5 things to know about new Wizards guard Raul Neto originally appeared on NBC Sports Washington
The Washington Wizards have been one of the more active teams in free agency thus far, and added to that reality Saturday with the signing of former Philadelphia 76ers guard, Raul Neto.
Here's five things to know about the team's latest reported acquisition.
He played overseas
Neto made his professional debut in 2008 with Minas Tênis Clube. He played three seasons for Minas and represented the World Team during 2010 Nike Hoop Summit. He was also the youngest member of the Brazil national basketball team during the 2010 FIBA World Championship.
His nickname is awesome
His first name, which is pronounced 'Hah-ool,' is similar to the sound a wolf makes. With that being the case, his Utah Jazz teammates called him 'Wolfie.'
His dad played basketball
Former Brazilian basketball player Raul Togni Filho is Neto's father. Filho is a former Brazilian professional basketball player who introduced his son to the world of basketball.
It was hard for Neto to practice basketball in Brazil
Neto was raised in a soccer dominant country, so practicing for basketball was a challenge. "It was just hard to find a place to play. We usually worked out for the whole year to play like three games or four games because there was no more teams around," Neto told CloseUp360. "We had to pay, my parents had to pay their own money for jerseys, or there was games that we had to have three or four parents with big cars taking us to games because we didn't have the money for a bus or for a minivan. So those things were kind of hard. But when you're a kid and you want to do something and you have parents that support you, that's not really an obstacle."
He's invested in two startup companies
Neto is invested in one company, Pablito, which he describes as "Uber with minivans." The other company is an investment platform for art called "Artopolie." "If people want to invest in the art, instead of buying the whole thing, which is like millions of dollars," Neto said. "They can buy just a piece of it."
