Phoenix Suns' Bol Bol takes late father Manute Bol's NBA legacy to new heights

Phoenix Suns coach Frank Vogel has a fond memory of Manute Bol from when he fell in love with basketball.

Vogel said his first ever pro athlete autograph as a 12-year-old in 1985 came when he approached the 7-foot-7 giant, who then played for the USBL's Rhode Island Gulls at a game against the Wildwood Aces.

“I was a little kid, and he played a game, and my dad went to a restaurant afterward, and Bol was there. I asked for his autograph. I didn’t even know what an autograph was," Vogel said at a recent Suns practice. "My dad said, ‘Go get his autograph.’ B-O-L. I told Bol Bol that story, too.”

Nearly 40 years later, Suns fans go crazy at home games when Bol's son checks in for a substitution, and scores, especially from the 3.

Most of the league's fans and basketball historians recall Bol's dad as one of the greatest shot-blockers in history (16th all-time in total blocks, 3.3 per game, which is the league's second-best blocks average ever). He played from 1985 to 1995, only needed to tip-toe for his dunks, and produced a meager 2.4 points and 4.2 rebounds per game.

Bol also gained recognition off the court as a political activist in his native country of Sudan before he passed away from kidney failure in 2010.

During the Suns' Feb. 28 practice, Durant acknowledged Bol's impact on him, Durant's native Washington D.C., and his younger teammate Bol Bol. Manute Bol began his NBA career with the then-Washington Bullets from 1985-88.

“Obviously you know his name and you hear about Manute and what he did for the game," Durant said. "We have similar body types, too. As a kid, you hear about him shooting 3s and blocking shots, so of course. In D.C. especially, it’s a name that’s stamped in our city. It’s good that I get a chance to play with (Bol Bol), and see the kind of evolution of that."

Manute Bol was drafted by the Washington Bullets in 1985, the league's second African-born player after Hakeem Olajuwon was drafted the previous year by the Houston Rockets. Bol was the league's leader in blocks as a rookie, the first rookie ever named to an All-Defensive Team, and was the tallest player in league history before Gheorghe Muresan matched Bol's height when Washington drafted him in 1993.

Bol's Dinka tribal physical attributes made him literally stand out during games. He had a pitch-black complexion, distinctive high cheekbones, wide but small shoulders, pencil-thin limbs that lacked muscle definition, and a stick figure-like mechanical running motion.

Bol Bol, now in his fifth year out of Oregon, looks nearly identical to his father, except four inches shorter with dreadlocks.

Bol Bol was born in his father's native South Sudan in 1999. He and the family moved to West Hartford, Connecticut when he was two, about 60 miles from where his father played his sole college season at Bridgeport during the 1984-85 season. The Bols moved again to Kansas City when he was seven in 2007, and raised their family there.

“There would be times when we’d play one-on-one in the driveway, and he would shoot over me," Bol said. "This is like when I was nine years old, eight years old. And I would always go to the All-Star Games with him. He would take me to a whole bunch of basketball games, like all the little camps and stuff he did. Even from a young age, I was always around basketball, going to stuff like that with him.”

Imagine him being a child trying to shoot over his towering father, who had an 8-foot-6 wingspan.

Bol Bol became a high school phenom, and like his dad, was a one-and-done college player. Shaquille O'Neal put the basketball world on notice about Bol's freakish length and versatility as a shooter, rebounder, and ball handler when his son Shareef O'Neal and Bol were AAU teammates on the Cal Supreme club.

Bol said his former AAU coach Gary Franklin encouraged him to build those skills because he made him and some of his other teammates play up to two to three grades higher, despite lacking girth against older kids.

“That just allowed me to play guard at that time. That allowed me to shoot and be on the perimeter because I wasn’t playing the five at that point, and that just helped me develop," Bol said.

Bol was drafted by Denver, where he spent his first three years in the league. After he was traded to Boston in January 2022, and then Orlando a month later, he was waived last offseason and was signed to a one-year deal by Phoenix in July.

After getting minimal playing time through December, Bol Bol's production has spiked to 7.8 points, 5.0 rebounds, 65% shooting, 44.4% from deep, 1.9 blocks, and 14.7 minutes per game in 18 appearances since New Year's Day.

Bol's greatest performance this season was when he scored 25 points, and added 14 rebounds, one steal and a block each in Phoenix's 114-110 loss at Houston on Feb. 23. He scored 11 of those points in the fourth quarter.

Durant said Bol “could be dangerous” as he continues to learn how to maneuver his length, while already being an instinctive shot-blocker.

“Understanding your length is another phase you get to as a player, and I think he’s on his way to that," Durant said.

Manute Bol influenced 7-footers shooting 3s

Manute Bol is partially responsible for NBA players in the 7-foot range becoming perimeter shooting threats.

He played in an era when a player's height usually designated the position and area of the court they played within, though there were prominent exceptions, such as 6-foot-9 Magic Johnson playing point guard during the 1980s.

That changed in the small-ball era, as shooting 3s defined the game, as it does today.

Players such as Durant, Bol Bol, Boston's Kristaps Porzingis, Oklahoma City's Chet Holmgren, and Minnesota's Karl-Anthony Towns, and Hall of Famer Dirk Nowitzki now launch shots from a distance.

"Now you look, how many guys are 7 feet that can dribble the ball and shoot off the dribble? It’s just really becoming a part of the game," Bol told The Arizona Republic prior to the Suns loss to Houston on March 2. "It’s kind of necessary now, so I’m glad I have some of those skills.”

Manute Bol began consistently launching 3s in the 1988-89 season, when he hit 20 out of his career-most 91 attempts, after he was traded to the Golden State Warriors the previous offseason. He went 43-of-205 for his career.

In addition to Bol's extraordinary body, his shooting form was equally unique at the time.

He placed his massive hands on each side of the ball, wound it up from far behind his head like a slingshot, and threw his flattened hands forward.

“I really just watched film of him shooting, honestly," his son Bol said. "But as far as form or anything, nah, he never worked with me on that, because he shoots a little bit more unorthodox than I do."

Manute Bol's biggest career highlight was on March 3, 1993, when the Philadelphia 76ers lost at Phoenix.

He scored all of his 18 points from six 3s in the first half, and attempted 12 total from deep. Those six stood as a record for 14 years for the most made beyond the arc at the Suns' American West Arena (now Footprint Center), until Channing Frye's seven broke that on Dec. 15, 2010.

Bol's former 76ers teammate and Suns legend Charles Barkley giggled and smacked him five after Bol nailed that shooting spree's final triple from the top of the key.

The usually stoic Bol Bol looked quizzical when The Republic told him about his father's former record.

"I didn't even know that. It was against the Suns? That's pretty cool," Bol said.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Suns' Bol Bol takes his father Manute Bol's legacy to new heights