{"id":88596,"date":"2024-08-02T11:00:05","date_gmt":"2024-08-02T15:00:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=88596"},"modified":"2024-08-02T11:00:05","modified_gmt":"2024-08-02T15:00:05","slug":"raptors-address-roster-weaknesses-bruno-fernando-free-agent-signing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/08\/02\/raptors-address-roster-weaknesses-bruno-fernando-free-agent-signing\/","title":{"rendered":"Raptors Address Roster Weaknesses With Free Agent Signing"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Toronto Raptors are signing free agent <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/f\/fernabr01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Bruno Fernando<\/a>, per Sportsnet\u2019s Blake Murphy.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">The Raptors are signing Bruno Fernando, per a source.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s a non-guaranteed deal. Basically, come in to camp and compete for a roster spot. Some guarantees would kick in if he makes the team.<\/p>\n<p>Not an Exhibit 10; he&#8217;s not 2-way eligible, no 905 implication.<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Blake Murphy (@BlakeMurphyODC) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/BlakeMurphyODC\/status\/1819342525045313670?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">August 2, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Fernando, 25, <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/07\/30\/hawks-roster-waive-bruno-fernando-offseason\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">was waived by<\/a> the Atlanta Hawks last week. The No. 34 pick in the 2019 NBA Draft, Fernando now joins the third overall pick from his draft class (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/b\/barrerj01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">RJ Barrett<\/a>). However, his deal will be non-guaranteed, increasing the pressure on him to stand out before the season begins.<\/p>\n<h2>Raptors Address Roster Weaknesses With Bruno Fernando Signing<\/h2>\n<p>Fernando\u2019s signing falls in line with many Raptors president Masai Ujiri\u2019s previous roster moves.<\/p>\n<p>Raised in Nigeria to Kenyan and Nigerian parents, Ujiri has a legitimate affinity with the African culture and its people. This has bled into his business life, as Ujiri has added a number of African players since taking the helm. In the past year, he\u2019s either drafted or traded for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/m\/mogbojo01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jonathan Mogbo<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/c\/chomcul01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Ulrich Chomche<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/a\/agbajoc01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Ochai Agbaji<\/a>. Had he not been diagnosed with a blood clot issue, 2022 No. 33 pick <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/k\/kolokch01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Christian Koloko<\/a> would still be on the roster. Prior to being traded last season, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/s\/siakapa01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Pascal Siakam<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/a\/anunoog01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">OG Anunoby<\/a> were seen as franchise fixtures.<\/p>\n<p>As Fernando is a native of Angola, Ujiri\u2019s interest in him likely extends beyond basketball. With that being said, Fernando does have value for the Raptors off the court.<\/p>\n<p>Chomche, an intriguing young player who was raised in Cameroon, was selected with 57th pick in the 2024 NBA Draft. Represented by Klutch Sports and <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/06\/19\/ulrich-chomche-2024-nba-draft-profile\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">considered a potential lottery pick<\/a>, he\u2019s a diamond in the rough. However, as he prepares himself for the rigors of the NBA, he has to clear hurdles other rookies don\u2019t have to. These will largely be psychological, with the 18-year-old now over 9,400 miles away from his birthplace.<\/p>\n<p>Fernando, a gracious and humble individual, is more capable of taking Chomche under his wing than anyone on the roster. Similar to Philadelphia 76ers center <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/e\/embiijo01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Joel Embiid<\/a>, Fernando didn\u2019t leave his home country until he was 16 years old.<\/p>\n<h3>Glass Cleaners Wanted<\/h3>\n<p>On the court, Fernando\u2019s biggest strength is his motor.<\/p>\n<p>Perhaps because he isn\u2019t afforded the opportunity to, the forward-center doesn\u2019t loaf around the court. This has translated to him being an above-average rebounder in a vacuum, especially at his size. Just 6-foot-9, Fernando\u2019s pulled down 17.3 percent of the total rebounds over the past four seasons. For comparison, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/j\/jamesle01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">LeBron James<\/a> has an 11.3 percent career rebounding rate.<\/p>\n<p>With the Raptors ranking 23rd in rebounds per game (42.7) last season, this is where he can help the most.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Toronto Raptors are signing free agent Bruno Fernando, per Sportsnet\u2019s Blake Murphy. The Raptors are signing Bruno Fernando, per a source. It&#8217;s a non-guaranteed deal. Basically, come in to camp and compete for a roster spot. Some guarantees would kick in if he makes the team. Not an Exhibit 10; he&#8217;s not 2-way eligible, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5008,"featured_media":88615,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[14,1608,62,556,3],"tags":[1969,114,297,49282],"class_list":["post-88596","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-raptors","category-basketball","category-nba","category-nba-draft","category-news","tag-bruno-fernando","tag-masai-ujiri","tag-nba-free-agency","tag-ulrich-chomche"],"modified_by":"Quenton S Albertie","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88596","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5008"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=88596"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88596\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/88615"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88596"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=88596"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=88596"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}