In the Eastern Conference, Miami Heat, led by a Filipino pride coach Eric Spoelstra, has a good series lead against the Boston Celtics. On the Western Conference, the surprising Denver Nuggets will battle the favorites, Los Angeles Lakers.
Knowing the popularity of the Lakers, there is no doubt that the majority of the Filipino basketball fans will root for the Lebron James-led squad.
But, if we will consider the impact of the result of this Conference final to Philippine basketball, I think the team that we should support is the Denver Nuggets.
The connection to Philippine basketball to this series is Kai Sotto.
Who is the main guy of the Denver Nuggets? Jamal Murray is no doubt their best scorer but it is clear to the majority of analysts that this is Jokic's team.
And Jokic is not the modern type of big that is athletic and can defend in the perimeter. In a way, he is an old-school big who is a plodder and who is really good at post-scoring. His main selling point is his elite skill of passing and ability to hit three-pointers.
We are in the modern world of basketball where traditional centers who cannot defend in the perimeter are not valued as much. Actually, the value of the position alone is trending down, hard. This was obvious in the 2019 NBA draft where only three centers were drafted in the 1st round. Compare that to the 2000 NBA draft where 11 traditional bigs were selected.
Thanks to Jokic though, the future of the traditional centers may not be as dark as before. He has opened up a path that big and tall centers can take to have playing time and value.
Although, that is not yet embraced in the NBA. The idea that traditional centers may actually have value again and should be drafted is not yet that strong.
Unless Jokic shows that a traditional center can still carry a team in the NBA finals. Actually, it will be praised at a different level because if Denver reached the peak, they did it by defeating the two favorites in winning the championship. The two franchises that have superstars that embodied modern basketball.
So, what is the connection to Kai Sotto?
Kai is a traditional bigman. He cannot really defend on the perimeter and his athleticism may even be below-average in the NBA.
Success by the Jokic-led Denver Nuggets will boost the possibility that Sotto will get drafted.
Yes, a Denver win in that series will improve our chances of having our first ever pure-Filipino in the #1 league in the world.
And if Kai gets drafted, it will also open up more opportunities to other Pinoy basketball players. More exposure to better basketball means better players for our national team.
And of course, better players means Philippine basketball will be better.
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