The green light has been given to the seven-foot-three Kai Sotto to see action for Gilas Pilipinas this coming window of the FIBA Asia Cup qualifiers on November 21 and 24.
The development was confirmed by Gilas Pilipinas team manager Richard Del Rosario. He said that Sotto has finally been cleared to play after going through concussion protocols.
However, Del Rosario added that AJ Edu still remains doubtful as he continues to undergo strength training and treatment for the right knee that he hurt recently in the Nagasaki Velca’s 71-68 defeat to the Akita Northern Happinets.
“Kai is good to go, but AJ is still undergoing strength training and treatment,” said Del Rosario.
Sotto’s presence in the team is a big boost together with the 8th-time PBA MVP June Mar Fajardo as the Tall Blacks are coming in with a seven-footer and a couple of 6-foot-10 bigs.
Coach Tim Cone, however, is quite anxious because of the size of their opponent but he is now more thrilled because of the twin towers of Gilas Pilipinas.
“They bring in a lot more size than they have in the past. The nice thing is that Kai and June Mar are developing a chemistry in which they can play together. And that’s really unusual to get two five (center) men and allow them to play together,” Cone noted.
On the other hand, Sotto thinks that the chemistry is becoming much better because they were together from the start.
“I think the team chemistry will be even better because from the start we were together. Even though we've only played less than 10 games together with the group, I feel like our team is better because the values in the games we've played recently, especially the OQT, are heavy,” Sotto said.
Sotto added that coach Tim Cone emphasizes the importance of his teammates, especially the big men in the court like June Mar [Fajardo], Japeth [Aguilar], and Justine [Brownlee].
"So as a big man, coach Tim emphasizes our touches, especially with June Mar [Fajardo], Japeth [Aguilar], JB [Brownlee] playing the 4, and me. The big men are really given importance here. Most of the systems these days are just pick-and-roll, drop pass, and pick-and-pop or something simpler. But in the triangle, I have a chance to show my skill set and what I can do offensively," he added.
He also believes that this version of Gilas is more ready, owing to the team's improved chemistry, shared experiences, and a structured system under coach Tim Cone.
"It's not like before when we were like underdogs, now our team's standards are different and what our ceiling is. We just have to be accountable to ourselves. For our four-year program that coach Tim has prepared, I hope it's only going to be better through time. Win [or] lose, I hope the outcome [of our games] is better - each day in practice or in the game - I hope we can see how we improve as individuals and as a team as well," Sotto concluded.
