Ateneo de Manila University star Kymani Ladi against University of the East in UAAP Season 88 men’s basketball. Photo from UAAP Media.MANILA — Ateneo de Manila University appears to have found its newest star in the form of one-and-done recruit Kymani Ladi.
READ: Ateneo overcomes UE fightback behind Kymani Ladi’s heroics
The 6-foot-7 Filipino-American ace is to be as good as advertised in the Blue Eagles’ first two games so far, averaging 22.0 points, 9.5 rebounds, and 1.5 assists for the Tab Baldwin-coached team.
The Vallejo native is not only doing it by imposing his athleticism over his opponents, as he drained a three-point dagger against Far Eastern University in overtime last Saturday, and then scored the go-ahead trey vs. University of the East on Wednesday.
However, while Ladi continues to add to his stock, he emphasized that he has yet to reach his full potential.
“I’m not necessarily content with my performance, I can’t really be too content,” said the 23-year-old. “I just wanna make sure that our team is progressing each game.”
“I know there are instances that we are, there’s just some cases where we’re really solid on defense, there’s also times that we’re not, so we need to keep working on it,” he added.
While Ladi has downplayed his numbers for the Blue Eagles, it is undeniable is that he has already contributed to Ateneo’s rise
Unlike in Season 87 wherein it took them three games before joining the win column, the Blue Eagles are now a perfect 2-0 this year.
But for the Katipunan-based team to maintain this, and for Ladi to be fully unlocked, this is what the Blue Eagles need to do, according to their head coach.
“When you have teams that can focus their defense on a few players, those players are going to have a really tough time,” Baldwin said. “So as you guys assess Ky’s performance going forward, you're going to look for points production.”
“I told Ky I wanted to see a crooked number in the assist column, but we saw a zero. So I think more and more going forward, Ky’s going to have to make adjustments. He's going to attract defensive schemes, so other guys have got to step up to continue to get him some freedom of movement and some space. The better the rest of our roster plays, the better Ky is going to play,” he added.
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