By REYNALD MAGALLON
Gilas Pilipinas head coach Tim Cone believes young center Kai Sotto has the chance to take off and prove his worth as he battles against quality European big men in the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament in July.
The multi-titled mentor said the 7-foot-3 beanpole would be at the center of their system both offensively and defensively, giving him the chance to fully showcase his wares against high-caliber big men.
“He is a perfect fit to our system both offensively and defensively. I think he really has the chance to take off with this,” Cone said of Sotto who could be facing NBA big men Kristaps Porzingis of Latvia and Goga Bitadze of Georgia in the tournament.
There’s not a single doubt in Cone’s mind that Sotto, who he views as a generational talent for the Filipinos, can hold his ground against the European bigs.
For one, at only 22, Cone said Sotto had already experienced quality competition, having a stint in the Australian NBL and facing up against imports in Japan B.League.
“Kai is going to be a generational talent. How many times are we gonna have a seven-foot three rarely pure Filipino that is gonna be skilled and gonna be able to play at this level. I mean how many times are we gonna have that,” Cone pointed out.
“Any experience that he had he played against big strong guys in Australia, he played against imports in Japan so it’s not a stretch for him to go out and play against bigger European players,” he added.
Cone, however, admitted that there’s still a lot of room for improvement for Sotto, especially his inside game but that should improve as he also grows his physique. That’s also exactly the purpose of Cone’s four-year Gilas program where he can also grow and blossom as the national team’s main man.
“There’s so little that he cannot do. He does lack a little bit of strength in terms of fighting for position underneath the basket and I think that’s gonna come with age. He’s only 21 years-old and he hasn’t even developed into his body yet,” Cone said.
“The pressure is gonna be on him to perform because he is going to be one of the main guys if not the main guy on our team and that’s going to grow him. He’s going to evolve and be better and that’s the whole point of doing this over four years,” he stressed.
