TIM Cone still vividly remembers the first time he saw Kai Sotto.
It was around 2012 when Ervin Sotto still playing for Alaska. One day, the veteran big man brought along his son who Cone remembered, was still difficult to miss in a practice of a pro basketball team.
"I had the great pleasure of coaching his dad at Alaska and I remember him bringing him to practice one day," Cone, who coached the elder Sotto with the Aces from 2008 to 2012, reminisced during his guesting in a SPIN Zoom In livecast.
"Kai was about 6-3 or 6-4 and he was like 11 years old. And I almost fell down. He was amazing."
The younger Sotto then was playing for St. Francis of Assisi and was getting exposed to his dad's environment, joining Ervin in the practices and watching PBA games.
With Kai having that sheer size alone at such a young age, Cone knew right there and then that the kid will be goin' places.
That's why when asked with a theoretical question on who among high-flyer Kobe Paras, Japan-based Thirdy Ravena he would pick if handed the No. 1 pick in a mythical draft, the winningest coach in PBA history had a clear choice in mind.
"Honestly, I'd have to go with Kai. You just don't get a guy like that, 7-foot-3," he said of the new Adelaide 36ers recruit.
"I just think that you'd have to go with him. I mean, still, you can't teach height, and you always get thrilled with the idea that maybe you could do this or that with that kid. As much as I like Thirdy and as much as I like Kobe, I'd have to go with Kai."
Still, Cone is happy with how other young stars like Ravena and Paras have developed over the years, calling the trio transcendent like the Johnny Abarrientoses and Alvin Patrimonios and Allan Caidics that he coached in the past.
"All three of them are pretty much almost like what I was talking about, almost transcendent talents," he remarked.
"Thirdy, who would have thought that he would be this good? When I coached him in an All-Star game along with his brother Kiefer, Kiefer was just head and shoulders above Thirdy, and I mean it wasn't even a comparison," he said of the second son of former PBA Rookie of the Year and current TNT assistant coach Bong Ravena. The young Ravena has just finished his season with in the Japan B.League.

"And I was always saying, 'Boy, it's tough because you have to compare himself with Kiefer all the time.' But then he has just elevated over the last couple of years, his game that now he's at a level of Kiefer and maybe even surpass him.
"It will be interesting to see him in the PBA and see how well he does. He just had an amazing story in my mind."
Cone also had great praises for the son of two-time PBA MVP Benjie Paras.
"Kobe Paras, the super athlete. He's a transcendent athlete and you just don't see that kind of athleticism anywhere," the Ginebra mentor said of Paras, whois back in the US after a few seasons playing for the UP Maroons.
Nevertheless, like every Filipino basketball fan, Cone is putting his faith in Sotto, who is seeking to become the first homegrown Filipino to be drafted in the NBA.
To achieve that dream, Kai needs to do one thing, Cone said.
Build an NBA body.
"I think the thing that holds him back the most is his body. I think that he's going to have to gain strength and that's the one thing he's going to have to gain to really stick in the NBA," said Cone, convinced that a player the size of Sotto should merit a long hard look from NBA teams.
"I think there's going to be a number of teams that are going to give him an opportunity, because I just think that that combination of size and skill is very unique. But for him to stick, he's gonna have to get stronger."
Cone, though, knows that it's a process and the NBL stint will surely help Sotto in developing the necessary facets to better prepare him for the NBA.
If Kai can do that, the possibilities are endless, said Cone.
"He's still young and he's still filling out his body. His dad has always had a nice body, big wide shoulders, strong butt, strong legs. So if Kai grows up and gets to be a little bit more like his dad in the next couple of years, then he has a chance to stick [in the NBA]," he said.
"But again, he has a unique combination of size and talent and skills that coaches are going to be thrilled about and they're always going to give that kid an opportunity."
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