Joel Bolomboy’s rookie season with the Utah Jazz was characterized by lack of opportunity, at least at the NBA level. What can we take away from his year?
As the only rookie on a deep Utah Jazz roster, Joel Bolomboy faced an uphill road towards playing time this season. A forward-center selected out of nearby Weber State University in Ogden, Utah with the 52nd overall pick, there was little opportunity for him on a roster stocked with big men.
Playing in just 12 games all year with the Jazz, Bolomboy averaged just 1.8 points in 4.4 minutes per contest, playing almost exclusively at the end of blowouts.
Given that there wasn’t much opportunity at all on Utah for him, he spent most of his season either sitting on the bench or in the D-League, where he played 24 games. With the Salt Lake City Stars, Bolomboy averaged 16.4 points and 13.2 rebounds in 34.5 minutes per game.
Among those who appeared in more than 10 games for the Stars, these totals ranked second and first on the season, respectively.
Still, success at the lower levels isn’t what will define his value to the Jazz in the years to come. Bolomboy will need to build off last year’s campaign and continue to iron out his weaknesses as he further adapts to professional basketball.
In order to review his season, we’ll look at the best and worst aspects of his play as well as how he fits into the Jazz’s plans going forward.