Aussie NBA draft pick Jonah Bolden taking European basketball by storm
FORMER Boomer and Aussie NBA pioneer Shane Heal says Jonah Bolden is ready to form a devastating one-two punch with Ben Simmons in the NBA and the Philadelphia 76ers must make it happen next season.
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MELBOURNE-BORN Philadelphia 76ers’ draft pick Jonah Bolden is destined to one day form an Aussie one-two punch with Ben Simmons in the NBA, but right now he is just hungry.
Hungry to become a better basketballer. Hungry for success.
But Maccabi Tel Aviv assistant coach Tim Fanning says the 21-year-old is “only scratching the surface” as one of the Israel Premier League club’s most consistent players.
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Bolden, the son of former NBL star Bruce Bolden, was taken with pick 36 in this year’s NBA draft, but the Sixers sent him to Israel to give him time to develop his game.
Fanning says the “unique” talent has already taken big steps in both the country’s domestic competition and the high stakes EuroLeague.
“He’s super coachable, and he continues to improve — he’s having huge impacts in our games at the Euroleague level,” Fanning told the Herald Sun.
“He’s so long, he’s like 6’10” (208cm) but his wingspan is well over seven feet (7’3”, 221cm).
“(He’s got) big long arms and he really understands and continues to improve his understanding about how he can use his length on both ends of the floor.”
While Fanning isn’t privy to discussions between the Sixers and his club over when or if Bolden will make the leap to the NBA, he believes wherever Bolden lands, he has all the tools to succeed.
“I think his production here speaks for itself and he’s got a bright future in basketball,” Fanning, who was an assistant coach with New Zealand’s national program and spent time coaching in the NBA’s D-League with Philadelphia’s feeder club, the Delaware 87ers, said.
“He has such a unique skill set and a great work ethic. He wants to improve, which is so important to take your game to the next level.
“He’s so unique — he’s an amazing player on the defensive end of the court and those kind of guys just fit in anywhere.
“Any basketball team that he goes to, he’s going to find a way to contribute.”
Former Boomer and Aussie NBA pioneer Shane Heal says Philadelphia must make Bolden an NBA player next season.
“He has to go (to the NBA) next year,” Heal said.
“I think they will take him and he will play a really good role in Philadelphia.
“He’s filled out nicely he’s got the perfect body for an NBA four man (power forward) because he’s so long — his body is just perfect for the modern day basketballer and he’s just a natural fit for the NBA.”
Heal, a former coach of Sydney, says he knew Bolden had the fire to succeed when he mixed it with Kings players as a teenager.
“I brought him in for a couple of sessions as a 16-year-old just for experience for him,” he said.
“Even as a 16-year-old he was long — he was really skinny back then, but he didn’t back down from anyone.
“He actually got into a couple of little scuffles. It was one of the other big guys, I can’t remember who it was, but he didn’t back down.
“I had to have a chat to him and said ‘mate, I love your enthusiasm, just concentrate on the game though’.”
Jonah Bolden becomes the first Aussie selected in the 2017 #NBADraft - and he joins @BenSimmons25 in Philly! https://t.co/f7vAAJ3nsf pic.twitter.com/zY5LaJojUQ
— Herald Sun Sport (@heraldsunsport) June 23, 2017
Fanning, who spent two years as a head coach with the Nelson Giants in the New Zealand NBL, says Bolden has improved markedly on the offensive end — most notably with his outside shooting, draining the three at a 33 per cent clip — but it is on the other side of the ball where he will make his name.
“He touches the game in a bunch of different areas,” Fanning said.
“He’s a guy that fills up the stats sheet in a lot of ways and then he does a lot of stuff that doesn’t show up in the stats sheet that really helps teams win.
“He’s such a fantastic athlete, he’s jumping over guys and maybe he’s not getting the ball, but he’s tipping them and keeping them alive, getting his hands on passes that maybe do or don’t get stolen, but it breaks the rhythm of the other team’s offence.
“He’s able to cover two players at once in terms of helping and also getting back to a shooter.
“Stuff like that that, physically, other guys can’t do.”
Bolden has dual-NBA champion Norris Cole as a teammate in Israel and has the benefit of being guided by his father, who played 480 NBL games and was the Grand Final MVP in South East Melbourne Magic’s 1992 championship.
“If you have someone around you in your circle that’s been through that process of being a professional athlete, I think that’s a huge advantage,” Fanning said.
“Just the education of it, understanding the process involved with becoming a professional athlete, taking care of your body, getting the right amount of rest, understanding the reactions to and responding to coaching.
“They understand the cycle of improvement.”
Heal says Bolden’s development bodes well for the Australian Boomers, providing a new look to the national program.
“He and Simmons play different styles. While they’ve probably got a similar sort of body type as far as size and length, they’re different positions and that’s what makes it good for the Australian team,” Heal said.
“You’ve got guys like Bolden coming in that can play that four spot and create a bit of mobility for the bigs. We’ve never really had that in the bigs. We’ve always had big, tough, lumbering Aussies — this is something very different.
“Obviously with Ben Simmons, he can play (positions) one through four, so he’s going to fit around our other NBA guys and it’s going to be a nice little puzzle.”
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