Not only was Bruno Caboclo a relative unknown to many NBA insiders, but according to Dwane Casey, the 18-year-old Brazilian was a player only a handful of teams knew anything about. Jari Kurri Jersey . The Raptors head coach joined TSN 1050 to shed some light on the teams surprise selection and defend the criticism of the pick by ESPN analyst Fran Fraschilla who described Caboclo as being a player that was “two years away from being two years away.” “Which is totally untrue.” Casey said of the criticism. “He is a basketball player. He has NBA skills, but hes just raw. “This is a young man thats going to go through our program, develop and if this young man hits, weve got something special.” Admitting Masai Ujiri was initially set on taking Toronto-native Tyler Ennis, before Phoenix nabbed him two picks prior, Casey commented that the GM felt like his team couldnt wait on taking the teenager with their second round pick because they felt like the Jazz and Suns, who had the 23rd and 27th selections respectively, would have scooped him up. “Originally we wanted to take Tyler Ennis and that was going to be our first pick at 20,” Casey said. “We had heard rumours that either Utah or Phoenix down behind us was going to take Bruno, so thats just when we moved him up and took him at 20.” To scout the Brazilian, Casey headed down to Houston for a pre-draft workout with Ujiri, who went out of his way to keep the visit under the radar, not revealing to his coach which player he was set to scout until he got off the plane. Casey, along with Ujiri came away impressed with what they saw, with the head coach saying Caboclo reminded him of another teenager who came to the league straight out of high school and who would later develop into an all-star forward: Rashard Lewis. “Hes got the athletic talent, the wingspan – hes got the same wingspan as Javhale McGee – hes athletic, has defensive ability, defensive instincts, he can shoot the three ball.” Casey: Caboclo raw, but could be special Zack Kassian Jersey . -- Officials have approved a deal to build a new $672 million stadium for the Atlanta Braves away from the downtown Atlanta area that has traditionally been its home. Matt Benning Jersey . Ferguson told Uniteds in-house TV channel on Saturday that he has no immediate plans to walk away from the game, and that he still hungers for more trophies even after 25 years in charge of the club. http://www.hockeyoilersshop.com/andrew-ference-jersey/ . As if he had been rehearsing it, Vasquez looked around with a grimacing stare as he clinched two fists and flexed his muscles. What do you think of DeMar DeRozans face after he hits a big shot, he was asked moments earlier.The Edmonton Oilers took a bold approach to free agency, giving money and term to a couple of fancy stats darlings. Numbers Game breaks down the signings of Benoit Pouliot and Mark Fayne.. The Oilers Get: LW Benoit Pouliot, D Mark Fayne and D Keith Aulie. Pouliot, 27, has been a hockey nomad, bouncing from team to team in recent seasons, but hes been pretty good at each stop along the way. While playing for four different teams (Montreal, Boston, Tampa Bay, N.Y. Rangers) in the past four seasons, Pouliot has put up strong possession numbers in each stop and hes been a pretty effective goal-scorer in limited time. He had a career-high 36 points in 80 games for the Rangers last season. The issue that crept up with Pouliot, and was particularly notable during the Rangers Stanley Cup run, was his alarming tendency to take offensive zone penalties and that lack of discipline can be frustrating but, in the grand scheme, Pouliot has been drawing more penalties than he takes. He has good size and plays enough of a physical game to get under the skin of the opposition from time to time and Pouliots willingness to go to the net could give him a shot at a 20-goal season if he ends up playing a bigger role in Edmonton. Where Pouliot fits with the Oilers is a bit of a question. He looks like a third-line left winger -- thats the role that hes handled effectively -- and the Rangers do have enough talent on the right side that they could have some decent offensive production out of their third line. While Pouliot is lauded by those who appreciate advanced stats, most would do a double-take before signing any third-line winger to a five-year contract. Maybe five years and $20-million was the cost of doing business, but that does seem like a serious commitment, particularly if there isnt room for Pouliot among the Oilers top six forwards. The Rangers have some holes to fill up front, and knew that they would not be abble to get him re-signed at market prices, especially when the Oilers were willing to spend at this level. Drake Caggiula Jersey. Fayne is a 27-year-old defenceman who has good size (6-foot-3, 215 pounds) and plays a sound defensive game, something that is sorely needed in Edmonton. There were two defencemen in the league who played tough opposition, started more shifts in the defensive zone yet finished with a better shot differential per 60 minutes than Fayne. One was Zdeno Chara and the other was Faynes frequent partner, Andy Greene. The interesting part of that possession success is that, last season, Fayne was the weak link in that pairing -- Greene had much better possession stats (54.2 Corsi%) without Fayne than Fayne had (47.2% Corsi%) without Greene -- but that was a flip of the year before, when Fayne was at 57.2% without Greene and Greene was 54.4% without Fayne. Ultimately, Fayne has been a reliable defensive defenceman who should upgrade the Oilers and, signed for $14.5-million over four seasons, hes not unreasonably priced if he can handle top-four minutes in Edmonton. The Devils have some young defencemen on the way up, including Jon Merrill, Eric Gelinas and Adam Larsson, that can take over some of the minutes that Fayne had been playing. 25-year-old Keith Aulie is a 6-foot-6 defenceman who has played 136 career NHL games, but has been crushed in possession terms, over his four NHL seasons. Hard to imagine that hes anything more than a spare part, even for the Oilers. While Pouliot and Fayne arent marquee names, they have been quietly solid players for several seasons. While the Oilers went long on Pouliots term, they were aggressive to acquire a couple of players that ought to make them more competitive. Scott Cullen can be reached at Scott.Cullen@bellmedia.ca and followed on Twitter at http://twitter.com/tsnscottcullen. For more, check out TSN Fantasy on Facebook. Cheap NFL Jerseys Wholesale Jerseys Wholesale NFL Jerseys Jerseys From China Wholesale NFL Jerseys Cheap NFL Jerseys Cheap Jerseys ' ' '