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Josh Hawkinson, a 'naturalized player,' makes a crucial difference between the Japanese and South Korean teams


Josh Hawkinson (208 cm, C) was the biggest difference. The Korean men's national basketball team had a 2024 Softbank Cup warm-up match against the Japanese men's national basketball team at Ariake Arena in Tokyo on May 5 and 7. The result was one win and one loss. It exceeded expectations.

The reason why they called it a better-than-expected result. Korea played in the warm-up match with younger players who were born in 1999. Japan, on the other hand, did not include only Rui Hachimura (203 cm, F) and Yuta Watanabe (206 cm, F), and their resources to compete in the Paris Olympics were sparred with Korea.

In particular, Josh Hawkinson (208 cm, F/C) was a big presence. Hawkinson is a naturalized player with Japanese nationality. He has both physical and basketball sense, and selflessness. In addition, he has played in the Japanese B League since 2017, so he is well aware of the Japanese basketball style.

The stage where Hawkinson's performance stood out was the 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup. Hawkinson averaged 21 points and 10.8 rebounds in five games at the time. In particular, he scored 28 points and 19 rebounds (attack 4) and one assist, one steal, and one block shot, giving Japan a 10-point victory (98-88).

Then, Hawkinson started an exhibition game with South Korea. Early in the game, he focused on the role of a screener. He created various derivative options by opening the ball handler's offensive space on the screen, or by hand-off following the screen.

However, as Japan was on the defensive, Hawkinson directly attacked. However, he did not get into the area near the rim. He shot a floater in the mid-range after the screen, or he missed the 3-point line after the screen and shot. It also provided a breakthrough space for Yuki Kawamura (172 cm, G) by pulling out after the screen.

Hawkinson's play was even scarier because he controlled the pace of play. Japan, which was once trailing by 20 points, finished the first game 84-85. Hawkinson also maintained his record with 17 points, nine rebounds, and two assists for 27 minutes and 53 seconds.

And the second game. Japan took poison. So did Hawkinson. He harmonized with domestic players like in the first game, but used more force than in the first game. There were also many cases of him approaching the rim.

He relaxed in a one-on-one physical fight with Ha Yoon-ki (204 cm, C) and Lee Won-seok (206 cm, C). Korea's assistant defense also handled it cleverly. And he jumped much more than in the first game. As a result, he played 32 minutes and 37 seconds, scoring 34 points and 14 rebounds (attack 2) and two assists. Japan also won 88-80.

Hawkinson's presence made the decisive difference between the Japanese men's basketball team and the Korean men's basketball team. Hawkinson's dominance and versatility were definitely not on the Korean men's basketball team this time. In particular, it was difficult for the country's big man to match Hawkinson's physical strength and strength. For that reason, Korea had to be nervous throughout the warm-up matches.

The words of a Korean big man who was not included in the national team suddenly came to mind. "The power of foreign forward-type players is lower than that of big man-type players, and their physical and power are also much better than that of Korean players," he said at the time. "So even if we defend a forward-type foreign player, we have to use more power than usual."

Of course, the match against Japan would not have been easy, even if the national team included a naturalized player. However, the domestic players would have taken some of the burden off their physical strength. If so, they would have formed more virtuous cycles of "defense-box out-speed."

Furthermore, you can boost your competitiveness on the Asian stage. If you gain confidence on the Asian stage, you will try to face higher opponents. But there are no naturalized players who will join the Korean men's national basketball team yet. This is one of the differences from the Japanese men's national basketball team.