It was 3:30 AM in Douala, Cameroon, but his phone kept lighting up.
Christian Koloko had just put in his first night’s work as an NBA player, and plenty of people back home wanted to let him know they stayed up to watch and loved what they saw.
“I got a lot of messages,” he said as he scrolled through his phone Wednesday night — Thursday morning back home — relaxing at his locker with ice bags on each knee. “I already checked some, but they’re still coming.”
It’s been several years since the 22-year-old centre left home to pursue a basketball dream, not long after being proven too tall for soccer, his first love.
But overnight, Koloko is a success, transitioning from a likely ‘project’ expected to spend most of his time in the G-League with Raptors 905 to a player who keeps showing he’s more rotation-ready than anyone previously thought.
The rookie, selected as the 33rd pick at the draft in June, has known only an upwards trajectory since joining the team for Summer League back in July. While in Las Vegas, Koloko immediately began drawing praise for his basketball smarts, coachability and the exceptional mobility he brings to the floor as a seven-footer. It was the same story at training camp and then during the exhibition season, which he capped off with an impressive 12 points (on 6-of-6 shooting), four rebounds and two block outing in 16 minutes against the Boston Celtics’ regular rotation in Montreal last Friday.
The regular season is supposed to be another step up again, yet — for the most part — Koloko looked perfectly at home in the Raptors 108-105 season opening win over the Cleveland Cavaliers.
The box score may not show it — Koloko was 1-of-4 from the floor and had a ‘welcome to the NBA’ moment when he was blocked on a seemingly wide-open dunk attempt by Cavs all-star big man Jarrett Allen — but Koloko grabbed six rebounds in 15 minutes, set a lot of good, timely screens and was the only substitute for head coach Nick Nurse to finish as a ‘plus’ — +3, to be precise.
The biggest takeaway from his debut is that Koloko looks like he belongs. The game isn’t flying by him, he’s not turning to the bench, looking confused, or finding himself the subject of a veteran’s wrath — telltale signs of a young player in over his head. He’s done his homework, and it shows in his poise and confidence.
“I feel like that’s just who I am just in life in general,” he said to reporters after practice on Thursday. “I take everything kind of seriously. If I’m on the court I’m going to try to make the least mistakes possible. Even in life, when I was in school and was doing an assignment I would try to get the best grade possible. So I’m just trying to be the best version of myself, basically.”
It’s a trait that has allowed Koloko to upset the typical rookie order of things. Rather than being sentenced to an apprenticeship of watching over doing, Koloko has found his way to the floor and earned the trust, and respect, of the people that matter most: his peers.
“[The] sky’s the limit,” said Raptors guard Fred VanVleet, who enjoyed the opportunity of having a dedicated pick-and-roll partner for stretches against the Cavs, something that doesn’t always play out when the Raptors are playing ‘position-less basketball’ and no one knows who’s supposed to be the screener. Koloko on the other hand, sprints into action with the sole goal of putting a body on VanVleet’s defender to free up his point guard — and the guy who sits beside him in the Raptors locker room. Smart move.
“He could be a huge addition for us,” VanVleet continued. “He’s gotta keep getting his legs under him, getting stronger, getting used to the NBA game and the pace and physicality [but] he’s a promising young player for sure. Having him be really the only big we’ve got, it makes it stand out there when he’s out there. We’re definitely gonna lean on him.”
Koloko got word at the Raptors shootaround on Wednesday morning that he might be part of the rotation that night. The Cavaliers not only have Allen, but seven-foot sophomore Evan Mobley, and the Raptors were down veteran bigs Khem Birch (knee) and Chris Boucher (hamstring).
“The coaches told me: you got to be ready and you gotta play hard, that’s all we want from you,” he said. “I wasn’t surprised, with Chris and Khem out, that gave me more opportunity.”
And there could be more coming, as even the Raptors big men aren’t all that big, topping out at 6-foot-9.
Koloko gives them something different.
What exactly?
“Someone tall,” said Raptors forward Pascal Siakam, the first (and only other) Toronto Raptor from Douala. “I think we played a lot of teams last year and they just have tall people down there. Like [Cleveland], they’re just tall … and it doesn’t feel the same if he isn’t out there … I think he’s gonna be important for us … he’s not one of those bigs that can’t move, or things like that. So, he can move his feet and he understands the gameplan too. He doesn’t make a lot of mistakes — I mean, obviously he’s gonna make mistakes he’s a rookie — but he’s pretty smart and yeah he’s gonna help us, I think.”
He’s helped them already. But, with Boucher close to returning and the news that Birch practised on Thursday before the Raptors travelled to New York for Friday night’s game against the Brooklyn Nets, it remains to be seen if he’ll find his way into the rotation again, or how regularly after that.
Regardless, the first few weeks of his NBA career have already shown Koloko belongs in the league, and there should be many more nights of late-night messages to come.
