The 2023 FIBA World Cup is here, where every team is fighting against other nations to be hailed as the best in the world. The Philippines’ National team also known as Gilas Pilipinas completed their first game in the group stage against a top contender, Dominican Republic. Although the match ended in a devastating but close loss, Gilas Pilipinas showcased that Filipino basketball players are also a tough squad. As expected, Jordan Clarkson would show up and ignite the crowd with his touch. However, what left fans wondering is why the young phenom, Kai Sotto, was only given 1 minute of playing time. Gilas’ head coach Chot Reyes shed some light on this question but here are our impressions on why he sat Kai Sotto for the rest of the game.
Foul trouble
Kai Sotto was subbed in at the 4th-minute mark of the 1st quarter but immediately picked up two personal fouls. After just a minute and 18 seconds of action, Kaiju was benched. Eventually, the game ended but Sotto was not called up by coach Chot Reyes again.
Getting two fouls in just a minute of play kind of destroyed Kai’s opportunity to get out there and dominate. But, this incident could be due to the matter we’re going to tackle next.
Matchup issues
Not letting a young center who stands over everybody at 7 feet and 3 inches would be frowned upon by many. But, in Kai Sotto’s case, despite his towering height, matchup issues could occur. Last year, when Kai joined the 2022 NBA draft, a lot of analysts, scouts, and pundits believed that the then 20-year-old NBA hopeful would not be drafted. Well, he did go undrafted which broke the hearts of many Filipinos.
The reason why scouts thought so was because of Kai’s lateral movement problem. The Filipino phenom is tall, can shoot from anywhere, and can handle the ball very well despite his size. Unfortunately, Sotto gave the impression of being slow laterally speaking. In the game against the Dominican Republic, Kai Sotto obviously had a hard time guarding Karl-Anthony Towns. As we all know, KAT is one of the best centers in the NBA with lots of experience, not just in the league but also on the international stage.
June Mar Fajardo and AJ Edu seemed to be effective choices as the main guys in the frontcourt
Both Kai Sotto and AJ Edu are youngins who started their Gilas Pilipinas journey way way back. But, why did Edu play more minutes than Sotto? For starters, Edu was a force on the defensive end, gathering 5 rebounds and 2 blocks. On the other hand, six-time PBA MVP, June Mar Fajardo, was the absolute second option for Gilas.
“If we get him in, then the other guy I have to sit is a guy named June Mar Fajardo, who had 16 points in 28 minutes. I’m sure a lot of people are going to wonder why, but between sitting AJ and June Mar, there was just no opportunity, and the matchups just didn’t favor Kai.”, coach Reyes’ said during an interview.
Although the Kraken may sometimes be slow on the perimeter, he still made Towns work hard for his shots. In addition to that, Fajardo was efficient and unstoppable in the paint as he put up 16 points while shooting 100% (5/5) from the field.
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