Nuggets star forward Michael Porter Jr. gave a brutally honest assessment for how teammate Bol Bol can establish a presence in the NBA: “It’s just gonna take a mindset change.”
On Monday afternoon, before the team departed for training camp in San Diego, Denver’s enigmatic 7-footer revealed an unexpected degree of self-awareness. Bol agreed with Porter.
“He’s totally correct,” Bol said. “To add on to that, it’s more so consistency. It’s not just me doing it one day or two days a week. I’ve got to figure out how to put it together for a whole entire year and not just when things are going my way.”
Expectations were high in 2019 when the Nuggets acquired Bol with the No. 44 overall pick (second round) of the NBA Draft with his towering size and effortless offense. Bol now enters his third season in the league with only 39 career Nuggets games played. Last year, he was buried on the bench with fewer minutes played than Zeke Nnaji, JaVale McGee and Vlatko Cancar.
Yet Bol was the story of Nuggets’ Summer League play with a team-leading 21.7 points, 6.7 rebounds and 2.3 blocks per game. He’s also embraced playing any position on the floor.
“Me, personally, I like the four. But it’s wherever I can find some playing time,” Bol said. “I can play any position as long as I put my mind and heart into it. I can dribble, shoot and pass. One through five I think I’ll be alright.”
The Nuggets lack a traditional backup center behind reigning MVP Nikola Jokic with a number of different stretch-forwards considered strong playing options. Bol has so far lacked the consistency to enter that conversation. But he believes that changing daily habits — like improved body language — is his path to earning minutes.
“Even if I don’t play in a couple of games,” Bol said. “I’ve still got to get up and cheer.”
Porter, signed to a five-year max rookie extension Monday, told reporters last week that he’s put in more effort to mentor Bol with invitations to late-night shooting sessions and other culture-building activities. Bol said: “That’s a good thing for me and I’m glad that he’s doing that.”
Bol added that more players in the Nuggets locker room have offered advice and encouragement.
“I’m just going to carry on what was my main goal in summer league, which was to play hard … and keep getting better,” Bol said. “I’ve just got to focus on staying locked-in the whole year.”
