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Boston’s Ime Udoka talks on Bol Bol, PJ Dozier’s integration to the Celtics

Justin Quinn
·3 min read

The Boston Celtics recently added a pair of new faces to their team when they dealt away veteran forward Juancho Hernangomez to the San Antonio Spurs in a three-team deal that netted them big man Bol Bol and wing PJ Dozier.

And while neither has yet appeared in any official capacity with the team since the deal went down last week, the Celtics held a media availability session after their most recent practice on Wednesday in which head coach Ime Udoka spoke at length about the two newest members of Boston’s roster. Asked if he’d had a chance to meet them yet, he explained only one of the two was actively with the team at present.

“Bol is are here,” clarified Udoka. “PJ is still rehabbing, so he hasn’t come.”

“He’s obviously out for the year with the (torn) ACL, so communication is minimal,” added the Celtics coach.

“But, Bol’s in the building, and all of our meetings, all our pregame stuff, and our practices. We’ve been a little more hands-on with him than with PJ. (We’re) just encouraging these guys to continue with the rehab process. And whereas PJ is out for the year, Bol has a chance to come back later in the year and acclimate him to the group, get them comfortable … and just have them around for the most part until he’s able to start doing some activity on the court.”

Udoka also offered up his early impressions of Bol.

Discussing how the big man had been getting on since arriving with his new team, the Portland native said he was a “quiet guy, very quiet. (He) doesn’t say a lot.”

“This is a new group for him, obviously he played with Payton (Pritchard at Oregon), so he has some familiarity there. But overall, he’s a quiet guy, but he’s fine. He’s been around the group for a few days now, and we are getting him up to speed with what we do and how we do things.”

“So, it’s just good to have him around the group,” added Udoka.

The Celtics coach emphasized that having a familiar face ought to help Bol ease into becoming part of his new team while he recovers from injury.

As to the timeline for a return, Udoka related that he’d just had the surgery and it would be “late in the season, if at all.”

This post originally appeared on Celtics Wire. Follow us on Facebook!

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