Tacko just might be a couple years away from being a couple years away from being anything in this league....just like that Toronto draftee that, I guess, never did get to be even that.
Bruno Caboclo played 800 minutes for Memphis last season. He began to show some pretty intriguing stuff, too. He’s a unicorn if he can keep it up; shot .369 from 3, on a good sample size (139 attempts) - while blocking shots at 3.9%. Earned himself a contract for next year, 1.8m+.
Good length and hops, A-Plus ft shooter. 3 and D plus rim protection. Looks like he can guard up or down.
Drafted when he was 19, now 23 - so Fran Fraschilla might just have made a spot-on prediction with his immortal “two years away from being two years away” comment.
Well, let's face it, Caboclo, did nothing for 4 years ...
Except, apparently, work on his game.
Caboclo got those minutes last year because Memphis was trying to lose.
There's a partial truth to this. But management cannot tell coaches and players to deliberately lose; in particular, players are playing for their future and have only incentives to excel.
The opportunity opened up for him because of management decisions, but the point is that: he made the most of his opportunity. I expect that his ability to make contested 3's got their attention, as did his ability to both guard small forwards and protect the rim. We'll see next season if he can carve out a space for himself - he's in an ideal situation to do that, even after they drafted Brandon Clarke.
That a 23 year old, 5 year vet still had to go to Summer League to earn a contract on what will be amongst the worst teams in the league that will be tanking hard to get a top 6 pick next year and keep their pick, doesn't paint a rosy picture on Caboclo's current abilities.
No, that is incorrect. Bruno was signed to two 10-days last year. At the end of the second, Memphis needed to either sign him for the rest of the season or let him go. They not only signed him for the rest of last season, they gave him a contract for the upcoming season as well. He made good use of his rotation minutes (I mentioned a few of the highlights above).
In Summer League he wasn't auditioning, he already had guaranteed money. He was working on his skills in a 5-on-5 situation, in particular it looked like he worked on shooting from the right side of the floor and attacking close-outs with the dribble. He's got some left hand, it looks like, and he was a pretty good finisher last year. He really extends, good shoulders as well as spring (helps with the shot-blocking, too).
Anyway, all you've done is infer his supposed current abilities indirectly from what you think the team situation is, however "rosy", rather than directly from
what he actually does on the court. I guess I can't blame a Celtics fan for not paying attention to a Western Conference non-playoff team after the trade deadline, but it obviously weakens your argument.
But this thread isn't about him so back to the Celtics players mentioned in the article.
Excellent suggestion!
The comments on Robert Williams were especially interesting:
· Celtics coach on Williams’ play in Vegas: “He was good. Not dominant, but good. He was under control as a defender. His rebounding was better than ever. Offense is coming. Work in progress.”
· Team executive on Williams’ development: “We knew he was a project when we drafted him, but a worthy one. Sometimes a project gets tossed early, but Robert is a guy we’ll go the distance with. Word of warning: Don’t put too much on this kid too early. We signed a lot of bigs for a reason.”
· Team executive on the draft as a whole: ... "Then we got a guy everyone loved in Grant (Williams). He inexplicably dropped just like Robert Williams did and we win for that."
Regarding "offense is coming" - In particular he was looking to pass out of the paint, and he had some success finding cutters and spot-ups.
Regarding "under control as a defender" - yes, though he went after blocks that he didn't have a good chance at, on occasion, that left him out of rebounding position.
Regarding "Robert is a guy we'll go the distance with." - okay, wow, not sure what 'going the distance' means here... I've noticed that some people are predicting only spot minutes for Robert, but it certainly sounds like management has got some high hopes for him. Given that, I guess that it wouldn't surprise me if he were getting rotation minutes by the All-Star Break; let's call that my prediction.
I'm more optimistic about his future after seeing him in Summer League. He's done some good work on his lower body; last year I was cringing at the way he'd land with flexed knees, setting himself up for quadriceps tendinitis or worse - and the Popliteal Artery Impingement Syndrome can't have been helped by all the strain he was putting into his knees. That PAIS hasn't gone away, we may assume; could be that he'll become a starter-quality big who can only play 60 games a year. Then again, maybe the work he's done on his legs will not only improve his performance but solve the PAIS as well. Let us hope!
Anyway I think that he's much improved, and really liked the movement I saw.
The author's comments on Carsen Edwards, I thought, were a little off.
· Observations on Carsen Edwards: .... Defensively he’s competitive, but his size hurts him there. Probably need to match him with good defenders around him.
First of all, he isn't all THAT small. I see him listed at 6'1" 200, substantially heavier than Kemba, for example. He's got excellent lower body strength and is built like the proverbial fireplug. Having watched him in Vegas I'm surprised that he hadn't made a greater impression as a defender on the author (Keith Smith); he's got great laterals and anticipation, gets up in his man, and he has a ferocity about it that will endear him to his coaches and teammates alike.
The departure of Terry Rozier opens up a role for Carsen; maybe he can produce points more efficiently than Terry did (good likelihood, I'd say) - and create good shots (ditto). One underappreciated trait of Rozier was that he had exceptionally low turnover rates; if Edwards can match that, or even come close, Boston really has something. Rozier was in the G-League a lot in his rookie year; I'm betting that Carsen is not there nearly as much.