The best thing by far about NBA scrimmages ahead of the 2020 restart in the Orlando bubble was Bol Bol.
The former Oregon star and son of ex-NBA star Manute Bol was drafted 44th overall in the 2019 draft by the Miami Heat and traded to the Denver Nuggets. He didn’t play for the club at all until the scrimmages began in Disney World … and then he exploded.
Bol was part of the uber-tall lineup the Nuggets put together to open the scrimmages and he instantly became the darling of NBA Twitter as the 7-foot-2 center swatted shots, hit from distance and generally looked like a stud, including on Monday night in Denver’s final tune-up.
This is where I have to reel it all in. Despite the fact that Bol established that he’s got the kind of game that would be extremely valuable in an NBA rotation in the future, I’m not expecting him to star for the Nuggets in the postseason.
For one, it was the warm-up to the restart, in games that didn’t matter. For another, the Nuggets are super-deep as it is without Bol. Coach Mike Malone has to find frontcourt minutes for Nikola Jokic, Paul Millsap, Jerami Grant, Mason Plumlee, Will Barton and Michael Porter Jr., the last of whom didn’t play a single minute in scrimmages until Monday night. When he did, he was so good:
I don’t foresee Malone giving significant minutes to a rookie in that crowded rotation, especially in the postseason. The good news is the Nuggets continue to find diamonds in the rough in the draft — they got Porter when he dropped all the way to 14th overall in 2018 and took Monte Morris in the second round of the 2017 draft — and Bol could develop into a good stretch forward if he can repeat this kind of performance in games that count.
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