PHOENIX Suns coach Monty Williams will no longer be surprised if Kai Sotto and Fil-Am Jalen Green will lead an influx of Filipino players in the NBA.
Sotto, 18, has stirred excitement by making the jump to the G League instead of playing college ball in the US, moving a step closer to becoming the first-ever homegrown Filipino player in the NBA.
Green has also gained quite a following in the country owing to his Filipino and electrifying play for Fil-American teams in the NBTC the past few years.
In a recent interview with the Republika Huddle podcast, Williams said the two players’ inclusion in the G League's elite Ignite team is a huge boost to Philippine basketball.
“I think anytime you have one or two guys break through and you just continue to work and continue to have the enthusiasm and the environment. At some point, you can end up like Canada,” said Williams.
“There was a time where Canadians, they are just north of the border, there weren’t that many Canadians who had pushed themselves into the level of high-level college players,” Williams continued.
“And now, you see this influx – Jamal Murrays, Wiggins, and all these guys coming from Canada. It’s like, it’s just starting to happen every year. It started with one or two guys back in the day,” he added.
Williams, a former standout at Notre Dame who played for five NBA teams, said he knows how big basketball is in the country, having seen on YouTube videos of large crowds watching games both in large arenas and small gyms.
“If you guys continue with your programs, camps, and seeds of fundamentals, just staying with that. Now that you have a few examples, you might end up having your own pipeline and that’s exciting. Think about your country having 10, 12, 15 guys in the NBA. How cool will that be,” said Williams.
Williams, either a head coach or assistant in the NBA for 15 years now, said the presence of the G League has allowed more players to have an opportunity to make it to the NBA.
“I think the G League afforced guys that opportunity. I like the G League because as a coach, I look at it at a number of ways," he said.
"When I was in San Antonio, it was a true development program. There were things that we didn’t try on the Spurs team but we would ask or recommend that they try out something like a scheme or a drill on the G League team just to see if it work or we can gain some information. I like it from that standpoint,” Williams added.
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