The basketball rebirth of Bol Bol continued in the Denver Nuggets’ preseason opener.

After being relegated to a deep-bench role and playing more meaningless minutes than impactful ones in his first two NBA seasons, the 21-year-old with boundless potential packed into his 7-foot-2 frame earned praise from coach Michael Malone and teammate Michael Porter Jr. after the preseason opener.

“We all were just so proud of Bol. Even tonight, going from training camp to here, because he carried the same energy,” Porter said. “I think he had four or five blocks, and I told him, ‘Man, you’re so gifted offensively, but if you do the little stuff — rebound, block shots — you’re going to get a chance to play the game offensively, because you’re going to be in the game. You’re going to get a chance to shoot tough shots, play your game.’ He was getting rebounds, easy dunks, things like that. He just played like he really just started to connect the dots. He seems like his head is in a good place, so I’m really proud of him.”

Bol posted 11 points, making four of seven shots from the field, with five rebounds and five blocked shots in 20 minutes of playing time. He’s flashed the scoring, solid ball-handling for his size and shot blocking in his previous seasons but a lack of consistent effort seemed to limit him to a few highlights.

“The big thing for Bol is that for most of his minutes he really played hard and competed. That’s the starting point for me. He had five blocked shots, and I think he could have had a few more to be quite honest, but (he’s) utilizing that God-given length, wingspan and athleticism to his advantage and also to our advantage,” Malone said after the 103-102 loss to the Clippers.

“I thought he had pretty good minutes.”

Bol said he’s approaching things a bit differently heading into Year 3, his last before he enters restricted free agency. He said he’s working hard, staying after practice to get more shots up and asking questions — something he had not always done in the past. He’s enjoying the results so far.

“It’s just a lot of fun for me, because I’m seeing the progress and everything I’ve learned the last two years just watching and observing,” Bol said. “Now that I’m finally putting it all together. … I love basketball, so that’s just very fun for me. I’m being more positive, trying to play through everything, even the downsides of everything and just trying to stay positive.”

Bol, the fourth player off Malone’s bench Monday, checked in for starting power forward Aaron Gordon late in the first quarter. Former teammate Isaiah Hartenstein beat him for an offensive rebound and put-back dunk — one of Bol’s lowlights on the night — but he got some measure of revenge early in the second quarter when he stuck with an errant alley-oop, tipped the ball to himself and finished with an easy dunk. Bol made four of five attempts inside the 3-point arc and missed his only two shots from deep. Bol’s final action Monday came midway through the fourth quarter when he grabbed a loose ball and dribbled up the court. He dribbled behind his back at the top of the key, hesitated a moment and left Luke Kennard frozen with a left-to-right crossover dribble before collecting the ball around the free throw line and taking two long steps into an uncontested layup.

“It felt different because I just played hard the whole time, as hard as I could, throughout everything,” Bol said. “I think that’s good for me to continue to keep doing. I think that will help me later on.”

The rotations could look different Wednesday when the Nuggets take on the Warriors in their second preseason game. Malone hoped that Nikola Jokic, voted the best center by NBA general managers on Tuesday, would make his preseason debut, while Porter is listed as probable with left knee soreness and Will Barton III, who missed Monday’s game, is doubtful with an ankle sprain. Bol will look to continue his breakthrough against Golden State.

“At this point, I got to figure out how to get on the court,” Bol said. “It just has to click for me more now, because it’s my third year. I’ve done enough learning. Now, I just got to put it all together.”