The Wonju DBs are on fire early in the professional basketball season.
With a 13-1 record, including two six-game winning streaks, DB is averaging a whopping 94.4 points per game. That’s more than 10 points higher than second-place Busan KCC (84.9).
It’s also a far cry from the 10-team average this season (82.7 points).
The ferocity of DB’s offense is even more pronounced when compared to the ‘past’.
DB’s 94.4 points per game this season ranks 12th in the history of professional basketball dating back to 1997.
Teams ranked 1-11 all played between 1997 and 2001, the early years of professional basketball.
In the early days of professional basketball, high scoring wasn’t hard to come by. In the original 1997 season, the eight teams averaged a whopping 95.5 points in the regular season.
In the 2000-2001 season, Changwon LG (103.3 points) even surpassed the 100-point mark, thanks to the offense-oriented style of basketball that Kim Tae-hwan coached.
However, this high-scoring trend has gradually slowed down as professional basketball seasons have accumulated and defensive tactics have evolved.
In the 1997 season, all but two teams averaged over 90 points, but in the 2002-2003 season, not a single team reached 90 points.
Before DB, the last team to average over 90 was the Daegu Orions (90.4 points) in the 2004-2005 season 캡틴토토 주소.
The key to their scoring prowess is their precision shooting.
DB’s field goal percentage is 52.4%, the only time this season it’s been above 50%.
When you break it down further, it’s even more impressive.
Their two-point percentage (59.4%) is nearly 60%, far outpacing the next two teams, Anyang Jungkwanjang (53.2%) and Daegu Kogas (53.1%).
The team’s overall three-point percentage (39.7%) is also close to 40%.
This means that DB’s average is what you’d expect to see from each team’s signature shooter.
DB’s free throw percentage (81%) is also above 80%.
The last team to have a team-wide free throw percentage above 80 percent was Anyang KT&G in the 2007-2008 season (currently led by Jung Kwan-jang – 80.6 percent).
It’s still early in the season, but the player with the most firepower in DB is Kang Sang-jae.
Taking over 10 shots per game, Kang is shooting 58.2% from the field, 47.1% from three, and 83.3% from the free throw line.
His scoring average (14.6 ppg) is also third on the team behind Dedrick Lawson (24.1 ppg) and Lee Sun Albano (15.4 ppg).
Park In-woong and Choi Seung-wook are also getting around 20 minutes of playing time, but the forward line is performing beyond expectations, with field goal and three-point shooting percentages of 52.8%-46.3% and 57.4%-50%, respectively.
Seoul SK head coach Jeon Hee-cheol expressed his admiration for DB’s offensive prowess to reporters before the team’s home game against Seoul Samsung at Jamsil Student Gymnasium in Seoul on March 20.
“The team’s three-point percentage is 40 percent. The two-point percentage is 60 percent. In the last DB game, I told (the players), ‘We’re the 180 Club,’ so we can’t score less than 90 points,” Jeon said.
The term “180 Club” was originally used in the National Basketball Association (NBA) to describe a group of elite players who shot over 50 percent from the field, 40 percent from three, and 90 percent from the free throw line.
In DB’s case, his 2-point, 3-point, and free throw percentages are roughly 60, 40, and 80 percent, respectively, which adds up to 180 percent, according to Jeon.
It doesn’t fit the general definition of the 180 Club, but it’s a tribute to DB’s offensive prowess.
“DB is bound to score over 90 points if things continue as they are now. He’s too good. I admit it,” he said tongue-in-cheek.