Kai Sotto is too focused on working hard and becoming the best player he can be to worry about his low rank in numerous 2021 NBA Mock Drafts.
Mock drafts put him as a second round pick at around no. 34 and a possible prospect for the Cleveland Cavaliers.
“The rankings are just their opinion,” said Sotto.
That low opinion of others only serves to motivate Sotto even more. Right now he is just relishing the experience of playing and training under the watchful eyes of coach Brian Shaw.
With Shaw showing the team lessons that can be learned as a professional player, Sotto no longer minds what the mock drafts are saying about him and the members of Team Ignite.
“It doesn’t really matter much. I’m just focused on getting better,” said Sotto, who is also looking forward to seeing action for Gilas in the second window of the FIBA World Cup qualifiers this February.
The 7’2” Sotto believes that there’s a lot to learn with Shaw guiding him and his squad mates at Team Ignite, a group of elite prospects that was formed recently by the National Basketball Association G-League.
“There’s so much room to learn every single day, and I have been trying to learn a lot. Coach Shaw has both been a player and a coach. And the biggest difference,” said Sotto yesterday in a Zoom web conference huddle with scribes.
Sotto said the team has not been able to have many games yet because of the lockdowns put up as a precaution to prevent the spread of the coronavirus pandemic in the United States.
But the long period of inactivity has allowed the squad to practice more, and do more workouts at the gym.
“I’m really looking to playing next year when this is over,” added Sotto.
The mock rookie drafts of the NBA favors five members of Team Ignite.
Fil-American Jalen Green and Congolese cager Jonathan Kuminga are in the top 10 of the draft roster, while Daishen Nix and Isaiah Todd also have good chances of making it in the first round.