By REYNALD MAGALLON
The time is ticking for Kai Sotto and his participation with Gilas Pilipinas.
The 7-foot-3 center may have already been signed to an agreement and was actually showing up in the sidelines during the team’s tuneup games but head coach Chot Reyes insisted the urgency for him to formally join the Nationals’ practice.
In a recent interview, Reyes expressed his worries at how the 21-year-old big man could fully immerse himself with the team in less than a month now left before the 2023 FIBA World Cup.
“My worry with Kai is unlike Jordan (Clarkson) who is an NBA player, a very established 20-point scorer in the league, Kai is not, just to be very honest about it,” said Reyes
“I think he will need more time with us, especially in the strength and conditioning part. If he wants to be a big part of the team, he has to come in as soon as possible,” he added.
Reyes shared that Sotto remained a big part of the plans for the national team but they cannot just wait for him to get ready and expect substantial playing time immediately when he comes back.
“We are planning to play him a lot in the China pocket tournament but he has to earn those minutes. If he is not in practice, he might not even play in China,” said Reyes.
Sotto is reportedly still wanting to rest his back after it cut short his NBA Summer League stint although MRI tests already returned negative.
The veteran mentor pointed out that Sotto could be missing his best opportunity to get enough playing time and turn the heads of the international scouts if he wants to continue pursuing his NBA dream.
“Sayang naman. The entire saga of Kai Sotto is about the lack of playing time. He has always been sitting. He sat in Australia and he is not even getting much playing time in Japan. He didn’t get much playing time in the Summer League. This is his opportunity to get major minutes,” Reyes rued.
“He has to earn it in practice and get into the swing of everything we want to do. We hope it happens sooner rather than later.”
Sotto has yet to join official practice with Gilas already scheduled to fly to China for a series of tuneup games against fellow World Cup-bound teams.
