Bol Bol’s reclamation began with an admission.
Entering his third season and having barely made a dent with the Nuggets, Bol didn’t wallow in the fact that he was buried on the depth chart. He didn’t bemoan the lack of chances head Michael Malone had granted him over the past two seasons. Instead, beginning with the team’s training camp in San Diego, the unicorn-like prospect who’d gotten stuck in those traps before acknowledged his shortcomings.
Having been praised for his attitude and work ethic to start camp, Bol conceded he hadn’t helped himself upon arriving in the NBA in 2019.
“I feel like this is something I could’ve been doing even though itap my third year,” Bol said. “I’m glad that I’m figuring it out now, earlier than even later.”
Bol’s potential — on display throughout the early portion of preseason in games against the Clippers and Warriors — is still as tantalizing as it was when the Nuggets drafted the 7-foot-3 center. There’s the shot-blocking (not to mention the innumerable shots altered), the long-limbed rebounding and the ball skills.
Midway through the fourth quarter against the Clippers, Bol corralled a deflection, and rather than outlet to either of his two guards, galloped up the floor, planted at the 3-point line, dribbled behind his back, paused, then glided toward the hoop where he kissed the ball off the backboard for a bucket. Most 7-footers in the NBA couldn’t perform half of the spellbinding sequence. And yet thatap in Bol’s arsenal, waiting to be unleashed.
“The big thing for Bol is that, for most of his minutes, he really played hard and competed,” Malone said. “Thatap a starting point for me.”
Bol finished with 11 points, five rebounds and five blocks in the Nuggets’ preseason opener. Having led the team far and away in blocks, Malone said he thought Bol could’ve swatted a few more. Two nights later in San Francisco, Bol tallied two more blocks.
According to Malone, the Nuggets were dead-last in the NBA last season in terms of contested shots. It leaves one to wonder whether Bol could make a meaningful impact on a team that a) doesn’t have a traditional backup center and b) had the worst rim protection in the league last season.
The only way to answer that question is to know whether Bol’s effort the past two weeks represents sustainable change or amounts to a blip on the radar. Asked how difficult it is to maintain that level of engagement when the minutes and the opportunities to play aren’t there, Bol said what the organization has wanted to hear for two seasons.
“Itap very hard but at the end of the day, we’re professionals,” Bol said.
Typically laid back and shy, teammates have noticed an uptick in energy from Bol. Rather than graze through drills, he’s apparently gone hard throughout the team’s practice settings. And according to Bol, he’s asking far more questions than he used to.
Who’s responsible for extracting this version of Bol?
“It takes a village,” Malone said. “The great thing about our organization is from the front office, to the coaches to his teammates, I think there’s been a consistent message to Bol that ‘No one ever questions your talent, your abilities, but what has been questionable at times is your maybe work ethic, your commitment, your discipline.’ Those are controllables. Control the controllables. He can’t control if he’s going to play every night, but he can control all the other things.”
Two teammates in particular deserve credit. One is veteran JaMychal Green, who’s been firmly in Bol’s camp since arriving in Denver prior to last season. Having recognized his rare talent, Green seems to have taken it upon himself to cultivate it.
“Everyone’s in my ear, but I love how he does it,” Bol said. “He just gets straight to the point, like no sugarcoating, none of that. He just tells me.”
The other is a jovial newcomer who can’t help himself.
“Since I first came around Bol (in Summer League), I knew he was the type of guy who liked to stay in his shell a little bit, and the personality that I got, I can get anybody out of that shell,” said Nuggets rookie Bones Hyland, himself just 21 years old. “And I know he’s a very talented kid, he just needs some love and somebody who can bring that spirit and joy around him. … For me, I like to see everybody win and everybody eat. I’m just like, ‘Let me see what I can do to try to bring him along.’”
Ebullient and lively, Bones doesn’t have a recipe.
“I just feel as though when he just sees me, he just instantly smiles,” Hyland said. “I just got that infectious energy where itap just like so when everybody sees me, itap like, ‘OK, Bones is here.’”
The results, while early, have yielded a more engaged Bol and one who seems to have recognized the urgency of the moment.
“At this point, I gotta figure out how to get on the court, so it just has to click to me more now,” he said.
The question thatap most pressing will be answered in two short weeks, when the Nuggets’ season officially opens. Despite his improved play, there’s nothing guaranteed about Bol’s playing time. He’s battling the Greens (JaMychal and Jeff) for minutes, while also competing against fellow prospect Zeke Nnaji in the frontcourt.
“Can you rise above ‘Woe is me,’ and say ‘OK, for the good of the team,’” Malone said. “… I’ll be curious to see how Bol, when that happens, if that happens, handles that. Thatap his challenge, man. Handle adversity. (Stuff’s) not going to go your way all the time. Just be tough and find a way to fight through it.”
The process, emanating from Hyland and Green’s good cop/bad cop routine, has unearthed some level of joy in Bol that was noticeably absent over the past two seasons.
“Itap a lot of fun for me because I’m seeing the progress and everything I’ve learned through the last two years just watching and observing and now that I’m finally putting it all together,” he said. “I love basketball, so thatap just very fun for me. I’m being more positive and trying to play through everything.”
