Kai Sotto

Filipino Knicks doctor advises NBA prospect Kai Sotto: Bulk up

Martin Mendoza

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Filipino Knicks doctor advises NBA prospect Kai Sotto: Bulk up

HOPEFUL. Kai Sotto hopes to become the first full-blooded Filipino to play in the NBA.

ADELAIDE 36ERS

‘If you want to play in the league, you cannot even imagine the physicality,’ says Dr. Erwin Valencia, the Filipino physical therapist and wellness lead of the New York Knicks

MANILA, Philippines – Get bigger.

That’s exactly what the doctor ordered for 7-foot-3 Filipino basketball sensation Kai Sotto, who recently declared for the 2022 NBA Draft.

In an interview with Rappler during a sneaker talk for Anta, Dr. Erwin Valencia, physical therapist and wellness lead of the New York Knicks in the NBA, chimed in on Sotto’s chances of becoming the first full-blooded Filipino to ever play in the league.

“Kai needs to get bigger,” said Valencia.

“If you want to play in the league, you cannot even imagine the physicality.”

“You’re competing against the best players in the world and not only do they have the skill, but they have the physicality,” he added.

Valencia, who has been with the Knicks for eight years, certainly knows a thing or two about breaking barriers as he is the first homegrown Filipino to be part of a medical staff of an NBA team or a professional sports team in the United States in general.

  

And for Valencia, he believes the ultimate dream of having our very own Filipino NBA player in the form of the 19-year-old Sotto is possible, as long as bulking up becomes the lanky big man’s top priority.

“If [getting bigger] becomes a priority, added with the skill, added with the height, then it’s possible,” said Valencia of Sotto, who averaged 7.5 points on 50% shooting, 4.5 rebounds, and 0.8 blocks in 23 games in his first professional season with the Adelaide 36ers in the Australia National Basketball League (NBL).

In the end, Valencia offered some advice not only to Sotto, but to all the aspiring Filipino basketball players who wish to make it to the NBA someday.

“Have the mental fortitude to do it,” said Valencia.

“If you don’t have the mindset that you’ll make it no matter what, then you’ve already lost the game.”

“No matter how physical you get, no matter how skilled you get, if you don’t have the mentality to do it, you’re not going to go anywhere,” he added. – Rappler.com 

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