IN his Gilas Pilipinas debut at home soil, Kai Sotto proved to naysayers and unbelievers that he is good enough to be included in the 12-man roster against South Korea.
Coach Tab Baldwin heaped praises on his 7-foot-3 center that showed he was no patsy last Wednesday night ranged against veteran South Korean naturalized player Ra Gun A or Ricardo Ratcliffe, a former PBA import.
“I think what we saw from Kai is a very young player who wasn’t really well-prepared. But what a heart he has. First couple of times he tried to score but he was very disrupted with the physicality of Ratcliffe and what you saw was him making an adjustment. He started to deliver back, dish back physicality,” Baldwin said.
“But most importantly, you just saw the determination from Kai to impact the game,” he added.
Despite a limited practice with the squad, Sotto came up with 11 points to go with seven rebounds off the bench as Gilas hacked out a nail-biting 81-78 decision over the Koreans on guard SJ Belangel’s three-pointer at the buzzer.
Sotto, 19, only arrived in the country from the United States last May 30 and Baldwin admitted Sotto is not yet in top shape.
The multi-titled Ateneo strategist lauded the grit showed by Sotto, convinced he could only get better.
“You can see that he’s good for three to four minutes then he gets tired, so I think it’s a pretty courageous effort by Kai,” Baldwin said. “But we’re gonna see a lot better basketball from him as we move forward and he’s just a very good talent.”
Baldwin, who calls the shots for the defending three-time champion Blue Eagles, is convinced the best has yet to come for Sotto.
“He’s a great, great guy to have on a team environment. He’s made himself very beloved not just to his old friends here but to everybody,” he said.
“And now, I think we see the kind of competitor he is because he wasn’t really ready for significant minutes in this game, but he gave us great minutes.”
