Five things to watch for at the NBL Blitz

Team results are close to irrelevance at this preseason tournament, but there is value in evaluating individual players and roster construction.

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1. Jonah Bolden

Once one of our most interesting prospects, with a unique skillset that included athleticism, rim protection, and outside shooting, Bolden comes to the NBL for the first time after three years away from the game.

Court time at the Blitz could be managed, and perhaps gradually built up early in the regular season too, but given the other elite talent on Sydney’s roster, Bolden will have time to grow his role. Jaylen Adams, D.J. Hogg, and Denzel Valentine will handle the bulk of shot creation, with Bolden able to play off of that trio and concentrate on finishing dunks, open threes, rebounding, and getting his timing right on defence.

Bolden when speaking with Ben Mallis in August:

“My focus, if you want to talk metrics, would be the boards, offensive and defensive rebounding. Playmaking, not necessarily with scoring, but having touch with the ball, getting the ball to guys, finding the open guy, and pushing it up the floor. We have a longer, deeper team, so we can stretch the floor with guys that are very versatile, and we can play multiple positions. But personally, it's just really crashing the boards, making my presence known when I'm on the court and getting consistency with the three-ball. They are the biggest things.”

From a fan perspective, my thought was always that ‘this guy is too talented to have retired early’, so not only having him back in the sport, but in our league where we can watch every one of his games as he strives to progress back to his peak form will be fascinating.

Expectations are tempered to begin the season, but there’s no doubting the high-end upside if everything breaks right. Kings CEO, Chris Pongrass, has labelled Bolden’s ceiling as a top three to five player in the league if they can work him back up close to the player he once was.

2. Dual high-level point guards

One of the more intriguing partnerships in the backcourt this season is Gary Browne and Will Cummings at the South East Melbourne Phoenix.