Utah Jazz Training Camp Battles: Back-Up Bigs

Joel Bolomboy

Despite a slow start in the Utah Summer League, Joel Bolomboy was impressive in his final games of the Las Vegas Summer League and proved that he can compete at the highest level. Jazz brass  recognized this and rewarded him with an impressively lucrative contract for a late second-round draft pick.

Though Bolomboy is certainly still young and will need a lot of work before he’s fully NBA-ready, it’s nice to know that the Jazz have some talent, athleticism and truly elite rebounding waiting on their depth chart. If the Jazz face any injuries or if other power forwards struggle, it’s possible that Bolomboy’s number could be called.

However, with the likes of Favors, Lyles and Diaw ahead of him, it isn’t likely that Bolomboy logs a ton of minutes this season except for during  garbage time. There’s also a good chance that Bolomboy will be left to develop with the Utah Jazz’s D-League team the Salt Lake City Stars unless he is drastically needed.

But as he learns, develops and gains more confidence in his game, it’s quite probable that Bolomboy will find a spot on this team sooner rather than later. His upside was on full display to wrap up the summer league and with the entire summer and all of training camp to work and improve, the young forward should look even better once the season gets underway.

Next: Jeff Withey