Michael Malone has already given Isaiah Denis a nickname that says plenty: “Bones.”
It’s the kind of small thing that can reveal a lot, especially when the coach in question is now trying to map out roles at North Carolina. Denis explained Thursday that the connection goes back to Bones Hyland, the former Nuggets guard he used to watch closely while Malone was still in Denver. What Denis liked most was the spark Hyland brought with him - the energy, the jolt, the way a crowd seemed to wake up the second he checked in.
That admiration stuck with Denis, and it stuck with Malone, too. During an offseason conversation, Denis and his mother told Malone how much Hyland had stood out to him. Later, when Malone saw Denis working out, the coach hit him with the line:
“What up, ‘Bones?’”
Denis clearly took that seriously. And for Carolina, the bigger question is what it might mean.
Nobody is saying Denis is Hyland. Hyland made his name in Denver as a quick-hit scorer who could light things up off the bench. Denis brings a different frame at 6-foot-4 and 185 pounds, and his college résumé is still incomplete after a freshman year disrupted by a finger injury.
Still, the comparison isn’t really about style. It’s about effect.
Hyland had a way of entering a game and changing the temperature. That’s the kind of value Denis could offer at UNC, especially in a backcourt that now has plenty of different pieces to work with.
One more detail from Thursday makes the picture even more interesting: Malone has been using Denis at point guard.
That matters. Carolina added Terrence Brown, Matt Able and Neoklis Avdalas this offseason, so Denis doesn’t have to be a featured scorer to carve out a real job. If he can handle the ball, defend multiple perimeter spots, make plays for others and give the second unit a different gear, there’s a lane for him.
And that’s where Malone’s background comes into play. He has spent years in the NBA figuring out how pieces fit, how roles get defined and how to get the most out of a roster. Denis believes that experience can help him, just as Malone helped Hyland find his place in Denver.
The point isn’t for Denis to turn into Bones Hyland.
It’s for him to become the best version of Isaiah Denis.
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