{"id":90446,"date":"2024-08-14T14:17:50","date_gmt":"2024-08-14T18:17:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=90446"},"modified":"2024-08-14T14:17:50","modified_gmt":"2024-08-14T18:17:50","slug":"cavs-interested-free-agent-first-round-pick-bruno-caboclo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/08\/14\/cavs-interested-free-agent-first-round-pick-bruno-caboclo\/","title":{"rendered":"Cavs Interested In Free Agent First-Round Pick"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>As they fill out their roster, the Cleveland Cavaliers could sign one of the standout players from the Paris Olympics. Initially, the thought was that Cavs head coach Kenny Atkinson would <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/08\/09\/paris-olympics-cavs-kenny-atkinson-may-poach-team-france-player\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">bring over a player<\/a> from France. Signing on to be an assistant coach for Team France this summer, he had an up close look at several prospective signings. Chief among these players was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/y\/yabusgu01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Guerschon Yabusele<\/a>, whose physical transformation has helped him become more dynamic.<\/p>\n<p>However, the Olympian that the Cavs sign may not be a player from Les Bleus at all.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI had a source tell me that the Cavs were taking a look,\u201d cleveland.com\u2019s Chris Fedor says on the <em>Wine and Gold Talk Podcast<\/em>. \u201cNot that they were going to sign him &#8211; but they were taking a look at Bruno Caboclo while he was playing for the Brazil national team.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat&#8217;s the level of scouting that they do, so it would make sense that they would have an interest in Guerschon Yabusele,\u201d he continues.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Could the Cavs add Guerschon Yabusele from the French National Team? Wine and Gold Talk podcast\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/QTz75qCt0O0?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h2>Cavs Interested In Free Agent First-Round Pick Bruno Caboclo<\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/c\/cabocbr01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Bruno Caboclo<\/a>, named a 2024 Olympic Qualifying Tournament MVP ahead of the Paris Olympics, played splendidly in Lille.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Best of Bruno Caboclo \ud83c\udde7\ud83c\uddf7 | TISSOT MVP | FIBA OQT 2024 Latvia\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/qdXi3M9PA9g?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Among the players in the men\u2019s tournament, the 28-year-old ranked in the top-15 in points (17.3), rebounds (7.0), and blocks (0.8) per game. However, these numbers are skewed, as he only played 24 total minutes in the first two games of the Olympics. In the next and final two games that Brazil played, Caboclo averaged 31.5 points, 11.5 rebounds, and 1.0 block in 32.0 minutes per game.<\/p>\n<p>This includes a 30-point performance against Team USA\u2019s star-spangled roster.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Despite the loss, Bruno Caboclo was dropping buckets against Team USA. \ud83c\udde7\ud83c\uddf7 <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/72rf3HxEOj\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/72rf3HxEOj<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 theScore (@theScore) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/theScore\/status\/1820934110702928358?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">August 6, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>With that being said, Caboclo would be an intriguing\u00a0addition.<\/p>\n<p>At 6-foot-9, he plays more like a center than a forward, largely operating out of the pick and roll. However, while he doesn\u2019t have ideal height as a center, he\u2019s athletic and has a real feel for the position. The league <em>has<\/em> started to lean more into traditionally-sized frontcourts. Nonetheless, the ability to switch defensively is still prized by teams. As a result, a player like Caboclo can be utilized situationally, if not regularly.<\/p>\n<h3>Dollars Making Sense<\/h3>\n<p>Yabusele can and <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/08\/11\/guerschon-yabusele-ready-for-nba-return-after-olympics-breakout\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">wants to be signed<\/a> by an NBA team. However, that team would have to pay a $2.5 million buyout to get him out of his contract with Real Madrid. With the way he played in the Paris Olympics, there are certainly teams that\u2019ll entertain the idea. Yet, with the way teams are clutching their wallets, the dollars have to make sense.<\/p>\n<p>In Yabusele\u2019s case, they may not, as their depth at power forward is pretty solid.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cAs of right now it&#8217;s Evan Mobley is the starting power forward, Georges Niang is the backup power forward, and then Dean Wade is also in the mix to be the backup power forward. So, I just don&#8217;t know based on this current roster construction if Cleveland is the team that would pay the $2.5 million buyout to turn around and sign (Yabusele) to be the last player on the roster.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Still, Yabusele\u2019s a better defender than <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/n\/niangge01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Georges Niang<\/a>. He plays with more fire than <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/w\/wadede01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Dean Wade<\/a>. If the goal is to build the best possible roster, then Yabusele arguably deserves the opportunity to beat Niang and Wade out for a backup role.<\/p>\n<p>However, the Cavs could avoid that potentially hectic situation by signing Caboclo. For starters, he\u2019s more suited for playing center, where Cleveland\u2019s depth is thin. Furthermore, the big man isn\u2019t expected to return to Partizan Belgrade next season, largely due to <a href=\"https:\/\/basketnews.com\/news-208103-bruno-caboclo-will-leave-partizan-reasons-revealed.html#google_vignette\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">issues with nonpayment<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As they fill out their roster, the Cleveland Cavaliers could sign one of the standout players from the Paris Olympics. Initially, the thought was that Cavs head coach Kenny Atkinson would bring over a player from France. Signing on to be an assistant coach for Team France this summer, he had an up close look [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5008,"featured_media":90498,"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":[9,1608,62,3],"tags":[2942,797,297,1052],"class_list":["post-90446","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cavaliers","category-basketball","category-nba","category-news","tag-bruno-caboclo","tag-guerschon-yabusele","tag-nba-free-agency","tag-olympics"],"modified_by":"Quenton S Albertie","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90446","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=90446"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90446\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/90498"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=90446"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=90446"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=90446"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}