Mobis Phoebus
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The Ulsan Hyundai Mobis Phoebus is a professional
basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...
club in the
Korean Basketball League The Korean Basketball League () or simply KBL is a professional men's basketball league in South Korea which was established in 1997. The league consists of ten teams and each team plays a total of 54 games (27 home and 27 away) in the regular s ...
.


History


Foundation and amateur era

Before the professional
Korean Basketball League The Korean Basketball League () or simply KBL is a professional men's basketball league in South Korea which was established in 1997. The league consists of ten teams and each team plays a total of 54 games (27 home and 27 away) in the regular s ...
was established in 1997, domestic basketball was an amateur sport and teams were sponsored by corporate companies or private universities. Ulsan Hyundai Mobis Phoebus traces its origins to the basketball team sponsored by
Kia Motors Kia Corporation (, formerly known as Kyungsung Precision Industry (京城精密工業) and Kia Motors Corporation) is a South Korean multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automobile manufacturer headquartered in Seoul, ...
in 1986. The team was based in
Busan Busan (), officially Busan Metropolitan City, is South Korea's second list of cities in South Korea by population, most populous city after Seoul, with a population of over 3.3 million as of 2024. Formerly romanized as Pusan, it is the economi ...
where Kia Motors had manufacturing operations. During the amateur era, all teams competed in the National Basketball Festival (농구대잔치). The Kia team dominated the late 1980s, despite being relatively new compared to Samsung Electronic and Hyundai's teams (now
Seoul Samsung Thunders Seoul Samsung Thunders () is a professional basketball team, competing in the Korean Basketball League. Ever since the club was founded in 1978, they have been associated with Samsung Electronics. Initially based in Suwon, they relocated to Seoul ...
and
Jeonju KCC Egis The Busan KCC Egis () is a professional basketball club based in Busan, South Korea. The team competes in the Korean Basketball League (KBL) and has established a substantial fanbase in South Korea. Founded in 1997, the team was initially based i ...
, respectively). Their roster at that time consisted of the legendary
Chung-Ang University Chung-Ang University (CAU; ) is a private research university in Seoul, South Korea. The university operates two campuses: main campus located in Dongjak District, Seoul, and an additional campus in Anseong, Gyeonggi Province. CAU consists of 1 ...
quartet: centers
Han Ki-bum Han Ki-bum (, born 7 June 1964) is a South Korean basketball player. He competed in the men's tournament at the 1988 Summer Olympics The 1988 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIV Olympiad () and officially branded as Seoul ...
and
Kim Yoo-taek Kim Yoo-taek (born October 10, 1963 in Pocheon, Gyeonggi Province, South Korea) is a former South Korean basketball player. Although positioned as a center due to his height, Kim possessed the ball-handling skills of a guard and was equally capa ...
, all-rounded shooting guard
Hur Jae Hur Jae (; born September 28, 1965) is a South Korean retired basketball coach and former player. His playing and coaching career combined spanned over three decades, beginning during the semi-professional era and coinciding with the establishm ...
and record-breaking point guard
Kang Dong-hee Kang Dong-hee (born 20 December 1966) is a South Korean former basketball player and coach. He competed in the men's tournament at the 1996 Summer Olympics. In his prime, Kang was regarded as the best domestic point guard of his generation and w ...
. The "Hur-Dong-Taek Trio" would later be retrospectively dubbed the most formidable offensive unit of the amateur era.


Professional era (1997–2001)

With the founding of the KBL, Kia chose to register its team and joined the league as Busan Kia Enterprise. They won the inaugural KBL Championship. Although they finished the next two seasons as championship runners-up, the team went through a period of upheaval. As with many major corporations, Kia Motors suffered from the
1997 Asian financial crisis The 1997 Asian financial crisis gripped much of East Asia, East and Southeast Asia during the late 1990s. The crisis began in Thailand in July 1997 before spreading to several other countries with a ripple effect, raising fears of a worldwide eco ...
, which had hit South Korea hard. Kia was bought over by
Hyundai Motor Company Hyundai Motor Company, often referred to as Hyundai Motors, ( ) and commonly known as Hyundai (), is a South Korean multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturer headquartered in Seoul, South Korea, which ...
in 1998 but the basketball team remained solely under Kia and retained the name. The team was unable to go through a generational change due to financial constraints and the aging squad found themselves behind other teams, especially a much younger Daejeon Hyundai Dynat team driven by the likes of Lee Sang-min and
Choo Seung-gyun Choo Seung-gyun (born December 6, 1974) is a South Korean retired professional basketball player and coach. He spent his entire 15-year playing career with Korean Basketball League team Jeonju KCC Egis, who retired his number 4 jersey. After a b ...
. Han had already retired by then while Hur and Kang both left for other teams for various reasons. Hyundai then acquired the basketball team prior to the 2001–02 season as it was no longer feasible for Kia to sponsor a sports team. The team moved to its current home city of
Ulsan Ulsan (; ), officially the Ulsan Metropolitan City, is South Korea's seventh-largest metropolitan city and the eighth-largest city overall, with a population of over 1.1 million inhabitants. It is located in the south-east of the country, neighbo ...
.


Ulsan era (2001–present)

The first several seasons after the move were forgettable, as the newly-renamed Ulsan Mobis Automons mostly finished in the bottom half of the league table. Incumbent head coach Yoo Jae-hak, himself a former Kia player during the amateur era, was hired in 2004. At the rookie draft that year, Mobis won the lottery for the first overall pick and Yoo drafted
Yang Dong-geun Yang Dong-geun (; born June 1, 1979), also known as YDG, is a South Korean actor and rapper. He started his career as a child actor, drawing attention for his roles in the television shows ''Seoul Ttukbaegi'' (1990) and ''Hyung'' (1991). He be ...
, who would go on to become the team's longest-serving player.


Current roster


Honours


Domestic

*
Korean Basketball League The Korean Basketball League () or simply KBL is a professional men's basketball league in South Korea which was established in 1997. The league consists of ten teams and each team plays a total of 54 games (27 home and 27 away) in the regular s ...
championship :: Winners (7):
1997 Events January * January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States. * January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis. * January 1 ...
, 2006–07, 2009–10,
2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...
, 2013–14, 2014–15, 2018–19 :: Runners-up (3): 1997–98, 1998–99, 2005–06 *Korean Basketball League regular season :: Winners (7):
1997 Events January * January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States. * January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis. * January 1 ...
, 2005–06, 2006–07, 2008–09, 2009–10, 2014–15, 2018–19 :: Runners-up (5): 1998–99,
2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...
, 2013–14, 2015–16,
2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...
*KBL Cup :: Runners-up: 2022, 2023


Continental

*
FIBA Asia Champions Cup The Basketball Champions League Asia (BCL Asia), formerly the FIBA Asia Champions Cup, is an annual continental club men's basketball competition organised by FIBA Asia. It is the highest level club competition for basketball in Asia. Introduce ...
:: Winners: 1992 :: Runners-up: 1997 * ABA Club Championship :: Runners-up: 2013


References


External links


Official website

Asia-Basket.com
{{Hyundai Motor Group 1986 establishments in South Korea Basketball teams established in 1986 Basketball teams in South Korea Korean Basketball League teams Sport in Ulsan Hyundai Motor Group