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Embiid's defense was *definitely* more consistent-- you could argue that either he or Willie Cauley-Stein was the best defender in college basketball that season. Bol is wildly disruptive when he's on-- when people try to shoot over him, he routinely either deflects it or forces the shooter to adjust his arc-- but in that Iowa game, they started *going at him,* because they knew they could exploit his lack of strength and work-in-progress footwork. Altman had to bench him because he was killing their defense. Which is *crazy* to think about.
Embiid would occasionally disappear offensively, though I reckon in Embiid's defense, it seems Oregon is going to ask Bol to do more on that end than Kansas asked Embiid to do. Kansas had more weapons, whereas Bol is easily their most talented player until Louis King comes back (Bol is still more talented, but King is at least a genuine NBA prospect). Without looking, I bet Bol has twice as many field goal attempts per game. This is to Bol's credit too, of course-- it's easier to have plays in which you look bad when you're being asked to do more.
Embiid also was less of a string bean, which made his efficiency a lot easier to keep high. He was 7 feet, 250, with some good back-to-the-basket game, so he could work the paint with little resistance, which would give him more freedom to then face up later. Bol is 7'3, 230, with a less developed at-present back-to-the-basket game-- or maybe it seems that way because he's simply not as strong as Embiid was. But his jumpshot is definitely better right now than Embiid's was then, as is his mid-range. His creation for himself is... all over the place currently, but yeah, that's where his real future will be determined. Zingis was able to come into the league Day 1 and create for himself. I'm not convinced Bol will be able to do that next year-- or even the year after.
I like to make fun of Fran Fraschilla because he always falls in love with raw overseas prospects who are "a year away from being a year away." But Bol is definitely one of those guys. You don't take him lotto because of who he'll be at age 20. You take him for who he'll hopefully be at 22-23. I just worry that the Zingis comparisons-- which announcers are using CONSTANTLY in every Oregon game-- are going to give people expectations that are too immediate. If a team takes Bol 4th, they will *not* get a guy giving them 15 and 7 rookie year. They'll instead have a guy who, with the right strength and game development, could give you by Year 5 or 6 what Zingis is doing Year 3. That's where playing against pros overseas vs. playing American high school and then shitty Pac-12 play sped Zingis's progress and likely slowed Bol's.
Still, he's gonna be must-watch TV this year, and I'd still take him lotto, with position depending how he does against some of the better athletes he'll face (can't WAIT to see him vs. Moses Brown) and depending how immediately my team needs my rookie to give me production. The fact that his range of potential is *so* wide and his skill set is *so* unique makes him tremendously alluring, without question-- and he's such an easy kid to root for, too. If Oregon ends up winning the Pac-12 and making a Top 3 tournament seed (not impossible), wouldn't be surprised in the slightest to see him end up as high as 6th or 7th in the draft. My movies: http://russellhainline.com
My movie reviews: https://letterboxd.com/RussellHFilm/
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