Bruno Fernando was not a basketball prodigy.
Looking back, the 6-foot-10, 225-pound power forward wonders what might have happened if his best friend, Hermane Domengos, had not invited the then tall-for-his-age, skinny 9-year old to join him on a neighborhood soccer club nearly a decade ago.
The club, in their native city of Luanda, Angola, needed some players to fill out its roster for a basketball team as well.
"I just went and tried it," Fernando recalled earlier this week. "I was just like a tall kid and I didn't know much about basketball. Probably the first two weeks of practice, I quit soccer and I just stuck with it.