It was just a few months ago that the Toronto Raptors shocked the basketball world by taking Bruno Caboclo with the 20th overall pick of the 2014 NBA Draft. Even the most engaged NBA draft fans failed to recognize the name, and quickly followed the selection with searches through Google and YouTube.
In fact, the only person at the draft who seemed to know anything about Caboclo was ESPN analyst Fran Fraschilla, who specializes in covering international draft prospects. But even Fraschilla didn’t seem to know many details about Caboclo. He viewed the Raptors’ decision as an all-time swing for the fences type of pick, and coined the now infamous phrase that Caboclo was “two years away from being two years away.” But as for Bruno’s response to Fran’s comment, he won’t even dignify it with a response. “No comment on the two years away from two years away stuff. We’ll see.”
The intrigue surrounding Caboclo seemed to grow by the day as basketball fans learned more of the little known draftee out of Brazil. His measurements alone are enough to mystify as it’s not often that a small forward will have one of the longest wingspans in the entire draft, but Bruno performed well enough in Summer League to get fans even more excited about the prospect of watching him develop. He finished Summer League averaging 11.4 points per game, while displaying what already looks to be solid shooting mechanics, and also showed promise as a wing defender.
Standing at 6’9″ tall, Caboclo was reported at the draft to have a wingspan of 7’6″, but in reality he measures out at 7’7″ (official measurement as of Sept. 24). This surpasses the wingspan of fellow countryman and Raptor, Lucas Nogueira, who is 7’0″ tall.
As much of a whirlwind the draft was for Raptor fans, it was even more so for Caboclo himself. Despite knowing the Raptors had some interest in him, his selection was still a mystery for Bruno and his agent (Eduardo Resende) until Adam Silver announced his name. “They (the Raptors) went to Brazil a few times to watch me play. Most of the times I didn’t know they were in town, only Eduardo knew about it. Later on, Eduardo told me there were a few teams following my progress.
“He told me that the fact they kept coming to see me play, it was clear they got some interest and they were following my development before anything. When the Raptors went to Texas to watch me work out a few days before the draft, a hope to be a Raptor grew inside my head; but you never know, anything can happen.”
Just as the Raptors selected Bruno, in a round about way Caboclo had a role in his coming to Toronto. “The initial plan was to take my name out of the draft list for 2014 and come back again in 2015 for a first round shot. Days before the due date, things changed fast. I received a lot of interest from several teams, including Europe. We needed to react quick for this new scenario and the chances for being drafted in 2014 had sharply increased from the week before. We made the decision to keep my name in the 2014 Draft because we were almost sure someone was going to take a chance on me. It was a good decision.”
The strategy of aiming for the 2015 Draft meant that Bruno did not participate in private workouts or at the draft combine, allowing him to remain relatively under the radar until his name was called.
Even before his selection, Caboclo was already following the Raptors’ breakout season last year and was amazed by the fans in the crowd, and even more by the fans in Jurassic Park outside the arena. This image helps push him as he looks forward to finally getting to play for Toronto.
“The picture I have in my mind from what I watched on TV from my house in Brazil is the Raptor’s fans going wild supporting the team. Sold out games, outside at Maple Leaf Square hundreds of people cheering. So, my ‘Welcome to the NBA’ moment will be in our first home game, when I come out from that lockeroom wearing my No. 5 Raptor jersey and see all that people supporting us. Then I would feel my stomach cramping and think, ‘this is it.’ If I get some playing time and the fans scream my name, oh man, this will be an indescribable feeling.”
From Brazil, to Houston, to New York, to Toronto, to Las Vegas and Los Angeles, Bruno has been everywhere this summer. “I enjoyed very much working out together with players like DeMar, T.Ross, James Johnson, Kyle, Amir, Lou Williams. They gave me a nice welcome and good support. I sure have learned a lot from them on and off the court.” This along with getting to share his rookie year with his newly acquired countryman, Lucas Nogueira. “I did not know him before the trade. He has been a good company.”
But while in Los Angeles, Bruno also had the opportunity to play with and get feedback from players around the league. “I had the chance to play pickup games in L.A., at the Clippers facility. Played against several stars from the Raptors and Kevin Durant, Chris Paul, Paul Pierce, Blake Griffin, Barnes, etc. So many NBA players were there during that week. At the end of the day, they all came to talk to me, inquiring my age, my nationality, etc. Basically, they gave me their support by complimenting my game and told me to keep it up and keep playing hard. It a was good experience.”
Bruno has spent his summer transitioning to a new country and a new language, all despite turning 19 barely over a week ago. He has spent the summer training with and against some of the top players in the world, and has his sights set on one day being one of them.
The journey officially starts now with Raptor’s media day, but Caboclo’s mindset speaks to just how seriously he is taking this opportunity. “It is a ‘war’ out there. You know it.”