GILAS Pilipinas head coach Tab Baldwin gave Kai Sotto high marks after his first run with the senior national team during the Fiba Asia Cup qualifiers.
The 19-year-old averaged 9.3 points and 7.0 rebounds for Gilas Pilipinas in his first three games with the national men's team after spending the past few years in the US pursuing his dream of making it to the NBA.
Though there is definitely a room for improvement for the 7-foot-3 teen, Baldwin said Sotto’s toughness and competitiveness were what impressed him the most.
“Kai is definitely finding his way at this level," said Baldwin. "He is a young kid who hasn’t played a lot of elite-level basketball. Probably most of the elite ball he has played has been over in the States where the physicality of the game is very different.
“Kai is going to have to learn a little bit more about his finesse game. He is trying to go to a power game and he is not a power player yet.
"But it’s good that he has that mentality. It’s good that he has that toughness. I’m really impressed with how tough he is. I didn’t expect that,” the Gilas coach said.
'What a smart kid'
Even with the relatively brief time he spent with the Gilas pool in the build-up for the qualifiers, Baldwin said the former UAAP juniors MVP of the Ateneo Blue Eaglets was able to pick up the system 'extremely fast.'
“Both individually and systems-wise, he is still learning but what a smart kid. He picks things up extremely fast. I think we are all impressed with how quickly he has learned the basics of our system without maybe learning the nuisances of it.”
“His competitive spirit, it’s really admirable. He fits into the team extremely well. He enjoys being with us,” said Baldwin.
Gilas Pilipinas’ focus now shifts to the Fiba Olympic Qualifying Tournament where the team will play Serbia and Dominican Republic in the preliminaries.
Baldwin said those games will once again be a test not just for Sotto but for the rest of the team.
“I think that for all the players, going up against Serbia and Dominican Republic is going to be a great experience. It’s like going from high school to a masters degree or maybe even a doctorate degree as we go over there and get ready to face these guys.”
“Our job is to compete and try to figure out ways to compete and I know that’s possible. That’s the attitude we are going to take into the games and I have no doubt that Kai will reflect that attitude,” said Baldwin.
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