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    Cariaso marvels at Kai Sotto improvement from time he failed to make Jr. NBA team

    Back then, Kai Sotto was 'just tall,' says Cariaso. Well, not anymore
    May 25, 2020

    ALASKA coach Jeff Cariaso is pleased to see Kai Sotto make a big leap in terms of improvement as he bids to make it to the NBA via the G League.

    Cariaso said Sotto has definitely come a long way since the first time he laid eyes on him at a Jr. NBA camp, when the kid wasn’t good enough in his age level to be picked for the Philippines' Jr. NBA All-Star team.

    “I got to see Kai when he was 12, 13 years old in the Jr. NBA," Cariaso, then one of the coaches in the camp, said. "Believe it or not, he wasn’t even chosen to what we call the All-Star in the trip and compete with other Southeast Asian teams,"

    "He was young, he was thin, a little slow going up and down the court. Skill set wasn’t there. He was pretty much just tall,” he said.

    Speaking during the Republika Huddle podcast of NBA Philippines, Cariaso, once teammates with Kai’s father Ervin at Alaska, said he saw tremendous improvement from Sotto in the succeeding Jr. NBA camps.

    “But he comes back two, three years later and in that third year, there was a radical difference in his game. He is able to rebound and bring the ball up the court, be able to make a pass off the double team and scoring at will because he was two, three feet taller than the guys guarding him,” Cariaso said.

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    Getting noticed in that Jr. NBA camp, Sotto was recruited by Ateneo where he became a Finals MVP after leading the Blue Eaglets to the UAAP title in 2018. He became the MVP in 2019 before flying to the US to undergo extensive training.

    Sotto has now signed up for the NBA G League Select program, joining top US high school prospect Jalen Green in his bid to move closer to becoming the first homegrown Filipino to play in the NBA.

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    Cariaso is just impressed with how Sotto has turned out.

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      “There was really a big jump to his skill set and it’s amazing how you see him four years later after that Jr. NBA stint in 2016 and to see where he is now,” Cariaso said. “He has more to learn and more growth can happen for him.

      "He is on the right path,” Cariaso added.

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