Utah Jazz 2016-17 season review: Joel Bolomboy
By Adam Coffman
The best of Bolomboy
When evaluating our subject’s play, we have to throw out most of his stats from garbage time, as they don’t reflect the competitiveness of the NBA game. This makes his performance in those few games with extended run and the D-League even more important, as they more accurately reflect what he can do with free reign.
Bolomboy’s biggest strength is his rebounding – he garnered 26.9 percent of available defensive rebounds in the D-League, with more than one-third of his boards coming on the offensive end.
His DraftExpress profile outlines this further, saying that he “combines very good instincts for pursuing loose balls with terrific physical tools, and has a huge competitive streak for throwing his body around with reckless abandon.”
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Adding the three-point shot to his game before his junior year of college, Bolomboy went 36-for-97 from behind the arc for his career at Weber State. He’ll need to translate that shot into the NBA in order to be successful as a forward.
Returns this season were mixed as he adapted to the longer line, but in the D-League, where he was able to get a greater opportunity and more shots, he hit 21 of his 46 attempts, good for 45.7 percent.
In terms of extended run, there are only two games we can point to where Bolomboy was able to play anything but garbage time, most notably on March 11, which saw a Rudy Gobert-less Jazz team go up against the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Utah would end up losing the game, but Bolomboy was part of a bench unit that brought the Jazz back from a large deficit to a more reasonable one.
Scoring eight points on 4-of-7 shooting from the field, Bolomboy was used frequently as the roll man in the screen game, showcasing an ability to rise above defenders and finish in traffic around the rim.
Bolomboy finished a +7 over 14 minutes in a game the Jazz would lose by eight points. His energy was infectious even as the game’s lack of close action made it sluggish at times.