Hyundai Mobis set another record for the rookie of the year. The main character was Ronjay Avarientos, who is called ‘Philippine Express’ and ‘Chunsami’.
KBL held the 2022-2023 SKT A.Dot Professional Basketball Awards Ceremony at the Seoul Grand Intercontinental Seoul Parnas Grand Ballroom on the 30th. Avarientos received 101 out of 109 valid votes, comfortably beating Shin Dong-hyuk (Samsung, 5 votes) and won the Rookie Award.
With this, Ulsan Hyundai Mobis became the third team in history to produce the rookie award for two consecutive seasons, following Wonju Narae (now DB) and Anyang KGC. Last season, Lee Woo-seok won the rookie award.
Lee Woo-seok is KBL’s first 2nd year rookie award recipient. Prior to the start of the 2020-2021 season, KBL changed the rules to grant qualifications for the rookie award to second-year players who have played less than 1/2 of the games in their debut season. Accordingly, Lee Woo-seok, who only played 15 games in the 2020-2021 season, was able to win the rookie award last season.
Following Lee Woo-seok, Avarientos also wrote a new history. Avarientos became the first player in history to win the rookie award as a foreigner. Prior to this season, KBL expanded its Asia quota to include the Philippines. He also grants rookie award qualifications only to players with less than 1 season and less than 1/2 game appearances among those with experience in overseas leagues.
Avarientos from FEU (Far Eastern University) is the first professional league experienced by KBL. Not only did he meet the conditions for his rookie award, but he also showed outstanding performance. He averaged 13.6 points, 2.7 3-pointers, 2.9 rebounds, 4.8 assists and 1.4 steals in 51 games, winning the Rookie of the Year award with overwhelming votes.
As is well known, another name for Hyundai Mobis is ’99’. It is a nickname given to many players born in 1999. Wooseok Lee and Avarientos were also born in 1999. The rebuilding of Hyundai Mobis is accelerating with the fruit of ’99’.
Avarientos said,바카라 “I think it is a great honor to win the rookie award in the first professional league. I was able to receive the award because the fans cheered me on so hard. I didn’t care about the rookie award. He spent the season thinking only of the part where he gathered strength with his teammates and led the team to victory,” he said.
Avarientos continued, “Seeing Koreans in other countries is itself an element that gives you the comfort of being at home. I am happy to see a lot of fans who support not only me but also Filipino players from other teams.