Gilas Pilipinas breathed a sigh of relief after Jordan Clarkson finally committed to the team for the 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup.
Now, there is just one piece left to finally complete the puzzle — Kai Sotto.
In an interview with CNN Sportsdesk on Thursday, Gilas head coach Chot Reyes bared that the 7-foot-3 Filipino big man has already signed on to join the national team for the global meet.
However, Sotto has yet to join Gilas’ practices at Meralco Gym.
“Well, that’s the lone remaining variable now that the Jordan Clarkson variable has been taken cared of, now it’s the Kai Sotto variable.”
Sotto’s management Wasserman has said time and time again that the 21-year-old big man of Hiroshima’s commitment to playing for flag and country never wavered.
All they are asking for is some time for him to rest after the wear and tear of the season took a toll on their client.
“Yes, he is here, he showed up for a couple of practices but today he did not come. His handlers are telling us that he needs to rest because there is an issue with his lower back.
“So we’re just pretty much waiting at this point because when our team doctor took a look — functionally and structurally, he did not find anything wrong. But apparently, they took an MRI and we are waiting to get a copy of the results still up to this point so that our doctors can assess,” said Reyes.
For Reyes, the cases of Sotto and Clarkson are different.
Clarkson is a bonafide NBA player — the top percentile of basketball players from all over the world. That’s one of the reasons why Clarkson has the leeway to join Gilas just three weeks before the tournament.
However, Reyes said that Sotto has yet to reach the level of Clarkson.
“My worry with Kai is unlike Jordan who is an NBA player, a very established 20-point scorer in the league, Kai is not, just to be very honest about it.
“And I think he will need more time with us, especially in the strength and conditioning part. If he wants to be a big part of the team, he has to come in as soon as possible. We are planning to play him a lot in the China pocket tournament but he has to earn those minutes. If he is not in practice, he might not even play in China,” he said.
Moreover, unlike Clarkson who is a shoo-in, Sotto needs to earn his minutes.
After all, it’s those valuable minutes that Sotto has longed for, according to Reyes.
“Sayang naman. The entire saga of Kai Sotto is about the lack of playing time. He has always been sitting. He sat in Australia and he is not even getting much playing time in Japan. He didn’t get much playing time in the Summer League. This is his opportunity to get major minutes,” he continued.
“He has to earn it in practice and get into the swing of everything we want to do. We hope it happens sooner rather than later.”
When Sotto finally joins the team, Reyes and his staff can now fully focus on the next task — to do a deep dive into the schemes of the Dominican Republic, Angola, and Italy.
“We just need to come together as a team, yun talagang buo na so that we can focus on the move important variable — the opposition. Ang focus ko now yung pagbuo pa lang ng team. Parang, fifty-percent pa lang yung energy ko in looking at the Dominican Republic. Although our coaching staff are already breaking down videos, scouting reports, and tendencies. That’s the next concern,” he said.
“If everything within our team internally has been addressed, we can now focus on the externals.”
