by Dave Albarado
Kai goes to Adelaide
Filipino basketball phenom Kai Sotto signed a contract to play for the Adelaide 36rs in the Australian National Basketball League (NBL) for 2 years with an option to play for a third year.
Sotto is considered as a special restricted player. This means under NBL rules, Sotto is not considered as an imported player even if he is not Australian.
Reports say Sotto will be getting at least half a million pesos per month playing in the NBL, which is higher than the maximum salary of a PBA player.
The arrival of Sotto in the NBL is a precedent for Filipino basketball players as reports say that the scouts in the Australian league are looking at other Filipinos such as Bobby Ray Parks Jr., Kobe Paras, Justine Baltazar, Dwight Ramos and even Ariel John Edu to possibly play for other NBL teams in the future.
With the signing of the contract, Sotto can now showcase his talent and how he could compete with seasoned basketball players who are bigger, stronger and plays rugged basketball.
Sotto has been getting a lot of criticisms about his strength down low and his ability to defend physical players.
His speed and agility are also questionable. His agility and speed are the weakest points of his game. Sotto’s US trainers have been focusing on his speed and agilitybsince he went stateside to train and now we are about to witness his progress as he plays in the NBL.
No doubt, scouts will be taking a long hard look at Sotto when he plays for Adelaide. He will no longer be l a role player like in the G League Ignite team begging for time to play from the coach.
Sotto will be the top player for the 36rs in its campaign for the 2021-22 season.
Moreover, his stint in the NBL will be the break that Filipinos need to penetrate the Australian market.
A few years back, Jason Castro was recruited by the Singapore Slingers. The Slingers were part of the NBL during the 2006-07 season but eventually, the club withdrew from the NBL and joined the Asean Basketball League (ABL).
Castro could have been the first Filipino to play in the NBL if not for the Slingers’ withdrawal.
For me, having a Filipino in the NBL will help in the relations between Australian and Philippine basketball fans, which was strained by the 2018 Philippine Arena brawl.
The opportunity is huge for other basketball stars in the country to play as imports not just in Australia but also in Japan or in China.
We all know Sotto’s end goal is to become the first full-blooded Filipino to play in the NBA, but that route will take him first to Adelaide.