David Simon, who stands 6ft 7in, falls foul of a new rule designed to make South Korea’s basketball competition less reliant on tall imports
Apr 6: Height may not be a pre-requisite attribute to become a top basketballer – a diminutive stature never held back the likes of Muggsy Bogues – but it can help. So it was with some bewilderment that the American player, David Simon, who stands at 6ft 7in, met the news that he can no longer play in the Korean Basketball League on account of being too tall.
Simon, a 35-year-old journeyman centre who has plied his trade in several leagues in Europe and Asia since leaving the US in 2005, has been told he must leave the KBL next season after league officials decided to impose height restrictions on foreign players.
As of next season, which starts in October, one of the two overseas players each KBL team is allowed on their roster will have to be no taller than 6ft 6in (which is two metres) and the other no taller than 6ft 1in, according to the Korea Times.
Simon, who plays for Anyang KGC, has become a victim of the league’s push to make the game less reliant on tall players and encourage the recruitment of small, skilful players in a bid to arrest the league’s recent decline in popularity.
The Korea Times reported the KBL commissioner, Kim Young-il, said games have become dull in recent years and the new rules were expected to make the competition more exciting by shifting the focus of team’s recruitment.
Simon, in his second stint in the KBL has also played in Bulgaria, Russia, France, Serbia, the Philippines and Kazakhstan, is unlikely to be the only player affected by the ruling; of the 22 other Americans in the league, some exceed the new height limits.
- BBC.com