The future of Brazilian basketball has become an expert on American pop culture: movies, TV shows and even hit songs.
During his first professional season in Brazil’s top league, the then 16-year-old Santos asked his most famous teammate, former NBA Sixth Man of the Year Leandro Barbosa, what he had to do to reach the highest level of the sport. Barbosa offered a long list of advice that included working hard and being receptive to criticism, but one tidbit resonated with Santos the most: Learning English.
As he answered questions on Friday alongside fellow Golden State coaches Patrick Baldwin Jr. and Ryan Rollins at an introductory press conference at the Chase Center, Santos spoke near-fluent English – a testimony of many hours. to study American films, television and music. Looking out into the crowd, Barbosa, now a Warriors mentor-coach, felt like a proud father.
When Santos met Barbosa in the fall of 2018, his NBA dream was just that – a dream. Now, having become one of South America’s top prospects, Santos hopes to make that fantasy a reality.
At 6-foot-8, 209 pounds with a 7-foot wingspan and quick feet, Santos, who turned 20 last Wednesday, is the type of draft NBA offices covet: a versatile forward who can guard multiple positions. , initiate the attack and find open teammates. But as Barbosa has reminded him in recent days, Santos still faces a strong chance of making the Warriors’ roster.
His inconsistent sweater suggests he needs at least a year or two of development before he can land a guaranteed NBA contract. Determined to bring back the bulk of their 2021-22 Championship squad, the Warriors plan to hide Santos in Brazil or the G League this season.
“I keep telling him, ‘You can’t get too comfortable in the NBA,'” Barbosa said of Santos, who is expected to join Golden State for the summer league. “You have taken a step. Now you need to take another step, then another. It is not easy. It’s a tough league.
This increases Santos’ chances that Barbosa will be there to help. Since their two seasons together on Minas in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, the two have grown close. In Santos, Barbosa sees himself a bit – a grinder eager to use basketball to see the world and support his family.
When Barbosa joined Minas four years ago after a season with rival Franca and well over a decade in the NBA, he told Minas executives that the raw teenager who dominates the league’s youth ranks must training with the big club and sitting on the bench for games. It was the only way, Barbosa explained, that Santos would become the face of the next generation of Brazilian basketball.
Although Santos rarely played for Minas during their time together, he pushed Barbosa in training. Barbosa would often arrive at practices two hours early to find Santos taking hits. During the 5-on-5 scrums, Barbosa encouraged Santos to foul him – not because Barbosa wanted the youngster off the ground, but because he needed Santos to understand the physical requirements of the NBA. .
On the team flights, Santos peppered Barbosa with questions about everything from the Warriors’ 2015 title run to living as a millionaire in America to practice duels with Steve Nash and Stephen Curry. “One day you’ll have a lot of NBA stories too,” Santos recalled Barbosa once telling him. “You just need to focus on your career and not get distracted by girls or booze.”
In September 2020, after the coronavirus pandemic cut short Minas’ season and dashed her title hopes, Barbosa returned to the Bay Area for a position on head coach Steve Kerr’s staff. After following online, he was not surprised to see Santos making the Brazil national team and becoming one of Minas’ best players.
As well as guarding the opposition’s top scorers last season, Santos often brought the ball into the court and thrived in pick-and-rolls. But near the end of the NBA Draft on Thursday, his agent, Aylton Tesch, told him he would not be selected. Devastated and confused, Santos lay down on his bed at the Boca Raton, Florida home he was renting.
As he was about to fall asleep, he received a call from Tesch: the Warriors were taking him with the penultimate choice. As his friends and family cheered, Santos thought of Barbosa, who had highly recommended him to Golden State decision makers during the pre-draft process.
“As a kid, I always wanted to be like Leandro: play on the national team, go to the NBA,” Santos said. “It’s a dream to have the opportunity to work with him, to have him as a mentor.
“Now he’s not just my mentor. He’s my mentor in the NBA. It’s crazy.”
Connor Letourneau is a writer for the San Francisco Chronicle. Email: [email protected]: @Con_Chron
