Manute Bol, who will meet up with his old team, the Sixers, tomorrow night in Miami and on Wednesday at the Spectrum, doesn't play much for his new team. Although he's the underachieving Heat's most experienced player, he has appeared in only six of 17 games this season, and none of the last five.
Another professional basketball player might complain. Not Manute Bol.
He is still as curious a phenomenon as ever - a bench-warmer and freedom fighter all stacked within a fantastical 7-foot-7 frame. Playing time remains the least of his concerns - for reasons more serious than ever - but Bol
hasn't lost his comic touch.
On Monday night, before the Heat took on the New Jersey Nets at the Meadowlands, Bol was his inimitable self: He entertained fans, teammates and opponents alike with his pregame three-point shooting contests, his unique brand of trash talk and his mock fights with mascots and former Sixers on the Nets such as Armon Gilliam, Rick Mahorn and Jayson Williams.
And although he finds himself on a team that carries five centers, Bol said he is more content than he was in three seasons in Philadelphia with the 76ers.
"I'm not playing (in Miami), but at least I know I'm not going to play," Bol said. "But when you help a team win, and then they don't play you for five or 10 games, it don't feel that good."
Bol was referring to the 11 games the Sixers won last season during a 17- game stretch in which he was the starting center. That winning percentage of .647 seems almost dreamlike compared to any other span in the last 15 months for the Sixers.
Nonetheless, Bol was part of a seven-player housecleaning in June.
"I thought that I won more games for Philadelphia last year than any other center, more than Andrew Lang," Bol said. "But they didn't think that I could help the team, so I am happy to be gone.
