Two Potential Stars From The Class Of 2018: Shareef O'Neal and Bol Bol

[DonRocks]

Remember the names Shareef O'Neal and Bol Bol - they'll be graduating in 2018, and to say they have a lot of talent is something of an understatement.

As great as Shareef O'Neal looks, Bol Bol is a more unusual talent - he has the same type of low-release 3-point shot as Stephen Curry (actually, they both do) ... and he's 6'11. Bol has the skills of a guard (!), but will he ever bulk up enough for the NBA?

O'Neal comes across as being a really likable young man - when he could easily be a cocky, spoiled brat - but there's a certain seriousness about Bol - undoubtedly due to the influence from, and the death of, his father, that makes him seem like an old soul. It wouldn't surprise me one bit if O'Neal emerges as the greater player of the two, and Bol could easily become injury-prone, but it just seems like there's a certain precocious wisdom to Bol, both as a player and a person.

BTW, this is the *high school* class of 2018. 

This all said, my hope for these kids is that they're happy, regardless of whether they're basketball players or accountants (considering Shareef got a Lamborghini for his 16th birthday, he's probably well on his way). 

It's a wee bit early to be predicting a Magic-Bird-like rivalry, but the groundwork is there: the flashy, dunking, mega-rich kid from LA, whose father gave him a Lamborghini for his 16th birthday, and the pensive Sudanese-American from rural Kansas, whose father, a war-conscious Dinka tribesman, died when he was 10, and once killed a lion with a spear.

Shareef O'Neal, son of Shaquille O'Neal:

Bol Bol, son of Manute Bol, a truly great, kind, giving man:

 

[DonRocks]

A year later, here we are: