Three years ago Korea’s industrial giants decided to get into the basketball business. The pro league that they created demanded a higher level of talent than the current standard of Korean basketball. That’s why Cliff Reed is here. A star player on the Pusan-based Kia Enterprise, he was recruited at a Pro-Am tournament in his hometown of Las Vegas. Like many, he didn’t know much about the country before arriving. As one of only two foreign players to play all three seasons, Reed is in a unique position to discuss the experiences of a foreign athlete in Korea, and the state of the league. He plays in unheated stadiums for television audiences in the millions, and spends seven months a year away from his wife Cassandra and his three-year-old son Aaron. In the last year he lost his mother and suffered some painful injuries. More than anything else, Cliff Reed worries about doing his job and making the fans happy.

Exit: Do you like Korea, generally?

Cliff: The people here are real nice. As far as basketball, people treat you nice, I guess, because you’re a star, but I don’t know how the lifestyle is for someone else.

E: Your team stays in Suwon even though it’s a Pusan team. Why?

C: Actually, I have no idea about that. I guess everyone has their hometown where they play, but no one ever lives there. We live in a dormitory so everything is right there for us: our practice facility, our rooms. We eat in the same facility and we have a big TV room. Everyone lives right there, so we really do spend a lot of time together. We go to movies, fishing; we hang out, shoot pool. One day the guys asked me, “You want to go fishing?” and I said “Sure, I like fishing,” and they took me to this building. I thought “What’s going on?” It was an inside fishing place.

E: Inside fishing?

C: Yeah, inside fishing.

E: Interesting. Do you spend time with other foreigners at all?

C: We hang out with the other American players every once in a while. The guys get together, we talk, but it’s very hard. We can’t really get out and do a lot of things, or meet a lot of people. When the season starts we’re busy until the end. It’s over on April 11th, and our visa expires April 15th. So the other few days we’re usually packing, visiting the company, thanking them for everything they’ve done for us. And then we’re out of here. You come here, work, do your job, next thing you know the season’s over. If you win the championship you have to do the TV shows, have a party, but we still can’t do much. Other things are going on.

E: What kind of visa are you on?

C: I don’t know. They don’t really give us too much information about that. You ask them questions about stuff and they don’t want to give you an answer. “Don’t worry,” they say, “just do your job.”

E: That sounds familiar. Let’s talk about the game a little. What do you think of the playing style here?

C: The style is very different from, say, the US. In the US the play is more physical. There’s a lot of banging, and a lot of body contact. Here they really like to shoot the ball. If you have a fast break, normally you’d shoot a lay-up. Here they stop and shoot a three-pointer. When I first saw that happen, I yelled at the player. I didn’t know that was their style of play. Then I had to adjust to it. Our offense is very loose. There’s no set pattern. On our team, we have a lot of great Korean players, and the other American player, he’s great also. So basically, if someone’s having a good game and they’re really shooting the ball well, we just let that player continue to play the one-on-one. If he’s feeling it, we just keep giving him the ball. But once he cools off, we let someone else try it. We spread the ball around a lot.

E: Is there a language barrier? Is it tough to get along with the other players?

C: We have a translator but on the court it’s universal, you just get along. You don’t really need to discuss things. Basketball is X’s and O’s—cut, cut, pass—go here and there. When you draw it on the board everyone realizes what’s going on. You just go out there and play the game. I’m a very emotional player when I get on the court. Sometimes my emotions take over and when I go out and play I give it my all. They kind of lay back and play until they get to the playoffs and then they step it up a notch and everyone plays hard. I like to go out there and play hard every night

E: Among the basketball players, do you think there’s a rivalry, especially among the foreign players?

C: Well, me personally I don’t think so. But the media, they say there’s one between myself and Johnny McDowell. They say it’s a rivalry, especially because it’s Hyundai, and we’ve been to the championship and played against each other. They made a big deal out of it, but when you go onto the court you have to have this attitude like you’re not going to let anyone push you around. Maybe a lot of people think “If he’s that way on the court, he’s the same off the court.” But you’d be surprised when you meet a lot of the guys off the court. They’re totally different.

