Toronto Raptors Head Coach Gives High Praise To Former Hawk After Recent Signing

Bruno Fernando signed with the Toronto Raptors last week

Apr 9, 2024; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; Atlanta Hawks forward Bruno Fernando (24) shoots against the Miami Heat in the second half at State Farm Arena. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports / Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports

One of the fan favorites for the Hawks was waived last week, but he was able to quickly find a new home. Former Hawks center Bruno Fernando quickly signed with the Toronto Raptors on a non-guaranteed deal and he is going to be battling for a roster spot during training camp. Fernando had to play a lot of minutes for the Hawks this past season while they dealt with a rash of injuries to the center position and he made improvements this season and is more than capable of being a backup center and important bench player in this league.

After they signed Fernando, Raptors head coach Darko Rajakovic had a lot of good things to say about him to ESPN:

 "I like that he plays really hard. I like that he wants to win; he is all about the team.

"He wants to help the team win in any way that he can. He is able to do multiple things on defense, to guard multiple positions. On offense, he's a great holder. I think he's a little bit underestimated as a passer.

"We'll see how he's going to fit into our system, but I think that he's a really good fit for us."

Rajaković confirmed that the Raptors had been monitoring Fernando for some time and when the opportunity to sign it opened up, they jumped at it.

He explained: "We just found out that he got released from Atlanta and we jumped on him right away. Obviously, we've been following him for years now and we know a lot about him. Just the opportunity to get to bring him on our team - we are really excited about that."

While Toronto does have Jakob Poeltl at center, Fernando has a chance to make the Raptors roster and make an impact.

Our own Rohan Raman had this to say after Fernando was waived by the Hawks:

"After being selected by the 76ers with the 34th pick of the 2019 draft, Fernando was immediately traded to Atlanta. He split time between the Hawks' rotation and College Park as a rookie, getting minutes as a bench center. Fernando was then traded to the Boston Celtics before being sent to the Houston Rockets after the Celtics acquired Daniel Theis. Fernando made his return to Atlanta in a deal with the Houston Rockets that sent Justin Holiday, Frank Kaminsky and two second-round picks to Houston in exchange for Fernando and wing Garrison Mathews.

The Hawks got the better end of that deal as both Mathews and Fernando played valuable roles for Atlanta last season. In particular, Fernando was one of the more effective third centers in the league and showed development in 2023-24. He put up 6.3 points, 4.3 rebounds and one assist in 15.2 minutes per game. He functioned well as a paint scorer, hitting 60% of his shots from inside the arc.

I thought Fernando played well within the offense and knew his responsibilities. He's fairly strong for an undersized center (standing at 6'9) and consistently set good screens to make room for shooters. He stepped into the backup center role against the Bulls and did what he could to keep the Hawks afloat in Capela's absence.

His best game of the season was against the Charlotte Hornets in the regular season, where he dropped 25 points and 6 rebounds in the Hawks win. He consistently found himself against either Grant Williams or Tre Mann and exploited the mismatch to great effect. He also showed off some fancy footwork against Nick Richards throughout the game - Charlotte simply did not have anyone they could reliably cover him with. Even though he is not a three-point shooter by any means, his touch around the basket and footwork are reliably consistent parts of his game.

It's likely that Fernando finds a new team that is in dire need of center depth. Unfortunately, the Hawks are not that team. With this extra roster spot, it frees them up to either make a trade or veteran signing that will make a bigger impact towards the 2024-25 team.

Wishing Bruno nothing but the best!"