The Phoenix Suns filled their empty roster spot by signing Jonah Bolden, formerly of the Philadelphia 76ers. It was a sound pickup.
After the Phoenix Suns waived Tyler Johnson, speculation immediately started on who would fill the newly opened roster spot. With a handful of other recently released names available, the Suns had a few options.
Would it be Dion Waiters? Or perhaps a blast from the past like Isaiah Thomas or Gerald Green? How about some other recognizable names such as Michael Kidd-Gilchrist or Marvin Williams?
The answer of course, was none of the above.
Instead, the Phoenix Suns signed a lesser-known big man, recently released from the Philadelphia 76ers, Jonah Bolden.
Bolden is second-year 6’8″ power forward out of UCLA, originally from Melbourne, Australia. Now, when writing, “The Suns’ Australian big man,” I’ll need to be more specific. I can only imagine the Aussie banter about kangaroo fights and such he and Aron Baynes are about to have. The two played together for the Boomers at the FIBA World Cup last summer.
Baynes isn’t the only player on Bolden’s new team who he has a connection with. He and Kelly Oubre played together at Findlay Prep in Nevada their senior year of High School, and Bolden actually mentioned Oubre as a teammate who became a brother in his pre-draft interview back in 2017.
Of course, that’s not all. Phoenix Suns head coach, Monty Williams, coached Bolden as an assistant in Philadelphia last season.
Like every other profession in the world, sometimes it’s who you know.
Considering Cheick Diallo is the only healthy front court player on the Phoenix Suns roster right now (save for Tariq Owens, who is on a 2-way contract), bringing Bolden in makes sense in terms of filling a need.
Last year as a rookie with the 76ers, he played in 44 games and averaged just over 14 minutes per contest. When he saw the court, he put up 4.7 points, 3.8 rebounds, and 0.9 blocks per game while shooting over 35% from behind the arc.
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This year, however, Philadelphia used the Australian big man (doh, I’m doing it already) sparingly. He played in just four games this season, mostly in garbage time where he primarily spent his minutes fouling people.
Granted it is a very small sample size, but his per-36 minute foul rate was an uncanny 10.3 this year with Philly.
In his first game with the Phoenix Suns, he played as well as you could hope someone who didn’t know the system could play. He saw the court more minutes than the rest of the season combined (26), scored six points, grabbed seven rebounds, and blocked two shots.
And if you’re wondering, he had four fouls.
Bolden is on a 10-day contract with the Suns, and my prediction is it will be re-upped for another 10 days after the All-Star break. From there, it will be up to his play to determine if they keep him around for the rest of the season or if they cut bait and pickup someone else.
It is also unclear what his role might be if and when the Suns ever get their full complement of big men back. There has been no prognosis given to any of the many Suns injuries so it is hard to say what playing time might look like when the normal schedule resumes February 21.
Overall, while it might not be the sexiest name available, Bolden was a good pickup for the Suns and with his connections to Baynes, Oubre, and Monty, he is likely to blend well with this group quickly.
G’day, mate. And welcome.