Former Toronto Raptors and Nigeria star Ben Uzoh has been recruited as a scout by the Canada-based NBA team, joining him up with compatriot and Raptors president Masai Ujiri, with whom he has a long history.

Uzoh, back at the Raptors - the team for whom he played his best NBA game in a triple double against the Nets in 2012 - spent last season with them earning his stripes via the NBA's Future Basketball Operations Stars program, but this is his first year as an official scout.

He is working under one of the league's most established mentors in Ujiri. Uzoh was born in Houston, Texas, to a Nigerian family, while Ujiri was born in Bournemouth, England, but grew up in Zaria, Nigeria.

The two have shared history. Ujiri was the Denver Nuggets GM during Uzoh's NBA career and invited him to a training camp in 2012 after his stint at the Raptors had ended. Uzoh did not make the final roster - not that he was expecting any special favors.

His relationship with Ujiri, who is involved with the Basketball Africa League too, is more professional than personal, but he has always held a deep respect for the 2013 NBA Executive of the Year's journey from Nigeria, and his leadership success.

Uzoh told ESPN: "Me and Masai - I wouldn't say we're that close - I think it's more admiring from afar from my perspective. What he's done for Nigeria has been pretty impactful, and then what he's doing for Africa as a guy from Nigeria is very meaningful. It speaks for itself.

"He's a guy of high integrity. He's a guy that obviously works tremendously hard to get where he's gotten. The success of winning a championship and things like that speaks for itself, but my path and his path are actually very separate.

"I came in through the league through my own discretion - my own hard work and successes through the University of Tulsa - and he was already in the league as a scout and as a GM - [the Raptors'] assistant GM and then he rose to a GM [at the Nuggets and] to now [being] a president [and] vice-chairman.

"Our paths were actually very organically separate. It just kind of aligned. We crossed paths initially [during] my rookie year. I was rumored to be traded to his team when he was the GM of the Nuggets... It didn't happen, but then they signed me to a training camp opportunity. That's when I kind of got more in touch with him and more of an up close and personal type of connection with him."

Both Ujiri and Uzoh played outside the US before becoming scouts - a path which the latter believes has given him a greater understanding of the game internationally.

Uzoh works both in recruitment and opposition scouting, so a well-rounded knowledge of basketball comes in handy, and having played in Russia, Mexico, Nigeria, Belgium, France, South Africa and Venezuela, he has had plenty of preparation.

A record 125 international players from 40 countries and territories across six continents made NBA rosters for the opening night of the season this week, so now more than ever, the 35-year-old's experience stands him in good stead as a scout.

Uzoh said when asked how playing around the world helped him prepare for this role: "I was a student as well as an athlete, so the student never got left behind.

"[The ability] to study the game, the meticulousness, the depth of understanding [of] personalities, as well as skill sets and body types, combined with how I took care of myself as a unique science project in heightened moments in my career.

"There's an accumulation of that knowledge that I'm able to bring. Not to undermine anybody else, but certain people may not be able to translate what they did from a playing experience into this unique corporate [environment] - the other side of the coin, so to speak.

"I guess I've been groomed to do that without even knowing so until recently, so I think for me, I'm looking forward to that."

Uzoh, who went undrafted, also believes that the experience of being overlooked as a player has helped him look for clues in talented players who have been shunned by the system - that they may be destined to prove their doubters wrong.

"A lot of times, when it comes to maybe overlooked [players] going under the radar, it's an accumulation of things [that may indicate somebody will defy the odds]," Uzoh said.

"Sometimes, it could just be [that] you grew in size and stature; you're a late bloomer from a skill development standpoint - or you went to a small school, or you were just out of the region where it wasn't your time to be as visible as other prospects.

"There are certain qualities - certain stories that, if you do your homework, will reveal themselves to you.

"Then, when it comes to qualities, it's similar qualities that you look for in some of the best prospects that are available - size, athleticism, skillset, motor, drive, hunger, mentality, approach, and then intel as far as family upbringing [and] just different things that can give you a better feel of the overall kid that you're trying to understand.

"Those qualities and the way you do the process of elimination from that standpoint don't really change. It's more about just getting to know the kid and their story."

Uzoh had particularly complimentary words for the grassroots basketball structures in Africa, which Ujiri has been an essential part of over the last two decades through Giants of Africa and Basketball Without Borders.

"The grassroots infrastructure that's being laid down in Africa is a beautiful thing for the game and I love to see it personally, just being hands-on within that fabric and having grown it and done my part in that fabric," he said.

"I love everything that's happening and coming together from the grassroots all the way to the professional leagues in Africa."