Kai Sotto had his breakout game for Gilas. It’s far from being a fluke since our 7’3 wunderkind has been consistently beasting in the Japanese B League. Averaging 12.1 points and 9.2 rebounds with the Koshiyaga Alphas, Sotto seems to have a found a home in the Land of the Rising Sun.
Kai’s true home is still the Philippines, and playing for Gilas. Coach Tim Cone continues to exploit our advantage in the paint. In the game against New Zealand, Cone was able to adjust even with the loss of AJ Edu to injury and JuneMar Fajardo having a bad game. Justin Brownlee did not even need to dominate the game.
Side note: Speaking of Justin Brownlee dominating, there are current online debates on whether Brownlee or Jordan Clarkson is the better naturalized player for Gilas.
Stats showed that Brownlee had the better all around game, and a better success rate. “Kabayan” also faced off against higher-ranked competition (thanks to the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament).
Let us not forget that Brownlee and Clarkson played on two very different systems by two different coaches. No knock on Brownlee, but Clarkson would have delivered more if he played in a better system. He would not have the way burden of carrying the team as much as he did.
Sotto is no longer the future of Gilas. He is the present. We now have a legit, world class 22-year old big as a cornerstone of our basketball campaign. The collective prayers of Pinoy hoop fans have been answered.
Downside of Upside
The Los Angeles Lakers have committed another robbery in the NBA.
Dalton Knecht is a steal of the 2024 NBA draft. He already posted career high of 37 points tops all current rookies, and is now crawling up the rookie ladder.
Knecht was considered a top-10 talent prior to the draft. The main reason he slipped to 17th overall? Scouts believed he had no more upside.
Why would NBA executives pass up on proven talent over something ambiguous as “upside?”
The term Upside is similar to potential or growth. It connotes that a prospect’s value will still increase. Thus, most teams have a preference for one-and-dones over college stars which have lengthy, impressive resumes.
It does work most of the time as some of the best players in the NBA today were drafted after their freshman year. However, these are for obvious talents who were already top prospects from the beginning. Those like Anthony Davis, Karl-Anthony Towns, or Zion Williamson are easy picks to make. You can’t lose with them.
The challenge arises after those type of prospects are picked, and teams have to choose between taking unproven freshmen or highly accomplished upperclassmen.
They would have to answer one important question: will their game success in college translate into the professional level?
Thus is where the draft class diverges. There have been successful, decorated college players who really did not turn out well in the pros. Some examples are Jimmer Fredette and Adam Morrison.
On the other hand, the best example of a successful college player which translated in the pros is Steph Curry. Steph is not one-and-done. In fact, he has had not one, but two all-time memorable March Madness runs.
But even when he was already a household name, there were serious doubts on whether he could thrive, or even survive in the pros.
Steph dropped to 9th overall in the draft, and the Minnesota Timberwolves infamously drafted Johnny Flynn, a point guard, instead of him. Flynn has been out of the NBA after just a couple of years, while Curry has changed the game, won 2 MVPs and 4 titles, won his first Olympic gold medal, and is not even done yet.
Upside is a gamble, like a marshmallow test, except you’re not sure whether you’ll get two marshmallows if you wait, or actually get nothing.
