Kai Sotto may have already signed with Gilas Pilipinas, but having him in action is a different story.
In a television interview, Gilas head coach Chot Reyes sounded exasperated, lamenting the fact that Sotto has yet to train with them with less than a month left before the FIBA Basketball World Cup that the country will host fires off on 25 August.
After a forgettable stint in the National Basketball Association Summer League, Sotto finally arrived last week. But instead of training with Gilas, the 21-year-old slotman dropped by at their practice to inform Reyes and his teammates that he needs a little more time to rest and recover after suffering a back injury in his last game in the Summer League.
He said he needs more time to recover as his doctors have yet to issue a green light for him to return to active duty.
But Reyes is running out of patience.
“Yes he is here. He showed up for a couple of practices but today he did not come. His handlers are telling us that he needs to rest because there is an issue with his lower back,” Reyes said in an interview with CNN Sportsdesk late Thursday.
Reyes added that they doubt the findings of Sotto’s doctors.
“So we are pretty much waiting at this point because when our team doctor took a look, functionally and structurally, he did not find anything wrong,” the outspoken mentor added.
“But apparently, they took an MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) and we are waiting to get a copy of the results up to this point so that our doctors can assess.”
On the contrary, National Basketball Association standout Jordan Clarkson, the country’s naturalized player, had already signified his intention to join and serve as the country’s naturalized player. He is set to hook up with his Gilas teammate on 6 August when they compete in a four-nation pocket tourney in China.
“Well, that’s the lone remaining variable now that the Jordan Clarkson variable has been taken care of, now it’s the Kai Sotto variable,” Reyes said.
“My worry with Kai is, unlike Jordan who is an NBA player, a very established 20-point scorer in the league, Kai is not, just to be very honest about it.”
Reyes said there’s a pressing need for Sotto to show up and join Gilas in a pocket tourney in China against Senegal, Iran and Lebanon following the knee injury of Poy Erram.
The 6-foot-8 Erram, who had sat out some of the training sessions of Gilas the past few days, is suffering pain in his knee and pulled his name out of the Gilas pool.
“Poy has had knee issues. MRI showed that he has impediments and material in his knee,” Reyes said.
“Poy has decided to have that taken care of and scraped.”
With Erram joining the list of casualties, there will only be 13 active bodies participating in the training sessions, pending the inclusion of Sotto and Clarkson.
Naturalized player Justin Brownlee was also advised to undergo surgery to remove bone spurs on his foot while Ange Kouame had been loaned to Rain or Shine for the William Jones Cup.
