Bol Bol and PJ Dozier to Celtics, sources tell ESPN.

[Surferdad]

i will be very surprised if bol ever gets on the court for the celtics. is an awful nba player.

and amazing he is 7'2" with a 9'7" standing reach, yet he has averaged 0.2 blocks a game. a strong defender he is not.

he is way too thin and weak to defend anyone with any strength in the nba, or to finish at the rim. where does that leave his as an nba player?

Typical "look at this one stat as proof he's an awful player" 

He's no star. He's probably not even a rotation player. But there is undoubtably talent there. If cultivated, and if he could figure out how to stay healthy, he's a very unique and potentially productive talent.

He's the type of guy that smart GMs take a flier on and allow to develop behind the scenes, because if they hit, they hit big. Good GMs should be doing that with the 12-14th spot on their roster.

DWC, I don’t mean to put you on the spot, but I can’t think of one real example of this ever happening. It probably has happened but pretty sure not in Celtics history. Think about it:  12th-15th guy on the roster is basically a practice player who doesn’t see the floor in real games.  These days, they shuttle between the big club and the G-league just to get reps.  It’s pretty hard to prove yourself under these circumstances.

Christian Wood, Will Barton, Jermaine O'neal, Spencer Dinwiddie, Ivica Zubac, Jae Crowder, Hassan Whiteside ... just to name a few.

All these players did not stay with their first team, but developed later. Sometimes they didn't develop early due to injuries, or attitudes, or playing time, or just the inability to find a rhythm.

It does happen. Honestly though, probably less than 10% of them end up becoming good NBA players. It's not likely that Bol Bol will become anything.

But I just don't think there's anything to lose. If they could get Bol on a very small multi-year, partially guaranteed contract and let him rehab and try to find his rhythm on the court, it's a good use of a very low cost spot. You have to pay someone to be at that spot on your roster. It may as well be someone who, if everything hit right, could be a starter decent rotation player for you.

I mostly agree but made an edit on your post.  The only players on your list that arguably "hit big" (i.e. became starters and stayed that way for most of their careers) were Jermaine O'Neal and Hassan Whiteside.  All the others are only occasional starters but mostly NBA rotation players.  I guess I'm splitting hairs here on semantics. I do think Bol Bol is worth a shot as #14 or #15 player with the C's.

[Moranis]

Lots of players enter the league as undrafted, on 2-way contract, or 2nd round picks that don't play much.  Robert Covington wasn't drafted and he has ended up the 4th best player from the 2013 "draft" class.  And Covington's rookie year he barely played for the Rockets before they cut him and he ended up playing well in year 2 for the Sixers.  The Sixers actually had a fair amount of success doing that during the Hinkie years, as they also signed Wood who was undrafted, TJ McConnell (undrafted), Jakarr Sampson (undrafted), Jerami Grant and Richaun Holmes in the 2nd round, made undrafted Ish Smith a starter, etc.  So while Hinkie was blowing the top of the draft (aside from Embiid), he was doing quite well pulling players off the scrap heap and finding all sorts of usuable and eventually very good players. 

Duncan Robinson is probably the best two-way contract player, but plenty of them have ended up with solid NBA careers. 

[ozgod]

When we talk about developing projects for the Cs as end of bench players, it really comes down to the opportunity costs of giving them time. Because time in the rotation is a finite resource, any minutes devoted to developing them comes at the expense of developing others who might be more consistent rotation players.

That's the thing with these long shot unicorn types...how do you develop them? Do you give them 2 min a game? Or pick games where you can play them minutes in blowouts? What would be the cost of that in terms of developing other players who might have a bigger impact on winning? Is the team in a position to be able to do that? Teams in contention, or trying to make the playoffs like we are, might not have the luxury to do it. Or maybe we do, if we have an unsettled bench where there's no really firm rotation.

Obviously the flip side to not doing it is you might miss out on what might become a solid player who might just need more time and reps to develop. Ben Wallace and Fred VanVleet come to mind. I'm just not sure what is the best way to manage these "projects" in a way that is meaningful, unless fate or injuries intervene to give them a chance.

[Vermont Green]

Bol Bol is worth taking a look at.  There is potential there.  But he has to get better, stronger, and so on by himself, in practice, summer league, off season, possibly G-League.  NBA teams can't afford to give minutes to players like this just in the hope that they get better.

It definitely makes it tough for a player like Bol to "develop" but that is the way it is.  When he is ready for NBA minutes, he will get NBA minutes.  Right now, he is not quite there.  Without improvement, all he is going to see is garbage time minutes.

These other non-drafted players that got over the hump did it because they got better and proved themselves.  Took advantage of opportunities.  No one developed them.  They simply did it.  Got opportunities and took advantage.

I am not sure if after this season if he should get a roster spot or a 2-way or what but there is potential there.  He has to do the work though, show something in summer league, make the team out of preseason.  He is 22 so he will get better.  I am not sure how much more he will develop (fill out) physically though.  It may not be in his genes.

[tonydelk]

Bol Bol is worth taking a look at.  There is potential there.  But he has to get better, stronger, and so on by himself, in practice, summer league, off season, possibly G-League.  NBA teams can't afford to give minutes to players like this just in the hope that they get better.

It definitely makes it tough for a player like Bol to "develop" but that is the way it is.  When he is ready for NBA minutes, he will get NBA minutes.  Right now, he is not quite there.  Without improvement, all he is going to see is garbage time minutes.

These other non-drafted players that got over the hump did it because they got better and proved themselves.  Took advantage of opportunities.  No one developed them.  They simply did it.  Got opportunities and took advantage.

I am not sure if after this season if he should get a roster spot or a 2-way or what but there is potential there.  He has to do the work though, show something in summer league, make the team out of preseason.  He is 22 so he will get better.  I am not sure how much more he will develop (fill out) physically though.  It may not be in his genes.

+1 great thoughts.  I don't think Bol need to fill out per se.  He needs to get stronger.  he doesn't have the frame like JT did to get wider but if he's stronger it will help him.  I think a lot of Bol's development will be to get the right coach to motivate him.  He's a young kid.  NBA Legacy and was one of the top HS players in the country until he got hurt.  I think the kid absolutely has talent and absolutely will find a backup role only if he puts in the work.  He really hasn't had the chance to put in the work since he's been hurt a lot.  Hopefully Ime can connect with this kid and get him to buy in to the JT lifting program. 

[pokeKingCurtis]

That Hawks game just made me throw up so I'm gonna talk the 15th guy on

Mentions of Jermaine O'neal, FVV...Ben Wallace...

I'm gonna throw out another name - Cam Payne.

On the flip side you have Tony Wroten...

Where does Bol Bol rank among these in terms of
- Likelihood to actually become a rotational player
- Potential and likelihood to reach that potential

Guy is 7'2 and moves like a guard. Intriguing on both ends of the floor.

Seems to be discipline/mental issues: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DCfYLveRGqM&t=477s&ab_channel=A.M.Hoops (forgive the clickbaity YouTube vid, I'm really not a fan of the production of vids that try to game the YouTube algorithm ugh)

[radiohead]

It’s a low risk high reward thing with Bol Bol. The Celtics have had some sort of success with known headcases so maybe they can get Bol Bol to be a valuable bench guy.