최준용에게는 계획이 있다. Choi has a plan

최준용은 늘 우승팀에 있었고 우승팀을 만들었다. 내 기준 한국에서 농구를 가장 잘하는 선수 중 다섯 명 안에 포함된다.

94년생으로 농구선수로서는 가장 무르익은 나이인데, 느바 도전을 시작했다.

인터뷰에서 그는 아무런 계획이 없다고 했고, 일단 라스베가스에가서 자신을 알리고 LA로 넘어가서 훈련을 지속한다고 했다. 그러나 이게 계획이 아니고 무엇인가. 아마 자신과 관련된 하이라이트 영상을 각 구단에게 알리려는 것 같다.

도전한다는 게 얼마나 큰 용기인지, 변호사로서 그와 비슷한 연차인 나도 항상 느끼고 있다. 늘 새로운 도전을 꿈꾸는 나에게도 최준용은 신선한 충격을 주었고, 도전하는 것만으로도 응원을 받는 삶도 참 멋지다는 생각을 하게된다.

우리가 알고있는 서장훈도 한 때 느바 입성을 위해 연세대 재학 중 미국에 다녀왔었고, 이대성, 양재민 모두 해외 시장(B리그)에 도전하고 복귀했다. 그 도전이 개인의 삶에 어떠한 큰 변화를 가져왔는지 제3자는 알 수 없지만 그들에게는 도전해야만 할 이유가 있었을 것이며 그건 누구도 쉽게 평가할 수 없다.

KCC는 올해 우승이 힘들 것이다. 최준용도 없고, 송교창도 없다. 모두 해외 진출을 선언했고, 이상민 감독은 더 설득하지 않았다. 어쩌면 이상민 감독도 지금이라면 다른 도전을 해보지 않았을까? 남아있는 선수들인 허훈도 허웅도 모두 싱숭생숭 할 수 밖에 없을 것이다.

믈브에는 이미 성공하고 복귀한 그리고 이미 잘 안착한 한국인 선수들이 많다. 왜 아직 농구는 안될까, 물론 농구 체급이 다른 것도 맞다. 미국은 우리나라보다 스킬이 확실하고, 체격이 좋은 선수들이 많다. 그런데 최근 유소년 농구를 보면 우리나라 선수들도 과거보다 스킬이 좋고, 신체 스펙도 상당히 좋다.

와타나베는 전성기에 뚫지 못한 유리 천장 아래 있었다. 나는 한번도 그가 느바 정규 로스터에 있는 다른 선수들에 비해 상당히 떨어진다는 생각을 하진 않았다. 아시아인에 대한 유리 천장을 확실하게 뚫기만 한다면, 농구를 잘하는 필리핀, 대만, 우리나라, 일본 등 선수들을 미국에 진출 시키지 못할 이유가 없다.

Choi Jun-yong has always been on championship teams, and he has also been the kind of player who helps create championship teams. By my standards, he is one of the five best basketball players in Korea.

Born in 1994, he is now at an age when a basketball player should be at or near his peak. And yet, this is when he has chosen to begin his pursuit of the NBA.

In an interview, he said that he had no particular plan. He would first go to Las Vegas to make himself known, then move on to Los Angeles and continue training. But if that is not a plan, what is? He intends to circulate his highlight footage and introduce himself to as many teams as possible.

As a lawyer at a similar stage in my own career, I am constantly reminded of how much courage it takes to challenge yourself in a new arena. I have always dreamed of taking on new challenges myself, and Choi Jun-yong's decision came as a refreshing shock to me. It also made me think how admirable it is to live a life in which the very act of taking on a challenge is enough to earn people's support.

Seo Jang-hoon, whom we all know as a entertainer today, once went to the United States while attending Yonsei University in an attempt to make it to the NBA. Lee Dae-sung and Yang Jae-min also challenged themselves abroad, playing in overseas markets such as Japan's B.League before returning to Korea. As outsiders, we can never fully know how much those experiences changed their lives. But they must each have had reasons why they felt they had to take that chance, and those reasons are not something anyone else can easily judge.

KCC will probably have a difficult time winning the championship this year. Choi Jun-yong is gone, and so is Song Kyo-chang. Both have announced plans to pursue opportunities abroad, and head coach Lee Sang-min did not try to persuade them to stay. Perhaps Lee himself, if he were in their position today, might have wanted to take on a different challenge as well. The players who remain, including Heo Hoon and Heo Ung, cannot help but have mixed feelings about all of this.

In Major League Baseball, there have already been many Korean players who succeeded in the United States and returned home, as well as others who established themselves there for years. So why has basketball not produced the same kind of breakthrough yet?

Of course, the physical demands of basketball are different. The United States has an enormous pool of players with elite skills, size, and athleticism. But when you look at youth basketball in Korea today, Korean players are noticeably more skilled than they were in the past, and their physical profiles have also improved significantly.

Yuta Watanabe spent the prime years of his career playing just beneath a glass ceiling that he never completely shattered. I never thought he was substantially worse than many of the other players occupying regular NBA roster spots.

If that glass ceiling for Asian players can finally be broken in a meaningful way, there is no reason why talented basketball players from countries such as the Philippines, Taiwan, Korea, and Japan should not be able to make their way into the United States.

Sometimes, all it takes is for one player to open the door.