We are delighted to announce that we reach mutual agreement to contract with Kai Sotto 2022-23 season.


 

#11 KAI SOTTO

Profile

●Place of Birth　　　　Philippines
●Date of Birth　　　　 5/11/2002
●Position           　　　 Center
●Height　　　　　　　 220cm
●Weight　　　　　　　105kg
●School　　　　　　　Ateneo de Manila
 

Back Ground

Adelaide 36ers
-Hiroshima Dragonflies

National Team Career

FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament Belgrade, Serbia（2020）   
FIBA Asia Cup 2021 Qualifiers（2021）
FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 Asian Qualifiers（2023）
 

Comments from Kai Sotto

I am looking forward to playing for the Hiroshima Dragonflies. I want to do everything I can so that the Dragonflies, who are aiming to advance to the B.League Championship, have a great season. I am grateful to the president and GM for giving me this opportunity. I look forward to meeting my teammates, staff and of course the fans.
 

Comments from Okazaki General Manager

We are excited to be announcing that Kai Sotto joins club. I am going to explain how and why we reach mutual agreement with him.

■About Kai Sotto
He is 220cm tall, with high scoring skills, and basketball IQ. His speed and running ability would be helping our basketball which players run offense and defense with fast pace. He is still 20 years old however he is famous and has been chosen by the National Team. Same as Rui Hachimura, and Yuta Watanabe, Kai Sotto who is drawing so much attention from all around the globe, is also highly talented player and will be one of the best Asian Player.

■Details for how we contract with him
As I mentioned above, I thought Kai was going to be fitting our basketball style. We sent him an offer early on, but his ultimate goal was going to the NBA and he wanted to earn experience in Australia, so we gave up that time. Since then, we have continued negotiations and communication with an eye on this season and next season.
For example, we explain to him about our philosophy, our basketball practice environment, our culture, and meaning of playing basketball in the City of Peace, Hiroshima His thought of changing his environment and our one of objective, getting new Asian Player matched in the best timing. We might not have informed this without our Partners, Sponsors and Boosters who always have been supporting us.　
I would like to thank everyone involved.

■How Our Teams will change with Kai Sotto.
We have been having a good season with some wins so far, but always try to improve how we can be better. Especially, points from second chances from rebounds need to be one thing to be fixed. Our numbers are very high standard, marked almost one of the top on western conference except average of rebound we give up which is nearly 10. One of the reasons might be is that our basketball system is organized and fluid. Making good rotation to let opponent tough shot is very successful for many possessions, but big men also involve this rotation so it seems it is so hard for big men to involve rebound again. Therefore, there are so many possessions that Japanese players who are relatively small sized need to go to rebound; get rebound. If Kai Sotto joins our team, we are able to run the Big Line up and create new rotation. We also will have a huge advantage for simply inside of the paint with his height and talent.
I know that all I said before is just a plan, and basketball is not based on just numbers however clinching rebound by first try would affect both offense and defense.

■As a Club
Thanks to support from our Sponsors, Partners, and Boosters, we are now one of the top teams in Western Conference. However we lost a game we are supposed to win to go to the Play Off, which some of the fans might have been disappointed Even though we claimed that we are playing with Hiroshima Pride, showing fighting spirit and heart of never giving up till the last minutes, we could not show those on last games which I really feel responsible. We believe that the addition of Kai Sot will make up for our weaknesses. However, his addition he alone cannot win the championship. If we are aiming for the championship, each and every one of us must grow even stronger. We will all work hard to bring about positive changes in the team with his joining.

As you all know, Hiroshima is a world-famous city as an international city of peace and culture. As the international situation continues to be unstable, we believe that appealing for peace through basketball is the most important thing and that it is our role. We are trying to transmit the messages of “Peace” from where the symbol of global peace, with Kai Sotto and our whole organization.

And Kai intends to challenge himself to go to the NBA after the season. Probably Being the NBA player from one of the B League Player would be huge impact and meaningful to B League which has been trying to be the second biggest league in the world.

Last but not least, I made this announcement in order to once again express my intention to aim for the B league championship in the shortest possible time and grow into a top club. In a few years, Japan's B League will change into an even bigger "New B1 League". Entering the "New B1 League" will be a big obstacle for us, but we would like to run up to the "top" together with everyone. We appreciate your continued support and encouragement.