers, KCC, to which Heo Woong belongs, won the championship, and Heo Woong was selected as the Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the playoffs. 온라인카지노

Heo Hoon struggled against the ‘super team’ KCC, scoring an incredible 26.6 points in the five games of the championship game.

The two competing for first and second place in popularity in the KBL faced each other in the championship game, marking the first professional basketball game with more than 10,000 spectators in 12 years since 2012.

Some even commented that the popularity of basketball, which had been 'dead', had been revived.

In addition, 26 years after the 1997-1998 season when former coach Heo Jae played for Kia, his son became the playoff MVP, creating the first father-son MVP in history.

Former coach Heo said on the 7th, "I watched all of them on site except for the third game."

He added, "As the first and second games ended with 1 win and 1 loss, I was planning to go again starting with the 5th game in Suwon, but I enjoyed the 3rd game so much that I decided to play the 4th game as well.

“I went to Busan and saw it in person,” he said.

He said, “I thought it would be nice if KCC and KT met in the championship game because the playoffs were split in two,” and “They both play ace roles on the team, but KCC had better results because they have Choi Jun-yong, Song Kyo-chang, and La Gun-ah.”

“It seems like it is,” he analyzed.

Former Coach Heo Jae looked back and said, “When Woong made a great play, I hoped Hoon would do well in the future, but overall, except for the first game, there were scenes like that.”

He added, “It helps the popularity of basketball, and they also like it, so I personally “I wanted to go to Game 7,” he confessed.

Heo Woong, who became the MVP for generations, began his career as a full-fledged player in his first year at Yongsan Middle School.

Former coach Heo looked back and said, “After retirement, I spent time in the United States and returned to Korea and he said he wanted to become a basketball player” and laughed “At that time, I never thought it would go this far”

He said, “Woong was good at studying, and like his mother, who majored in art, he was good at drawing,” and “He also said, ‘From what dad saw, you’re not good at basketball,’ to discourage him from playing basketball because sports were difficult” recalled.

In terms of play style, the second child, Heo Hoon, is said to resemble his father a little more.

Former coach Heo said, “Because he is in the role of leading the team, he seems similar to me in the way he shows a certain level of proactiveness while playing,” and added, “Heo Woong is excellent in shooting skills and such.”

Former coach Heo Jae won once in the pro league during his time as a player, with Kia in the 1997 season and with TG in the 2002-2003 season.

He was selected as playoff MVP for the 1997-1998 season, when Kia finished second.

Former coach Heo Jae is still the only case in which a player from a runner-up team became MVP.

In this season's playoff MVP press voting, Heo Woong received 31 votes and became MVP, second place was Laguna (KCC) with 27 votes, and third place was Heo Hoon of the runner-up team KT with 21 votes.

Former coach Heo said, "I thought the MVP would go to one of Woong, La Gun-ah, or Song Kyo-chang," and "I thought that if we made it to the 7th game, even if Hoon was runner-up, he could get it," he said, showing his paternal affection for his two sons.

In fact, former coach Heo was named playoff MVP at the awards ceremony even in the 2002-2003 season, when he won during his time at TG.

At the time, the announcer on the floor even announced that it was 'MVP Heo Jae', but immediately corrected it to David Jackson.

Also, the coach of TG, where Heo Jae belonged at the time, was coach Jeon Chang-jin, and the head coach of KCC this season, when his son received the MVP, was also coach Jeon Chang-jin.

Coach Jeon Chang-jin set the record for the youngest ever winning coach (39 years old) in a championship game by winning with Heo Jae in 2003, and this year, he achieved the record for the oldest winning coach (60 years old) with former coach Heo's son Heo Woong.

Former director Heo said, “That’s really true,” and added, “I hadn’t even thought about that,” expressing his surprise that more than 20 years had passed.

Former coach Heo, who said he "rarely drinks alcohol" since the second half of last year due to health reasons, was asked, "But you're still busy," and replied, "I'm the freest these days (thanks to my sons), so I'm busy receiving congratulations was happy with the happy ending."