The most obvious attribute of Isaac Bonga is readily apparent in the thumbnail: is this dude not the most wrinkly under-20 player in NBA history? Okay, fine, he just turned 20 like two months ago, but before that. Let me rephrase: was this dude not the most wrinkly under-20 player in NBA history? Greg Oden would be up there, but he was 20 going on 50 by the time he debuted in the league.
And before you think, “oh, he’s obviously fabricated his age to be more draftable, there’s no way he was only 18 when he came into the league”, which is a totally normal thought (I had it myself, initially), he’s totally German and I think they don’t allow people to fudge their age. Maybe they do, I’m not totally sure. How bribable are German officials, anyway?
Bonga is still young enough where his total lack of offensive production even when given a starting role is merely disconcerting, instead of setting off panicky alarms everywhere. He was drafted as a raw player, but you can definitely say that the amount of rawness has decreased from last year with the Lakers to this year with the ‘Zards. His main value seems to be found in his defensive potential, with the hope being that he can be one of those players who can guard 1-5 acceptably. Low-usage scoring and playmaking is just a bonus to that.
I’ve been waiting for a while to make a vid for this guy, but now I can finally cross his name off the list and reverentially put the VHS tape containing this video into the sacred halls of my Highlights Archivium. It’s been a long time coming, but not as long as some other players who I’m still waiting on. Does anyone know what happened to Thomas Welsh?