(Rappler) MANILA, PHILIPPINES – Coach Tab Baldwin preaches patience to Filipino fans aching to see the 7-foot-3 Kai Sotto become the next Pinoy basketball superstar.

Like many other renowned coaches and players in the Philippines and abroad, Gilas Pilipinas program director Tab Baldwin has nothing but glowing reports for Filipino wunderkind Kai Sotto.

And like many other basketball pundits, the decorated tactician also preached patience to the Filipino fans aching to see the next big Pinoy basketball superstar emerge.

“Basketball knowledge and his skill were the areas we probably saw the biggest improvements. His intensity, he’s training better each day, [but] he still has work to do, and every young player does,” Baldwin told Rappler in an interview.

“But there were very positive signs and there’s no reason to feel pessimistic about anything. He certainly is on the path to be a very good professional basketball player.”