Veteran coach Bayno claims Kai Sotto already has NBA skillset

By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña

Bill Bayno, the former head coach of PBA team Talk N’ Text and current assistant coach for the Indiana Pacers, said that Kai Sotto maybe the first Filipino to enter the NBA.

The veteran coach talked about Sotto’s shooting and passing prowess for a seven-foot youngster, adding that he only needs to get tougher to be able to bang bodies with bigger players.

“He has an NBA skillset in that he can shoot and pass for a seven-foot kid. So hopefully, he’s training on the other stuff and how physical the NBA game is,” Bayno said.

Currently, Sotto is in the United States for over a year now, honing his craft together with the Atlanta-based The Skill Factory and is making waves in different basketball camps.

Sotto also took part in the Basketball Without Borders camp as part of the NBA All-Star Weekend, being chosen as 1 of the 64 aspiring boys to grace the prized camp.

Bayno followed his statements after revealing that one of Sotto’s coaches in The Skill Factory is Nick Nurse’s high school teammate.

Going back, Nurse, who coached the championship roster of the Toronto Raptors, had a history with coach Bayno as a fellow assistant for the Raptors years ago.

So with Sotto’s development, coach Bayno has been receiving scouting reports and progressions towards the Filipino kid.

“The scouting report I get from Kai is he’s still young, he needs to get tougher, he needs to be a little bit more aggressive, which is normal for any kid that age. But he has the skillset already,” Bayno added.