© Erkki Hautaviita
Kouvot has signed an 181-cent player contract covering next season Tuomas Hirvosen with.
Hirvonen is a player very familiar to Kouvo and the people of Kouvola, as the young man has already played as many as 284 main league matches in the basket pride shirt of his hometown. Of course, the same is true the other way around, Hirvonen knows Kouvo’s way of playing and baskets like his own pockets. Last season, Hirvonen played for the first time in his career outside Kouvola, with the backman representing Lahti Basketball, who has risen in the series.
Hirvonen, 24, will start his tenth season in the native Korisliiga in the autumn. For the last seven seasons, Hirvonen has been part of his team’s standard line-up, with 14 matches in the first two seasons, mainly experience. For the past seasons, slippery ass has been in charge of leading his team on the field.
Despite his young age, Hirvonen can already be considered a veteran of the Korisliiga: nine seasons, 318 matches, playing time on average almost 26 minutes per match. Hirvonen’s career has been nicely uphill. Twice out of the last three seasons, the backman has thrown a double-digit score on average. The statistics line for the whole career is also handsome: 8.3 points, 2.3 rebounds and 3.5 assists per match.
In the light of the statistics, Hirvonen’s most effective season so far falls in the 2017-18 season. The feeder, which clocked as many as 35 minutes per match, made the statistics line 12.8 / 2.6 / 6.4 / 1.1r with a power reading of 12.4. The input average of the last four seasons is also handsome 4.7. Last season in Lahti also went well with 11.2 / 3.2 / 4.7. Hirvonen was number one in his team’s passes and number one in domestic players’ points. The team accumulated the most playing time, just over half an hour per match.
Over the years, Hirvonen has also had success and won a gold medal twice around his neck. The first came in the season 2013-14 when Kouvot won the 19-year-old boys championship. In the same season, Hirvonen was chosen as the best player in the series. The latter gold medal is the model year 2016 when Kouvot won the Basketball League championship. In both teams, Hirvonen has also won silver, in the 19-year-old boys in spring -13 and in the men’s representative team at the end of the 2018-19 season. Hirvonen has a total of 109 national matches under his belt in both the youth teams and the challenging national team.
– It’s always nice to come home. It is what I have been involved in exercises to train both the look good and all have a desire to develop. What could be a better place to take the next step in your career. I am already looking forward to the beginning of next season, Hirvonen says On the pages of Kouvo.
– The goal for the coming season is really to take a step forward in our own gaming, if any. First, leadership needs to be taken to the next level while developing skillful things like throwing and finishing. The bigger goal is to help the team as far as possible and with good play earn a place abroad in the future, Hirvonen sculpts his short-term and long-term goals.
The season in Lahti was a positive experience for Hirvonen.
– The first season in the outdoor community is always a good place for development, things were done differently to what I was used to. It was good, gets a perspective on different exercises and techniques.
Kouvo’s head coach Tuomas Oja is happy with the returnee.
– Tumppi is already a tough factor at the Korisliiga level, it’s great to have more Susijengi level players on the team.
Kouvo’s player contracts for the period 2020-2021: Teemu Knihtinen, Vili Nyman, Severi Kaukiainen, Ilmari Toikkanen, Oscar Storgård, Henri Permanto, Aapeli Syrjämäki, Jacoby Armstrong (USA), Joel Mäntynen, Antonio Ballard (USA), Valtteri Leino, Kalle Kalin, Valle Helakorpi and Tuomas Hirvonen.
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