Inside the Nuggets' "aggressive" draft night pursuit of Bol Bol

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As Bol Bol continued to slide, first out of the draft’s top 30 and then into the middle of the second round, the level of excitement in the Nuggets’ war room continued to grow.

Denver entered the draft without a selection in either the first or second rounds but knew it could get on the clock quickly if a prospect the Nuggets had their eye on began to fall. Bol, a former McDonald’s High School All-American who during the college season was thought of as a lock to go in the top-20 but slid Thursday night due to concerns about an injury that ended his freshman year at the University of Oregon prematurely, fit the bill.

The Nuggets quickly pounced. Denver had Bol as a lottery pick on their draft board, according to a league source, and the Nuggets promptly traded into the draft at No. 44 to select the big man. Denver sent a future second-round selection and cash consideration to the Miami Heat in order to complete the deal when it was apparent Bol would be available midway through the round.

“We’re not concerned as to why he fell. We felt very fortunate that he fell,” Nuggets president of basketball operations Tim Connelly said late Thursday night shortly after Denver made the selection official. “As the night progressed we got pretty aggressive. He was a guy that we had circled much higher on the board. We didn’t have him where we picked him, we had him much much higher.”

Bol, a 7-foot-2 center and son of former NBA player Manute Bol who played 10 seasons from 1985-95, averaged 21 points, 9.6 rebounds and 2.7 blocks in nine games for the Ducks this year. His final game was Dec. 12 and Bol underwent season-ending surgery in January for what he described on a conference call with the media Thursday as a stress fracture in the navicular bone in his left foot. He had two screws inserted into his foot and a bone graft from his pelvis added to speed up the healing process, his agent told Shams Charania at the time. Bol was cleared at the end of May but hasn’t participated in 5-on-5 drills yet. He worked out in front of NBA GM’s at his Pro Day nine days ago and while Bol said that he hopes to play this season, how soon he gets on the court will be determined once Denver’s doctors examine him.

None of that matters to the Nuggets right now.

“When you get a guy with the tools like Bol Bol, it’s hard not to be aggressive,” Connelly said. “It’s hard not to be excited.”

The reasons why the Nuggets are thrilled with the pick are obvious. Bol is one of the draft’s more intriguing talents and boasts a mammoth 7-foot-8 wingspan that stretches from Boulder to Denver, the ninth-longest measured at the NBA Draft Combine since 2000. He’s a long-range sniper from three who converted on 13 of 25 (52%) of his triples and shot 76% from the free-throw line last season. Bol has elite footwork, ball-handling skills and moves incredibly well for a player his size. He packs strong offensive instincts and has solid touch around the basket.

Bol has been a known commodity for a while and the Nuggets along with most teams throughout the league are familiar with his talent. He was a unanimous top-5 recruit in high school, bouncing between Kansas, California and Las Vegas before ultimately graduating from national powerhouse Findlay Prep in Henderson, Nevada. Bol was also one of the more productive players on Nike’s EYBL circuit in high school and has been a fixture in USA Basketball’s program since 2017.

Still, there are big question marks that come with Bol, who’s potentially the biggest boom or bust prospect in his class, many of which contributed to his draft-night tumble. Bol’s high center of gravity means he’s susceptible to getting knocked off balance and he struggles to defend in space. Bol tips the scales at only 205 pounds and doesn’t have the strength right now to guard the post. ESPN scouts Jonathan Givony and Mike Schmitz have questioned his approach to the game and work ethic.

But the biggest reason why Bol fell well into the second round is his injury history. Big men with foot problems are automatic red flags for NBA teams and few will risk spending a draft pick of any sort on a seven-footer with his injury history. But Denver has experience in that department. The Nuggets selected Jarred Vanderbilt with the 41st pick last season, another big body who fell in the draft due to a past foot injury, and have gotten him back to full health in a year’s time. That success, along with how promising Michael Porter Jr.’s injury outlook is as his highly-anticipated Summer League debut draws closer, helped ease some of the Nuggets’ concerns around Bol’s foot. Porter “resembles the player we saw prior to all the injuries,” Connelly said Thursday while labeling Denver’s medical staff as the “best in the league.”

Connelly lauded Vanderbilt after the 2018 draft for his unique skill-set and Bol is one of the more unique players to come through the draft in recent memory.

“My game is a little unique because for my size I can dribble pretty well and I can shoot from anywhere pretty well,” Bol said. “My passing is pretty good also and I just can do a lot of things guys my size can’t do.”

Most of the apprehensions Bol comes with are first world problems to the Nuggets selecting in the second round and Denver doesn’t need the seven-footer to contribute anytime soon.

The Nuggets entered the night with zero expectations of making a selection. Denver has a near-complete roster that it could return next year with 11 players — Jamal Murray, Gary Harris, Will Barton, Nikola Jokic, Monte Morris, Malik Beasley, Torrey Craig, Mason Plumlee, Juancho Hernangomez, Porter and Vanderbilt — under contract for the 2019-20 season. Paul Millsap, who has a team option for $30 million that Denver must decide on by June 29, is expected back as well and the Nuggets’ two two-way contracts are currently held by Thomas Welsh and Brandon Goodwin. Draft-and-stash forward Vlatko Cancar could occupy a spot on the bench next season as well, meaning Denver’s roster is nearly full.

The Nuggets will look to improve in free agency but Connelly also made it clear that he’s prepared to run back much of the same group from last season’s 54-win team that reached the Western Conference semifinals. If Denver returns everyone from last season the Nuggets will have three open roster spots.

Bol, who said he thought he’d get drafted somewhere in the middle or end of the first round, just took one of them. He’s already familiar with portions of the Nuggets roster having played against Porter since they were both nine years old and last year began to peruse highlights of Denver’s All-Star center.

“Towards the end of the season I started watching a lot of Jokic highlights because of his great passing ability and that’s just something I wanted to add more to my game,” Bol said. “I watched a lot of his highlights He’s a very great player. The Nuggets were a very great team last season and I’m just very excited to be a part of the team.”

Denver is ecstatic it landed Bol, a lottery-level talent in its eyes who the organization can take a long-term approach with. The Nuggets have helped Porter and Vanderbilt, two undervalued blue-chip prospects at the time of the draft, recover from their respective injuries. Why can’t Denver’s burgeoning player development program do the same with Bol?

“We were fortunate to add another young piece, a guy we thought pretty highly of,” Connelly said. “His skill-set and who he is as a guy will fit in well in the locker room. We started the night with no picks and we left with a guy who we think has a real chance to be impactful down the road.”