Adam Silver, usually an unshakable presence at the draft podium, looked rather sheepish when reading Toronto’s first-round selection in the 2014 NBA draft. He strode up and awkwardly announced the Raptors had selected Bruno Caboclo, mispronouncing the Brazilian 18-year-old’s last name as “Cuh-BAH-low” instead of “Cuh-BO-clo”. Silver, like the vast majority of NBA fans at that moment, clearly did not know who Caboclo was.
In the ensuing segment analyzing the pick, ESPN analyst Fran Fraschilla said Caboclo was “two years away from being two years away” and that he “didn’t really know how to play yet.”
There’s no doubt Caboclo was raw.