What to take away from the Denver Nuggets’ first Summer League game
By Sean Carroll
Takeaways from the Denver Nuggets first Summer League game: Bol Bol is on display
This Summer League is simply a glorified way for Bol Bol to display his talents, showing Denver Nuggets fans what he can do at the head of an offense, not just garbage time.
On the night, he finished with 21 points, five rebounds, and six turnovers while shooting 5-14 from the floor and 11-14 from the free throw line.
He came out aggressive and was hunting for blocks and that’s both a compliment and a complaint. On offense, it’s nice to see Bol looking around, trying to show off his inside-outside game.
Whether it be off the dribble or in a post up situation, Bol was going to be scoring the ball. In the fourth quarter, when the game was well-and-truly in the books, the team was getting him all the post fadeaways he wanted. It looked… fine.
He can obviously get his shot off over anyone with his frame, but given how tall he is, you’d prefer he take some shots closer to the rim. Off the top of my mind, he had two big inside buckets, the first was an uncontested putback and the second was a baseline spin to the rim.
The most promising part about his performance was the number of free throws he took. He wasn’t able to shoot efficiently, but he was able to get to the line and finished with a -7 in a 20-point loss.
On defense, there are some times when he’d be better suited to staying grounded and vertical. I cringed hard when he jumped at a 3-point attempt – I don’t know many people that would be comfortable shooting over Bol with his hands up, no need to jump.