Kai did pretty well in 19 minutes of action. But he’s not satisfied.
Kai Sotto didn’t have eye-popping numbers in his Japan B.League debut. His team, the Hiroshima Dragonflies, even lost to the Ryukyu Golden Kings who had their own Filipino import Carl Tamayo buried in the bench. But still, the 20-year-old center tallied a decent stat line of 10 points, 2 rebounds, and 3 blocks.
If there ever was one thing, though, that you could criticize over Sotto’s performance, it would have to be his rebounding. Kai himself, recognized his shortcoming when it came to crashing the boards.
“That’s probably the main thing that I have to improve on this game and our next games because that’s my biggest assignment, rebounding and defending the rim. So, I need to get better on that," the 7-foot-2 prodigy said after the match with Ryukyu.
"I had very few rebounds today. But I’ll watch the game again. And look at how many rebounds [I can get] the next game,” he added.
He’s fully aware of his role with the Dragonflies, and it’s good to see that he’s not shying away from his responsibility one bit. If anything, Sotto is raring to go and outdo himself in Hiroshima’s upcoming contest.
“I really felt good in this game, even though that wasn’t my best game. That wasn’t our best game. I believe the next game will really be key for us. My transition from the NBL to here has been good,” Kai claimed.
Sotto will get a chance to keep his word and collect more rebounds on March 15 when the Dragonflies go up against another fellow Pinoy in Matthew Wright and the Kyoto Hannaryz.