Bruno Caboclo was two years away from being two years away
The NBA Draft is not a perfect science — some players drafted high don’t perform, and some players drafted low turn into All-Stars. Like Forrest Gump always said, the NBA Draft is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re going to get. In 2014, the Raptors had no clue what they were getting when they drafted Bruno Caboclo with the 20th pick.
The 2014 NBA Draft, at the time, was one of the most hyped up draft classes we had seen. The emergence of YouTube as one of the most popular websites in the world, combined with the onset of basketball hype machines like Hoopmixtape and Ballislife, gave the NBA Draft a new meaning. Now, the whole world had seen these guys before they even stepped on their college campuses.
Andrew Wiggins was the face of this new revolution. He came to the U.S. from Canada and starred at Huntington Prep, a factory for prep basketball stars to launch their careers. Wiggins instantly became one of the most recognizable prospects of all-time — media outlets were calling him the next LeBron James. With all of this hype, Wiggins was drafted number one overall, followed by Duke star Jabari Parker and Kansas center Joel Embiid.
Many solid rotational pieces were drafted in the lottery this year — guys like Aaron Gordon, Marcus Smart, Julius Randle, and Zach LaVine. The late teens gave us Jusuf Nurkić and Gary Harris. With Toronto on the clock with the 20th pick, they selected a Brazilian teenager named Bruno Caboclo — who nearly all of the NBA fans had never heard of. There were big name college players still on the board — names like Mitch McGary, Rodney Hood, and Shabazz Napier — but the Raptors needed to swing for the fences.
This draft was broadcasted on ESPN and featured Rece Davis, Jay Bilas, Jalen Rose and Bill Simmons. For the international players selected, the crew kicked it over to Fran Fraschilla, one of the network’s smartest voices on international draft prospects.
“First of all, he’s described as the Brazilian Kevin Durant.”
“He’s so raw, that he’s about three or four years away from playing in the league.”
That’s a completely reasonable thing to say about an NBA prospect. You could’ve said the same thing about guys like Sekou Doumbouya, Thon Maker, guys like that. It’s true. Many players aren’t ready for the NBA, but the Raptors have had an amazing development system over the years — hell, Pascal Siakam, drafted two years later, has increased his scoring average by 18 points per game in his career for Toronto. So Fran, tell me more about this guy!
“He is a freak athlete, but he really doesn’t know how to play yet.”
Wait… what? If he doesn’t know how to play yet, why would anybody… nevermind.
“Toronto and a couple other teams were the only teams to see him in person this year, and I thought Toronto might take him at #37, but they are swinging for the fences with this guy.”
Alright, I get it. This was a reach. You don’t need to keep telling me you think this kid sucks.
“I’m blown away. I’ve been doing this for ten years, this is — he’s two years away from being two years away, and then we’ll see. But he’s a great athlete, with upside down the road… like, São Paulo!”
As you can imagine, Fraschilla’s draft night comments became fuel for a young Bruno Caboclo — but they weren’t meant to be harmful.
Bruno spent much of his rookie season in the G League, making his NBA debut in a home blowout against the Milwaukee Bucks in 2014. He spent nearly the entirety of his four years in Toronto as a member of the Raptors 905, and was eventually traded to the Kings. By the start of the 2018 season, he had appeared in 35 career NBA games, with totals of 213 minutes played and 53 points scored.
In January of 2019, Bruno signed a two-year deal with the Memphis Grizzlies after impressing in consecutive 10-day contracts. He started 19 of the 34 games he appeared in for Memphis, and scored over 8 points per game. He was traded to Houston in 2020 and stuck with them through the Bubble. Now, he’s a star in his home country of Brazil for São Paulo FC.
There’s no room for me or any of us to trash Bruno Caboclo for not having a successful NBA career. He’s made close to $10 million dollars playing at the highest level of basketball in the world, and he just turned 26 years old. There’s also no room for any of us to trash Fran Fraschilla for what he said about him — because he was right! In 2014, Bruno Cabolo was two years away from being two years away. If my math is correct, then the 2018-19 season was when he would be ready — and he was! He broke out for his highest scoring average and seemingly found a home.
Fraschilla’s comments about Bruno were fair, but the humor came in his delivery — the absolute disbelief that a player so raw was selected in the top 20. Now, it’s the norm. Teams take swings on guys all the time that might not be ready for the NBA. There’s many guys across the league that have drastically improved over their career — I mean, look at what Giannis has done. So when the next draft rolls around, and your team takes a guy who’s two years away from being two years away, just know — it might be true!