By Ashley Bercasio
Former PBA veteran and current Stockton Kings assistant coach Jimmy Alapag believes that Kai Sotto has what it takes to be the first ever homegrown Filipino to play in the NBA.
The two met last week during Sotto’s pre-draft workout with the Sacramento Kings.
Alapag afterward posted a photo with Sotto coupled with the caption: “Great to see Kai here in Sacramento! Best of luck on your journey to the NBA! The entire country and I are rooting for you!! Keep working!”
In an exclusive interview with PTV, Alapag said that Sotto has the “commodities” NBA teams are looking for.
“He’s a very intriguing prospect, I think. Just from what I saw, when you look at the size, when you look at the youth only being 20 years old, and again, his ability to shoot, I think those are very high commodities in the NBA,” the six-time PBA champion said.
Alapag was especially impressed with Sotto’s soft perimeter touch, a high praise from the PBA’s all-time leader in three points made.
The 7-foot-2 Sotto had stints with NBA G League Ignite and Australian National Basketball League’s Adelaide 36ers before declaring for the 2022 NBA draft set on June 24, Philippine time, at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
During his tenure with the 36ers, Sotto has averaged 7.5 points and 4.4 rebounds on 50% field goal shooting including a 38% clip on rainbow territory.
“I just really saw a drastic improvement in his touch, he really has NBA range when it comes to his perimeter shooting and I think he was able to improve on that during his time with Adelaide in the NBL,” Alapag said.
Alapag also revealed the one thing Sotto should improve on if he gets selected in the upcoming draft.
“Getting acclimated to the speed of the game especially in the NBA because nowadays it’s such a guard-dominated game in the NBA, there’s a lot of ball screens and they really expect centers to be able to step out the perimeter and guard the point guards on any switches so I think that would probably be the biggest adjustment going forward,” Alapag added.
Sacramento holds the 4th, 37th and 49th pick, incidentally, Sports Illustrated projected Sotto as the 49th pick in their mock draft last May.
But regardless of whether the Kings pick Sotto or not, Alapag hopes that an NBA team would eventually put their trust on the Filipino big man.
“Hopefully, a team would see he is worth the investment and will allow him to continue to improve and grow and be able to contribute to an NBA team,” Alapag ended. – ab/ bny
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