IS Bol Bol the player who’s going to save the PBA from its doldrums? Is he the guy to lift the league back to its former status as the country’s most exciting pastime? Is he the person to inspire fans to again fill the stands?
That is the hope of the PBA.
Although some owners and coaches feel that TNT, which signed the 7-foot-3 Sudanese American as its import, may be using a bulldozer to level a shanty. Or, as Rain or Shine coach Yeng Guiao describes it, his presence is like “bringing a machine gun to a knife fight.”
READ TNT hiring Bol Bol 'like bringing machine gun to knife fight,' says Guiao
Asked how he would handle Bol, NLEX coach Jong Uichico says, “I still don’t know,” which might as well be what the rest of the PBA coaches will say.
The Commissioner’s Cup has yet to start and nearly all PBA teams, except for TNT, are already quaking in their expensive, branded sneakers.
A few coaches appear to have thrown in the towel, others sense the unfairness of it all, and some are probably thinking this is a dream that will not happen.
Bol Bol, after all, is not your past-his-prime and about to ride-into-the-sunset player seeking a last big payout. He is a 26-year-old ambitious talent with guard-like skills, perceived by many as desperately wanting to return to the NBA and using the PBA as his vehicle to relaunch a stalled career.
He was playing with superstars Kevin Booker and Kevin Durant at the Phoenix Suns as late as last season, and before that, with the Denver Nuggets and the Orlando Magic until he said yes to TNT, a decision that stunned many.
But it also illustrates the desperation of Tropang 5G to reverse their fortune following successive championship failures, primarily against rival San Miguel, and the willingness of the team to pay any price to win a title.
How much exactly?
No one knows for sure but a player of Bol’s caliber can command a king’s ransom. His last paycheck at Phoenix was $2,425,403 for one year. That is P138.5 milion in pesos.
It didn’t help that his contract with the Suns was not renewed because the team reportedly reset its game philosophy and identity, and suddenly Bol did not fit in the scheme fashioned by a newly hired coach.
And in a league where billions of dollars are at stake, where new blood and ascending talent battle regularly for a spot, Bol Bol’s height and wingspan were apparently not enough to enrapture team bosses and coaches who were now going for strength and versatility.
Bol was being pushed around by more muscled and bigger defenders and, said one observer, lacked the velocity to “switch and pull rebounds despite contact.”
In one sense, both TNT and Bol are in the same boat. Each is seeking success, with TNT hoping to ride on the Sudanese’s talent, and Bol trying to show NBA teams that he still has game. His proof will be to bring a championship to a team badly in need of one.
The hiring is a win for TNT, all right.
With Bol, eyes will fall directly on the team’s every game. If he shines, the PBA benefits, too, with the box office getting a significant bump. After all, it is not every day that the league gets to parade a legitimate NBA player, even if not exactly a star.
Bol is expected to bring to the PBA the soaring quality of a real NBA player entering the league with many expecting him to duplicate the feat of his late father, Manute Bol, at 7-foot-7, the tallest to ever play in the NBA where he played for 10 seasons and had the distinction of having more blocks (2,086) than points (1,599).
And while many PBA teams may fidget over Bol’s presence, they may have to alter their mindset and instead welcome the Sudanese with enthusiasm and anticipation.
Who knows, he may just be what the doctor ordered for the floundering PBA, buffeted by the popularity of women’s volleyball and outshone singlehandedly by the heroics of Alex Eala.
The PBA needs a slam dunk and Bol Bol may just deliver it, literally.
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