Adelaide head coach CJ Bruton insisted that he was doing what’s best for Kai Sotto despite the limited minutes the 7-foot-3 Filipino center has been getting in Australia's NBL.
Fans took notice of the surprisingly limited minutes from Sotto who now played only a total of 14 minutes through three games as compared to the 15-minute average last season.
Bruton said it wasn’t about Sotto not worthy of his minutes but more about trying to balance between developing the young slotman and the chances of winning of the 36ers who are trying to rebound from a 10-18 record last season.
“His skillset helps us, and while you haven’t seen it a whole lot, I’m also playing to win games. I need to be successful. I want this city to be successful, I want Kai to keep improving,” Bruton told News Corp’s The Basketball Show
“I’m not here to hurt the kid, I care for this kid and getting better and getting to his goal, which is ultimately playing in the NBA,” he added.
While he admitted that Sotto will need his minutes to further polish and improve his game, the same could be said for the rest of the 36ers who have three new players in Antonius Cleveland, Robert Franks and Craig Randall.
“Yes, you do need to take the floor a little bit more, I need him to keep impacting the 36ers the right way that I need for us to be successful. For him to keep growing, I have more coaching staff with me this year to impact his development and growth, and when he does touch the floor, bit by bit he keeps improving,” said Bruton.
“Hopefully, he plays a little more minutes than he played last year.”
Preparation also played a huge factor in the recent decline in Sotto’s minutes. It can be recalled that Sotto worked out for a series of NBA teams in preparation for the NBA draft which made him miss the 36ers training during the off-season.
Once Sotto get more time with the team, Bruton is expecting the Filipino center to slowly get his minutes and back while continue providing winning impacts with the team – evident with his flashes of brilliance in the pre-season and in the first few games with the team
“Everyone thought he was going to come back and be a starter, I didn’t see the guy for six months of the off-season until he came back a few weeks beforehand. The improvement of my team to the improvement of Kai wasn’t on the same par, but I didn't air that to all of everybody, but he is developing in the right way. I think he’s really going to help us over the next month or so,” he said of Kai.
“He’s doing everything, I mentioned in video, just his impact, and while it was a very short impact, they were winning plays for us. He’s getting better each and every day,” he added.