FOLLOWING the unavailability of Kai Sotto in the sixth and final window of the Fiba Basketball World Cup Asian qualifiers, Gilas Pilipinas coach Chot Reyes admitted an option to look for a tall naturalized player is now on the table.
Chot on Kai Sotto situation
Reyes said Gilas could be in search for a big man as naturalized player as Sotto’s availability for the World Cup has become in question.
Sotto skipped Window 6 of the Asian qualifiers following his move to play for the Hiroshima Dragonflies in the Japan B.League. According to his camp, Sotto is eyeing to play in the NBA Summer League as part of his pursuit to become the first homegrown Filipino to make it to the NBA.
“We are not ruling out the possibility of even going out and looking for another 6-10, 6-11 guy. With all the uncertainty surrounding the Kai Sotto situation, if he is not going to make himself available, I think we have to think about that as well. That’s just part of the all the planning on our plate right now,” said Reyes.
Past Gilas Pilipinas teams have seen bigs in Marcus Douthit and Andray Blatche as their naturalized players, but the emergence of Sotto enabled Gilas Pilipinas to look at different options for the World Cup, including the possibility of calling up NBA cager Jordan Clarkson.
But with his camp’s recent pronouncements about the Summer League, Sotto could be unavailable for, at least, the build-up for the Fiba Basketball World Cup. The NBA Summer League is held between the months of June and July.
Reyes reiterated that players who intend to play in the World Cup must be part of the build-up that will see the team go into different training camps.
“You can’t just come and show up and be on the team. Doesn’t matter who you are. You have to be able to be part of the preparation. That’s part of it. It’s not just being available two weeks before and all that. It’s not going to happen,” said Reyes.
“The plan is we are going to go out as early as June, middle of July. We have to put in the time and the preparation time,” said Reyes.
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