NBA ready?
It is a rarity to see athletic seven footers in a land whose males have an average height of 5’7”. But times had changed that it is now common to see young men standing above six feet. Basketball in the country has a cult-like status and the most natural thing for these vertically gifted people is to be on the hardcourt.
The present composition of the Gilas men’s national basketball team is a testament to this. News outlets describe this team as the best-ever combination, this time without the overused ‘learning experience’.
Kai Sotto will be the main man of this team when Junemar Fajardo and Japeth Aguilar will end their tour of duties with the nationals. Not picked in the 2022 NBA Draft, the 7’3”, 22-year-old went back to Australia and renewed his contract with the Adelaide 36ers of the National Basketball League.
A year later, Kai played in the Japan B-League where several other Filipino basketball players are under contract. With the B-League the past two seasons, he has decent averages of 11 points, 6 rebounds and a block per outing.
Naturalized resident import Justin Brownlee and coach national team coach Tim Cone are all praises for Kai during the FIBA Asia Cup Qualifiers recently. We had all seen how well he played in the victories over New Zealand and Hong Kong which made Brownlee say that Kai is ready to play in the NBA.
Well, is he?
Kai has the length and size for the world’s biggest pro basketball league, and he has markedly developed big man skills better than that of Bol Bol or Tacko Fall. If given the chance, Kai can compete against the likes of Toronto’s Jokab Poetl, LAL’s Jaxson Hayes or SAC’s Alex Len.
Zach Edey of Memphis or OKC’s Chet Holmgren would be a nice matchup to look forward to. Let’s take Victor Wembanyama out of the discussion as he is from a different species.
The Gilas’ performance in general and Kai in particular in the upcoming FIBA Asia Cup in Jeddah this February and in future FIBA tournaments will help determine his NBA future.
I would personally like to see Kai put on at least 15 more pounds. Added bulk will be needed to bang bodies with the NBA bigs. Then Kai will be ripe for the picking.
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