E: How’s practice?

C: Actually our practices here are very easy compared to ones I had in the States. We practice twice a day. Our early morning session starts at ten thirty. We do a little stretching, a little shooting, and then we do weights. We’re out by twelve. Then we go back again from four to six and basically do shooting, run through plays, and that’s about it. It’s very easy.

E: Do you practice every day?

C: Yes, every day. We very seldom get time to ourselves.

E: What do you think of the future of Korean basketball?

C: It can get better, I think. The play is improving a little bit. It’s going to take time because this is only the third season for foreign players to be over here. As far as referees, I think they need to do a little bit more work to understand the game. They control it too much. They should let the players determine the outcome. A few of the referees, maybe they have something personal against some of the other players, some of the American players or maybe some of the Korean players. So I’ve got a reputation as one of the bad boys of the league.

E: Why?

C: Some refs speak some English, but when you try to communicate with them, they don’t want to hear anything you have to say. Frankly, I think the refing’s gotten worse than what it was. If there’s a problem we should be able to talk to them and find out what the problem is. They don’t take the time to explain. I have gotten a lot of technical fouls from being so frustrated with the referees. Just for asking them, “Can I speak to you for a minute?” I have gotten a technical foul. Just for asking the question “Why?” I’ve got a technical foul. One of the American players got a technical foul for telling the referee “Good call”. It’s very difficult. You see some Korean players do some things. Then, when an American player does the same thing, the American player gets a technical foul and the Korean player doesn’t. They can get away with a lot more arguing. 

E: What about future plans? Do you plan to stay in Korea for a while?

C: I have no idea. Actually, I’m no spring chicken. I’m twenty-eight. I played in Venezuela my first year out of school, and then I played in the Philippines. I came here, and I really enjoyed it. If they would like for me to stay here, I would love to finish playing here. This is my third season, and I’m very comfortable with the players. I tell myself I’m going to try to play maybe five or six more years. This year I’m having trouble with my back. They say it’s arthritis, but I’ll check it out when I go back home. I don’t believe the doctors. They just say the first thing that come into their minds.

E: What kind of treatment are you getting for that?

C: Massages, and I use the pulse machine.

E: No acupuncture?
C: Well, they gave it to me once. They said it worked because I played a better game after that, but I didn’t feel anything. 

E: I hear that the junior high girls are crazy about you.

C: I really wouldn’t know about that. You get to meet the fans only when they come to the games. If I could, sometime I would like to go and do something for the fans. They could just have a draw for the students with good grades and I could spend a day with them, go out to Lotte World. I tried to tell this to the company and they said, “Well your schedule is so busy…” But it’s nice to give back to the fans because they’re the ones who make this league what it is. I would like to visit schools and talk, even though there’s a language barrier. I have a translator and the fans are very important. If they only see you on the court they might misjudge what type of person you are.

E: When you’re free in town, do you just hang around the hotel? 

C: Basically. When you go out they ask “Where’s he at? Where’s he at?” We’d just like to get some fresh air but they worry. Every time we go out someone has to be with us. One time I walked right to the little Circle K around the corner. “Where are you going?” they asked, “Hold up, somebody’s got to go with you.” They’re really protective of us. They say that there’s no telling what could happen to us out there. Sometimes you feel like a kid, the way they treat you. You try to tell them you’re not. I think I can pretty much handle myself. I just want to get out and see different things instead of being inside all the time. To get out and see people and let people see you is important. I think the people here are pretty nice. I just want to meet people and let them see what kind of person I am. I enjoy the fans, but it’s just hotel, gym, hotel, gym.
 

A Knowing wink from son, Aaron, 3

C: No. 

E: Any temples?

C: No.

E: You know, there’s some really interesting stuff out there.

C: Yeah, I’d really like to see it.