DESPITE his celebrated stature, Bol Manute Bol isn’t a head case as far as TNT is concerned.
Coach Chot Reyes said the former NBA player is easy to handle and very open to coaching despite perceptions of the 7-foot-3 import being unpredictable.
“He hasn’t been a problem and he’s always been telling his teammates if you see me doing something wrong, let me know, tell me,” said the TNT mentor of the fan-favorite import and son of the late NBA shot blocker Manute Bol.
“So he’s very open to coaching and to communication with his teammates.”
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The younger Bol was back to his dominant self on Saturday when he had 35 points, 14 rebounds, and four blocks in the team’s 101-89 win over Terrafirma in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium.
The impressive numbers came a game after Bol was held to its lowest output in the league of 27 points and 10 rebounds in a 110-106 loss to Meralco.
Although Reyes chose not to use it as an excuse, he said Bol suffered food poisoning a day before the Meralco game.
“He missed one practice when he had food poisoning before our Meralco game, hindi siya nakapag-practice,” Reyes said.
“But other than that, he hasn’t missed any practices.”
Still, the 26-year-old big man remains a work in progress especially on defense, if Reyes is to be asked.
“I think the good thing in this game was that he shot his free throws better (13-of-19), but he still has a lot to work on defensively. He gives us that shot blocking presence, but he still have too many lapses on defense, not sprinting back on transition, not calling out screens for his teammates," he said.
“So again the good thing is he’s very open to suggestions and he’s very open to coaching. Hopefully, we can get to a level little by little where we can get up to speed to the kind of defense that we want.”
"There’ still a lot for him to learn. There’s still a lot for him to improve on especially on the defensive end.”
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