San Francisco Shock Offseason Tracker

With all the craziness of the offseason, it can get hard at times to keep up with all the moves. Shock fans can use this page as a reference as to what is going on with their team’s roster. A round-up of coaching changes can be found here. Back in September, NRG CEO Andy Miller said in a Reddit AMA that the team would be keeping their ‘core’ and Head Coach Dae-hee “Crusty” Park. Time will tell what this core ends up being, so here is an easy overview of all of the Shock’s roster changes.

Released

Dong-Jun “Rascal” Kim

On October 25, the Shock announced they were parting ways with Rascal. This announcement surprised just about everyone, as this meta-proof DPS player is one of the few that is proficient at seemingly all heroes. He won the “Fleta is meta” challenge during All-Star Weekend, and helped the Shock on their way to both championships. He had speculated retirement on stream before posting an LFT announcement on Twitter November 1. Fans eagerly await where he will go next.

Free Agents

Matthew “Super” DeLisi — (existing contract expiring)

Grant “Moth” Espe — (existing contract expiring)

Min-Ki “Viol2t” Park — (existing contract expiring)

These three also come as surprises. Super is the face of the franchise, and Moth and Viol2t comprise the incredible support line that won them the 2019 championship and much of the 2020 season before signing Ju-Seok “Twilight” Lee. While there are still chances that the team will re-sign some of these, the chance of losing any would be a huge blow. Viol2t was very much in contention for 2020 MVP and the team rallied around his blood-thirsty support play. Moth’s silent leadership and desire to play every match (and his nervousness) were crucial throughout the season. Perhaps he does not want to split play-time between himself, Viol2t and Twilight? This would bring salience to the rumor that he is signing with the LA Gladiators for the 2021 season.

Sticking Around

Seon-Chang “ANS” Lee — (2021 option exercised)

Nam-Ju “Striker” Gwon — (2021 option exercised)

Sean “Ta1yo” Henderson — (2021 option exercised)

Ju-Seok “Twilight” Lee — (2021 option exercised)

Hyo-Bin “Choihyobin” Choi — (under existing contract)

Myeong-Hwan “Smurf” Yoo — (under existing contract)

Whether still under previous contracts or with their team option extended, these seven players will assuredly be on the team for the upcoming season. Smurf and Choihyobin were the dominant tank line for the majority of the season, while ANS and Striker were the critical DPS stars guiding the team through the playoffs. These are absolutely the ‘core’ mentioned by Andy Miller. One would have expected the current free agents to be part of that core, and not necessarily Ta1yo and Twilight. that is not to say these two are not incredible players, just that they came in mid-season and haven’t played as much. Especially Ta1yo who only was able to play in one match over the course of the season. With Rascal leaving the team, Crusty will likely now turn to Ta1yo to perhaps mold into the team’s projectile DPS player.

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