Post by jhb on Jan 22, 2021 12:10:01 GMT -5
Manute Bol
C
7'7"
200
20
Sudan/Cleveland State
Scouts are mesmerized by this guy. While it's rumored that he's older than his listed age of 20 after being recruited from Sudan by his college coaches, it's clear he's still greener than baby shit as a basketball player and may not be able to contribute to any TMBSL team in the immediate future, but the possibilities abound with this guy. How often do you find this kind of length?
The problem here is that there is absolutely nothing to judge his basketball ability on right now. After coming to Cleveland State on the recommendation of the coach who found him in Sudan, his personal documents and inability to read or write in English kept him from getting eligible for Cleveland State. Without the ability to get eligible for college ball, Bol is now attempting to be a somewhat unique declarant for the TMBSL draft who has never played a minute of high school or college basketball.
Based on the limited showcases that we have seen, here's what we can tell about Manute. He has the ability to be a premier, all-time, generational shot-blocker. With an 8 and a half foot wingspan and 10 and a half foot standing reach, his inability to elevate won't matter because he can protect anywhere within 10 feet of the rim just by reaching out. Larger bigs will bully him around on the block because of his slender frame and lack of strength, but his somewhat surprising footwork (perhaps a benefit of his youth soccer experience in Africa) will allow him to adjust and still reject many of their shots. His length allows him to get to more rebounds than he should be able to as his slender frame makes him an easy target for thicker post players to get leverage and push out of the paint to secure rebounds.
On offense he's been completely passive, choosing to stand back and try to stay out of the way. His shot mechanics are a total work in progress and scouts have compared his attempts to shoot the ball to a baby deer walking for the first time or a daddy long-legs trying to learn to roller skate. We don't expect him to be much of an offensive rebounder because of how passive he is and unwilling to mix it up in the paint he is on offense.
