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Kai Sotto will have some quality competition playing for the select G League team. —FIBA.BASQUETBOL
MANILA, Philippines – Filipino NBA hopeful Kai Sotto isn’t one to stop at other people’s opinion amid NBA drills that don’t include him as a potential first-round.
It looks like Cade Cunningham will be the first consensus overall pick in the 2021 NBA Rookie Draft, while Sotto’s NBA G League Ignite players Jalen Green, Jonathan Kuminga and Daishen Nix will be projected lottery picks. .
From mock drafts from Sports Illustrated, ESPN, Bleacher Report, and Yahoo! In sports, neither listed Sotto as a first-round pick.
Right now, though, the 7-foot-2 Sotto is only focused on improving his craft.
“I’m not paying too much attention to rankings because I know what I’m capable of,” Sotto said at a virtual press conference Thursday. “My dad always tells me not to think about it too much and to focus more on improving as a player and as a person.”
“I’m just focused on getting better and whatever it is, it’s his opinion.”
Sotto is part of the Ignite team in the G League that aims to develop high school players who decided to skip college and before entering the league itself.
Sotto, Green, Nix and Kuminga are the de facto protagonists of the NBA development system and much is expected of them even before they play on the court.
For Sotto, he is using all the time he has during the pandemic to develop, as he knows that he is still not close to the level he wants to be.
“I’m still far behind. My dad always reminds me that I’m not good enough. I have to improve every day. The NBA is full of the best players in the world, so I do my best every day to improve. “
“Everybody wants him to be more aggressive with every possession. I have to be stronger and more athletic because the game is stronger, faster and players from 1 to 5 now play outside. I have to do everything possible to adapt to the game today. “
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