Utah Jazz: Top takeaways from the Summer League

Joel Bolomboy still has work to do

As I said at the beginning, the Summer League is not a time to overreact, whether it is a player who dominates, or largely underwhelms.

That being said…it sure was disappointing to see Joel Bolomboy not dominate this summer league.

He actually played better in last year’s Summer League. His 2016 stats in Vegas were 9.5 points, 7.5 rebounds, and 53 percent shooting from the field. This year they were 6 points, 5.3 rebounds, and only 33 percent shooting. He also played less minutes this year!

A few things could have factored into his poor play.

First, Summer League play has never been friendly to big men. It generally favors perimeter players who have the ball in their hand, and big men can really only make an impact on the defensive end and by crashing the offensive glass.

Second, the offseason is when players are asked to branch outside of their comfort zone. For Bolomboy, that meant shooting more threes than he is likely comfortable with. This is actually the most likely reasoning for his extremely low field goal percentage.

It is only Bolomboy’s second season in the NBA, but he is already 23, and his play was very uninspiring. Given that he played his college ball at Weber State, many Utah fans are pulling for him to become a rotational player.

He played extremely well in the G-League last season, and was solid whenever given the chance while wearing a Jazz uniform. Hopefully he continues to work hard this offseason, and we see a different Joel Bolomboy come pre-season.