The Real Life Kaede Rukawa

Dwight Ramos is a Filipino-American professional basketball player for Levanga Hokkaido of the Japanese B.League. He played college basketball for the Ateneo Blue Eagles of the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP). He has also played for the Philippines national basketball team. While Ramos was still in high school, he was contacted by coach Tab Baldwin who tried to recruit him to play for Ateneo de Manila University's Blue Eagles in the Philippines once he graduates. However he decided to forego from playing for Ateneo to continue his college basketball career in the United States.

Ramos during his attendance at Fullerton campus of California State University played for the Cal State Fullerton Titans basketball team. He suited up for the team in the NCAA Division I from 2016 to 2018. He then went on to play for the Broncos of California State Polytechnic University in Pomona for one season in the NCAA Division II. After playing for the Cal State Pomona Broncos, Ramos went to the Philippines to play for the Ateneo Blue Eagles in the UAAP but had to serve residency in 2019 before he could suit up in official UAAP games. He played for Ateneo in the Philippine Collegiate Champions League helping the team clinch the 2019 league title.He was expected to make his UAAP debut for the Blue Eagles in Season 83 which was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. He became eligible to enter the PBA draft in 2021, but decided to forego from entering for a chance to play alongside his brother in Ateneo. Ramos decided to forgo his one year of eligibility in UAAP and he signed with Toyama Grouses of the Japanese B.League on September 10, 2021. Ramos played only for the 2021–22 season with his team finishing 7th in the west conference. Toyama didn't renew his contract. Ramos remained in the B.League, joining Levanga Hokkaido in May 2022 and is set to play for the team at least for the 2022–23 season. 

 

Kaede Rukawa Trivia

Rukawa chose Shohoku High School because it is close to his home.
    Rukawa's sneakers are Air Jordan V, where Jordan won the 4th scoring title in 1989.
    Rukawa cheered for Hanamichi Sakuragi during the latter's dunk against Shinichi Maki of Kainan.
    Rukawa doesn't seems to notice that Haruko Akagi has a crush on him.
    In his first match as a Shohoku, Rukawa was the starting power forward, thus wearing #10.
    Whenever Sakuragi and/or Nobunaga Kiyota makes an error or are in a funny situation, Rukawa joins in and calls them idiot, moron, or stupid.

    Sakuragi frequently calls Rukawa "Fox" due to his look, and in Sakuragi's opinion, he is very sly and cunning, not only stealing Haruko's attention, but also quite selfish in his playstyle.
    Rukawa is also considered as one of the troublemakers along with Sakuragi, Ryota Miyagi and Mitsui due to their fighting history.
    It is presumed that Rukawa have realized that he doesn't need to go to America in order to become the #1 Basketball player in Japan. At the end of the manga, he was shown wearing an All-Japan Junior Camp Training Shirt at the beach where Sakuragi is.
    Rukawa is likely based on NBA legend Michael Jordan, as he is considered at the end as the strongest player in Japanese High School basketball. They both have the same black armband, style of play and an incredible sense of 1 on 1 that allows them to defeat any opponent. They also have similar moves. In the mobile game, he can learn the switch-handed layup, fadeaway, one-handed double-clutch dunk, self alley-oop reverse dunk, and free-throw line dunk. However, when faced with Eiji Sawakita, he was completely overwhelmed and has to change tactics by passing the ball. The match-up between him and Sawakita somewhat resembles a younger Kobe Bryant vs Michael Jordan who is considered the best player of his time. Also, he doesn't have big hands as he can't quite palm the ball as comfortably as Sakuragi, a trait Jordan has that Kobe doesn't.
    Rukawa's free throws are more closely resembling Larry Bird, who is also a small forward.
    In the English Dub of the anime, most of the English casts had called him Kaeda instead of Kaede.