The guy that will oversee the G-League Select Team of Jonathan Kuminga, Daishen Nix, Princepal Singh, Isaiah Todd and two Filipinos in Jalen Green and Kai Sotto, will be Brian Shaw.
Shaw is a former NBA player and was a long-time member of Los Angeles Lakers, 4 years. Yes, he was a long-time teammate of Kobe Bryant.
In an online media availability, Brian Shaw was asked about Kai Sotto and he answered with this:
I think he has the ability to play like Nikola Jokic. Obviously, I haven't had a chance to be around him yet, but from the film that I've watched on him, it looks like he can shoot the ball from the outside. He can be a facilitator where you put him on top of the floor, give him the ball, and let him do dribble handoffs, much like you see Jokic do.
I agree with the way coach Shaw described the game of Kai. Yes, he can shoot. Yes, he can facilitate and can also make fancy passes. And yes he can dribble.
But I think comparing him to a Nikola Jokic is a bit too much. We are talking about a player who is currently in his prime and with NBA career averages of 17.0 points, 9.6 rebounds, 5.5 assists, 1.1 steals, 52% FG, 34% 3FG and 0.9 three-pointer made per game.
Jokic is a legit superstar in the NBA. He is currently the main guy of a perennial contending team, Denver Nuggets.
His main selling point is his passing and a lot of NBA minds are already saying that he is the greatest passing center of all time.
I do not think the ceiling of Kai's passing is even above-average for the center position. With that, it is hard for me to used Jokic as a comparison.
Knowing how big of a star Jokic is, I do not think it is healthy if we will push that comparison to hype up Kai because it will put unnecessary pressure on Kai. It can even mislead his development from the right path because he could be pushed to advance his passing even though he may not have the natural attributes that Jokic had.
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