Brandon Clarke made a dunk with 10.7 seconds left in overtime and the Memphis Grizzlies beat the New Orleans Pelicans 88-86 on Sunday in the NBA Las Vegas Summer League semifinals. The Grizzlies will face the Minnesota Timberwolves on Monday night in the title game. Minnesota beat Brooklyn 85-77 in the second semifinal. Clarke had 23 points — including four in overtime — and 14 rebounds to lead Memphis. Tyler Harvey, whose 3-pointer tied it in regulation, added 13 points, and Bruno Caboclo had 12.
Bruno Caboclo Rumors
All NBA Players
Position: F
Born: 09/21/95
Height: 6-9 / 2.06
Weight:205 lbs. / 93 kg.
Salary: $1,845,301
Born: 09/21/95
Height: 6-9 / 2.06
Weight:205 lbs. / 93 kg.
Salary: $1,845,301
Michael Wallace: Among the next competitive steps for Jonas Valanciunas (Lithuania), Yuta Watanabe (Japan) and @Bruno Caboclo (Brazil) are plans to rep their national teams in the late summer 2019 World Cup in China. All three are under contract with the Grizzlies for next season.
The Grizzlies are not just dipping a toe in with Caboclo. They are committed to seeing what he can provide at the NBA level. Caboclo received another 10-day contract on Feb. 3 and, when it expired on Feb. 13, the Grizzlies signed him to a multi-year deal. (Caboclo’s deal has an early trigger date for a $300,000 guarantee in July but is otherwise non-guaranteed for 2019-20.) They are invested. “Every opportunity, every experience he gets is a good one for him,” J.B. Bickertsaff said. “It was important to us that we got him on the floor. That was the reason why we signed him. We didn’t sign him as a project, so to speak, we signed him because we were looking for somebody we thought could help contribute. He’s been able to do that. Obviously, you’ve gotta got through some of those bumps and bruises and you’ve gotta get that experience of playing, but if you keep playing in the G League, you never get that experience. So he’s gotta get the opportunity, and he’s taken advantage of it.”
At the trade deadline, the Raptors flipped him to the Sacramento Kings for Malachi Richardson in a move aimed more at avoiding the luxury tax than improving the roster. There was plenty to learn from the experiment and optimism that Caboclo could still succeed elsewhere, it just wasn’t going to happen with the Raptors. “It was difficult for us because I just thought it was time,” president Masai Ujiri said. “We started the right process a little late, which is something we failed at but I think we’ll learn from. At some point, I think there needed to be some separation where he goes and learns something different somewhere else.
David Cobb: Bruno Caboclo and Ivan Rabb are the Grizz starting front court tonight with Jaren Jackson Jr. out with a quad injury and Valanciunas tending to personal issues.
