Kai’s dedication and passion to basketball led him to where he is right now, NBA G League Ignite. Since the day he was recruited, he worked on his physical strength and his skills. Kai made a lot of adjustments inside and outside the court since he was not used to playing with gigantic basketball players. After months of training and workout, his body has gotten into a better shape as well as his skills.
Qualities of an NBA Player
According to the NBA G League Select Team head coach, Brian Shaw, Sotto shows the same traits as the player of the Denver Nuggets All-Star, Nikola Jokic. Jokic has the “MVP-caliber skills”, passing, shooting, rebounding, and decision-making.
“It’s really tough to stop him because he’s not out there running super-fast, not jumping super-high,” Blazers guard Damian Lillard said.
“Just a smart, crafty player.”
Jokic has his own unique game of post moves and phenomenal passing skills that makes him both a center and point guard.
Kai, center of the NBA G League Ignite, has a magnificent shooting, rebound, and blocking skills. It’s true that Kai possesses the traits of Nikola Jokic. Brian Shaw, an NBA veteran, a three-time NBA champion as a player and twice as an assistant both as a member of the Los Angeles Lakers planned to develop Kai’s incredible skills to use it in the future NBA games. The 18-year-old Filipino phenom, Sotto, stands at 7-foot-2, and is fully dedicated to becoming the first full-blooded Filipino to make it in the NBA.
Coach Johnson, head coach of Georgia-based squad The Skill Factory, was stunned by Sotto’s work ethic. Despite the challenges that Sotto has been facing, he makes sure to work harder and improve more.
“Kai has a great attitude about training. He is a gym rat. He loves finding out information to apply to his game to help him improve. Kai is very enjoyable to work with,” Johnson said to the Olympic Channel.
Sotto’s body has a skinny frame when he stepped into the United State of America for his training and preparations. His handlers already figured out some scientific nutrition and exercise that will help him gain extra muscles but will not hamper his mobility. He needs to develop his lower body strength and improve his agility and foot-speed for him to be able to defend better on the court. After some sweat that Sotto has been putting on to improve his body weight and build, he bulked up at around 235 pounds and gained some muscles. It was not because of the food that he takes but this is because of how dedicated he is to improve his physical strength. According to Coach Johnson, Sotto’s performance on the court is natural since he grew up with his father, who is a pro basketball player.
“It’s challenging for me too, because I have to continue to challenge myself to come up with ways to maximize his gifts, but he is dedicated to the game and enjoys the process of working and learning, so it has been a pleasure so far.” Johnson admitted.
Coach Johnson also mentioned that Sotto will be even more challenged in the G League but he believes in Kai that he is well prepared to play and will continue to improve as the season develops.
“He just needs to take advantage of the opportunities in front of him and continue to improve.” – Coach Johnson
The G League Ignite is still waiting on their season to start. Hence, Jalen Green, Jonathan Kuminga, Isaiah Todd, Daishen Nix, Princepal Singh, and Kai Sotto are still preparing silently in the Walnut Creek Facilities. Coach Brian Shaw is giving his full support to these professional youngsters for them to be prepared in their basketball careers that they are about to encounter.
“As a coaching staff, we have to improvise and keep it fresh and make it challenging. But the seed that I planted from the very beginning is, ‘Look, we can complain about it all we want, but the situation is what it is,’ We can’t control a virus that is controlling everything, And so instead of complaining about it, let’s just adapt to it and do what we can in the situation.” -Coach Brian Shaw
The philosophies of Coach Brian were heartedly engraved in the minds of these players. Coach Brian accepted this job for him to mold these young basketball prospects on how to be a professional basketball player. He complimented the players as “very coachable”. The Ignite team might not be experiencing lockdown but they are closely monitored in their movements for them to be safe from the COVID-19.
“I’ve personally made it a policy that no family members, handlers, agents, anything like that can come to practices and workouts.” – Coach Brian Shaw
Coach Brian doesn’t just train these players inside the court but he also trains them to be an independent person. Through this, Coach Brian believes that this can help them prepare to be future professional basketball players on and off the court.
This is the path that they chose, a path leading to be an NBA player. There are a lot of sacrifices to be done for them to achieve their goals. Will Kai Sotto become the first Filipino to play for the NBA?