AMID the excitement over Kai Sotto's call-up for his first game with the Gilas Pilipinas seniors' team, Tab Baldwin was quick to temper expectations.
The Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP) program director and Gilas head coach warned that the 7-foot-4 teenager may not be in the best shape when he makes his long-awaited debut with the national men's team.
And that's exactly the reason why Baldwin will be putting Sotto under a minutes restriction for the 6 p.m. game against Korea on Wednesday at the Angeles University Foundation gym in Pampanga.
“Not being able to do any basketball activities for 14 days will take its toll on anyone so there will be a bit of load management from our part for Kai,” said Baldwin on the day he announced his 12-man lineup for the Korea game.
“He did his best to stay in shape during that period but it’s a very quick turnaround. We don’t want to rush him back because, as we’ve said in the past, we cannot risk our long-term goals for short-term gains.”
Baldwin, however, had no worries when it comes to Sotto adapting to the Gilas system in the short time he was left to spend with the pool post quarantine.
The Gilas coach said Sotto's knowledge of his system gained in a previous Gilas camp and his ability to quickly adapt eased fears that the teenager may not be ready for his debut with the senior team.

“Kai was able to join us in a previous training bubble when we were preparing to play the games in Doha, Qatar. We accomplished a lot with him during that time but unfortunately those games were cancelled,” Baldwin said.
“Naturally, we were worried about how much of that will stay with him but the coaching staff was pleased to find out that he has great retention of information. There is a solid foundation of knowledge from his past experience with us that helped him process the new information we introduced since then.”
Overall, Baldwin has no doubt that Sotto is ready for his Gilas bow.
"There will be parts in the game that we will only use systems that we have been able to indoctrinate him into, but the coaching staff believes that the positives gained by his inclusion will far outweigh the negatives. We think he's ready and he deserves it."
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