C
CoJ2
Guest
With the benefit of hindsight , this to me was the problem that caused unfavorable outcomes,
1, The Philippines basketball eco system is very heavily US centric influence , most in the local industry are only familiar with the US/ Philippine college then turn pro ( NBA / PBA) pathway, yet the heavily commercialize Philippine high school system is or was mismatched with the US NCAA div 1 amateur rules. So essentially Kai's commercialism in high school made him ineligible for US college system
2. The ideal pathway in hindsight for none US base high school players is actually , development player in either pro league in Australia NBL or Europe ( Like Luka and Wemby), but Pinoy industry are not familiar with the pathway and it's implication consequences on NBA draft rules ( auto eligibility ) ,
I hope by now after my pages and pages of post , people understand the implications of those 2 points above, obviously it didn't help that Kai received celebrity rock star status in his early teens , with people around him trying to monetized the star status and earn quick buck without consideration of his long term success. added to that is overzealous fans believed the hype driven by monetary gain, the rest is history. i hope people learn lessons from this
Trivia : Is Kai the 1st notable homegrown Pinoy that did not go to college ?
I think Terry Saldana who had a long career PBA career, a former MIP Awardee was the first notable pba player who didn't go to college, but definitely Kai had already surpassed him
nb: I think Severino or JPM could provide info on any player prior the 80s including MICAA and those Olympic and FIBA teams