How Good Is Bol Bol? Here’s a Closer Look
Any time we’ve had a former NBA player come through the doors of our pambansang liga, that import has come in with an extra dose of hype. If that player happens to be the son of a renowned 7-foot-6 NBA center, he can expect the hype to reach a fever pitch. And for Bol Bol, it has.
And why would it not? On top of the NBA experience and the basketball lineage, there’s the inimitable name: simple, poetic, provocative. Frankly, we can’t deny that Filipinos hear the name “Bol Bol” and they think of other things.
Long, sometimes fiercely wild things.
Make no mistake about it, though: To treat his hardcourt performance as a joke is the height of foolishness. In three outings with the TNT Tropang 5G, Bol Bol has stood out, averaging 37.3 points, 14.0 rebounds, and 2.7 blocks per game.
Perhaps even more impressively, various metrics show that he’s an efficient scorer. Not only does Bol have a field goal percentage of 52.4% across three games, he also boasts a true shooting percentage (TS%) of 57.9% and an effective field goal percentage (eFG%) of 54.9%.
Early contender for Best Import of the Conference? That’s what it looks like. Here’s a closer look at Mr. Bol’s performance thus far in the PBA
Commissioner’s Cup.
Size Matters (And So Does Skill)
How many of you have guarded a 7-foot-3 beast? Raise your hand.
It’s hard enough for PBA players (locals and imports alike) to contain an athlete who towers over them like the Kamuning Footbridge. It’s even tougher when this athlete does, well, athletic things.
Bol’s biggest cheat code might be his tight handles: He has a bag of dribbling tricks that discourage defenders from trying to swipe at the ball when it bounces higher than usual, as a result of his tall frame. Bol has a sweet shooting stroke as well; aside from wreaking havoc in the shaded lane, he can hit bank shots from different angles and occasionally swish it from deep.
On defense, Bol has both the size and the timing to provide top-tier rim protection. When he debuted for TNT on March 20, he staged his own block party against Rain or Shine, swatting away five shots and altering what felt like a hundred more. It’s quite challenging for opposing big men to try to score over Bol on the low block, but smaller ball handlers are also finding out that they can’t just blow by him for a quick getaway to the basket. Bol is fast and long enough to catch up for a chase-down rejection.
Reminder: RoS import Jaylen Johnson stands 6-foot-9. NLEX reinforcement Cady Lalanne checks in at 6-foot-10, while PBA GOAT candidate June Mar Fajardo is just a shade under seven feet. All of them look like shorter versions of themselves when they stand next to Bol in the post.
Confidence: Sky-High
We must acknowledge, of course, the other league that Bol used to play for.
Selected 44th overall in the 2019 NBA Draft, Bol spent his first two seasons with the Denver Nuggets. Midway through the 2021-22 campaign, the former Oregon big man was traded to the Boston Celtics, who then dealt him to the Orlando Magic. In July 2023, the Magic waived Bol, paving the way for him to sign with the Phoenix Suns.
What does this track record tell us? NBA coaches and GMs weren’t quite invested in Bol, who had to contend with a host of other freak athletes in that league: from wildly talented 6-foot-11 dudes like Giannis Antetokounmpo and Kevin Durant to deceptively agile seven-footers like Victor Wembanyama and Luke Kornet. In an environment where his height advantage was mitigated by his opponents’ speed and technical prowess, Bol averaged just 13.6 minutes, 6.8 points and 2.9 rebounds per game across six NBA seasons.
Here’s the thing: Even if you consider the NBA to be the end-all and be-all of basketball on the planet (a notion that might have some Europeans scoffing at you), it’s not the only league in the world.
Despite the statistics posted on Basketball-Reference.com, TNT team manager Jojo Lastimosa was thrilled to confirm Bol’s availability a few weeks before the Commissioner’s Cup tipped off. “We are excited to get him to play for us. A bit unexpected knowing his caliber.” Lastimosa said in late February, as per Inquirer’s Jonas Terrado. “Definitely looking forward to having him help us defend the crown.”
And what do Bol’s numbers indicate now? His confidence is sky-high. In the story of basketball, it’s a beautiful thing when a seldom-used player, one who wasn’t piling up the numbers he was looking for, gets a vote of confidence from a team that says: “We want you here.”
And now, this 26-year-old with a bright future ahead of him is on our shores. The scary part is, he’s just getting started.
Mahaba. Mabangis. This is our version of Bol Bol, a stud who’s making a name for himself in the PBA.
