Utah Jazz sign draft pick Joel Bolomboy

According to the Utah Jazz, so not like a signing announced by the player himself or from a reporter (Woj), the team has signed 2nd round draft pick Joel Bolomboy to a contract. Joel was taken in the NBA Draft 52nd overall. It’s bittersweet that he fell to the Utah Jazz, a team that he did not work out for because his agent did not think that he would slip down to #42. Oh well. The Weber State product is not out of state for another little while now.

Via the Jazz press release:

The Utah Jazz announced today that the team has signed 2016 second-round pick forward/center Joel Bolomboy (Ball-um-boy). Per team policy, terms of the deal were not released.

Bolomboy (6-9, 235, Weber State University) averaged 17.1 points on 57.3 percent shooting and grabbed 12.6 rebounds (third in the nation) during his senior year, setting a school single-season record by tallying 415 total rebounds. He was named the 2016 Big Sky Conference Most Valuable Player, Defensive Player of the Year and a unanimous All-Conference First Team selection. Bolomboy finished his four-year career as the all-time leader in rebounds for Weber State as well as the Big Sky Conference.

The 22-year-old was a member of the Jazz entry at the 2016 Utah Jazz Summer League (July 4-7) and NBA Summer League (July 8-15) in Las Vegas, averaging 7.6 points, 5.9 rebounds and 1.0 assists in 19.3 minutes of action in nine games. In Las Vegas, he averaged 9.5 points on 53.3 percent shooting, 7.5 rebounds and 1.3 assists in six contests. He recorded one double-double, scoring 13 points and 11 rebounds vs. New Orleans on July 10. In the team’s summer league finale against the L.A. Lakers on July 15, Bolomboy led the Jazz in scoring, recording 20 points, shooting 9-for-12 from the floor, adding seven rebounds, one steal and one block.

Born in the Ukraine, Bolomboy played high school basketball at Keller Central in Fort Worth, Texas.

He will wear jersey #22 for the Jazz.

The Utah Jazz, 2016

I’m a little late to this news, so I apologize. But I do love this concept. And while I haven’t investigated what the ‘local’ media has said about it, I love this. I love Joel Bolomboy. I think he’s going to be the next impact 2nd rounder for the Utah Jazz -- a team who has had a history of cultivating impact 2nd rounders.

Via SLC Dunk, back in June:

What does this mean? Does it bode well at all for the Utah Jazz who finished the 2016 NBA Draft with three 2nd rounders: #52 Joel Bolomboy, #55 Marcus Paige, and #60 Tyrone Wallace? Or are they all more likely to fall into the mixed heap of Jazz second rounders during the last two decades: Shandon Anderson, Nate Erdmann, Torraye Braggs, Eddie Lucas, Kaniel Dickens, Jarron Collins, Jamal Sampson, Mo Williams,C.J. Miles, Robert Whaley, Dee Brown, Paul Millsap, Herbert Hill (Kyrylo Fesenko), Ante Tomic, Tadija Dragicevic (Shan Foster), Goran Suton, Jeremy Evans, Kevin Murphy, Erick Green, Raul Neto (Not a draft pick, but traded for on draft night),Jarnell Stokes (too soon), Olivier Hanlan, and Dani Diez?

AllThatAmar, SLC Dunk.com, 2016

N.B. That list doesn’t include Jazzmen who were successful as 2nd rounders who were not drafted by the team, like Carlos Boozer, Mehmet Okur, and others. (Man, looking back we’ve had a NUMBER of All-Stars who were 2nd rounders. Bonus Points if you can name all of the Jazzmen who qualify.)

I am crazy for Joel Bolomboy for more than just the historical reason, or the predictive reason. And it’s not a “there must always be a Stark in Winterfell” reason either where “there must always be a Jazz 2nd round pick who makes the team.” Facts only: Joel Bolomboy is an NBA player. He’s an NBA Rotation player. And he’s athletic enough to make other teams pay for it when he’s out there on the court — regardless if they go big or small or whatever.

Bolomboy’s mom is Russian and his dad is from the Congo. I can only assume both of them were spies. I’m fine with that, don’t correct me. He was born about a bus-ride away from where Kyrylo Fesenko was hatched. (Donetsk to Dnipropetrovsk is about 250-300 KM depending on which highway you take.) (I am making the not so grand assumption that Fes came out of an egg, like Mork, from Mork and Mindy.) (It makes more sense this way.) Regardless of where Bolomboy came from, he made a name for himself in Texas where he showed off his hops.

Bob Booth Star-Telegram Archive

In College at Webster State he played in 130 games and averaged a double-double in nearly 4,000 total NCAA Division I minutes. He swallowed up over 400 rebounds in his Senior season alone, a startlingly high 12.6 RPG. But he’s not just a one-trick pony. He’s not just a hyper athlete (btw, his combine results were illegal), and he’s not just a rebounder. He can post up, he doesn’t hesitate to square up and shoot jumpers from outside, and he is going to savage the rim like it’s his job.

Under the direction of Utah Jazz head coach Quin Snyder (and/or Salt City Stars head coach Dean Cooper), that will be precisely his job.

So, now that he’s “signed” does that mean he’s on the team? No. It does not. More than likely, this is one of those “multi-year” deals that is also non-guaranteed. As the Jazz don’t release their info (you know, because why would they be transparent?) -- and the usual sites haven’t updated their Jazz salaries page yet I can only assume it is. I presume it’s somewhere between what J.J. O’Brien made for his work in 2015-2016 training camp — $75,000 — and what Kevin Murphy made in 2012-2013 — $473,604. (N.B. These figures do not factor in the 2016-2017 BRI.)

Also, all of that could be invalidated by whatever local talk radio people may have access and permission to divulge.

Moreover, as it stands right now the Jazz are filled with players after this signing.

Now, out of the bigmen I have Joel falling in at 7th right now. That doesn’t mean he’s going to finish training camp at 7th. Conceivably he just has to beat out one person and should get a chance to make the 15 man roster as a result. There’s so much redundancy between point guard and shooting guard, and shooting guard and small forward. As a result, there’s going to be no reason to go for five point guards. Now, a 3-6-6 (PG/Wing/Big) isn’t exactly likely. But it’s not against the rules either. But that means having to get rid of Chris Johnson, Tibor Pleiss (or Jeff Withey), and Raul Neto (or Shelvin Mack).

That’s a lot of movement needed for Bolomboy to make the team, but it’s going to end up as which guys out play one another next month and a half. I can’t count on many people out-working Joel in a do-or-die situation. So it’s going to be fun. He has the range that Withey doesn’t. And the athleticism that Pleiss can’t even dream of. He’s just not a 7’ tall guy. But I guess that means less than it used to now-a-days.

I’m excited to see what he does next month. I really do hope he makes the team.