Suns' Western rival has unearthed Bol Bol 2.0

There are few players on the Phoenix Suns' roster who are as divisive as Bol Bol. The long, enigmatic, generally not very good South Sudanese international beloved because of his shy personality and willingness to try and succeed, but disliked by fans when he actually spends a lot of time on the court.

Try as he might, Bol has never found a steady gig in the league. It's the reason he's back with the Suns for a second season, with last year being the first time he had a somewhat consistent role under previous head coach Frank Vogel. The thinking being he could get spot minutes and hopefully thrive under a more offensive-minded leading man in Mike Budenholzer.

Now the Dallas Mavericks look to have found a better version of Bol.

That's because they took a chance on the undrafted Jamarion Sharp, and it already looks like it is going to pay off. At 7'5", Sharp is listed as being two inches taller than Bol. Perhaps most importantly, he also doesn't appear nearly as skinny as the Suns' own giant guy, and is far more comfortable in the paint than Bol has ever been.

You may have seen Sharp play for the Mavericks at Summer League, and he's already gotten some run in preseason action as well. The key difference between himself and Bol is that defensively the upside is most certainly there, and he's already blocking and altering shots in ways Bol has never been able to do.

Bol is more of an offensive specialist, but that's a problem because the Suns don't need that out of their 12th man on the roster. Instead it would be better to have Sharp - who gives energy and defensive IQ inside the paint on both ends of the court - and which they tried to get out of their own rookie in Oso Ighodaro this summer. A move that is already paying off.

The Mavericks just went to the NBA Finals, and they have a second-year center in Dereck Lively II who is going to give the Suns trouble any time they match up. He's too young and springy for a ground-bound big such as Jusuf Nurkic, while Mason Plumlee at 34-years-old can only do so much to handle him as well.

Introducing Sharp to the mix is a concern, because he could be the x-factor in a game between the two with his ability to seemingly mix it up in the paint but also possibly get out and contest a star like Kevin Durant. There's also no way the Suns could combat like-with-like here, as Bol is such a poor defender that Sharp would have his way with him inside.

Everybody understood why the franchise and Bol found each other again this summer, because it was a move that worked out for both sides. But with the Suns' pair of rookies in Ighodaro and Ryan Dunn already starting to pop, the time for Bol to get out there and show what he can do looks like it will be even less than last season.

There's a reason the Orlando Magic didn't keep him around when they were still rebuilding - and although they like the Suns loved him as a person - he's just too niche to plug in if you're trying to seriously win games. The Mavericks don't look like they'll have any such problems with Sharp, and the Suns could pay the price for being loyal to Bol and not seeing what else was out there this summer.