Mo Bamba- a keeper?

[PrimeThyme]

I find it funny that JI's return is influencing opinions here. 'Once JI is back'... like he is ever healthy... You can't bank on JI's health right now. Maybe if he goes 2 full years without getting a serious injury should we look at him in that light. We need Mo's length. The key is to not overpay.

Bamba has those exact same questions though. He's played less than 50 games in 2/3 of his first NBA seasons && that's with only playing an average of 15 mpg. One of those injuries happens to have been a stress fracture too.

I'm genuinely interested to see if he can play 65 plus games at this minutes total. I still have some serious doubts he can.

[Xatticus]

I find it funny that JI's return is influencing opinions here. 'Once JI is back'... like he is ever healthy... You can't bank on JI's health right now. Maybe if he goes 2 full years without getting a serious injury should we look at him in that light. We need Mo's length. The key is to not overpay.

Bamba has those exact same questions though. He's played less than 50 games in 2/3 of his first NBA seasons && that's with only playing an average of 15 mpg. One of those injuries happens to have been a stress fracture too.

I'm genuinely interested to see if he can play 65 plus games at this minutes total. I still have some serious doubts he can.

I'm already impressed. I didn't think he ever would be able to play this many minutes. Not simply due to injuries, but also because he gets gassed and because he had a high foul rate. He still gets really tired after a stretch of about 6 minutes, but the foul rate has come down enough that he can reliably give you 30 minutes before running out of fouls.

[KillMonger]

I'm not sure to be honest....This upcoming draft is a big man draft...For me he's shown improvement and i would be curious if next season he would continue this upward trajectory but....man i don't know when you consider this upcoming draft

[Magic_Kingdom]

We are seeing Mo at his very best, playing for a contract, starting every game, getting big minutes. This is it. He's not a prospect anymore. You can almost guarantee that if the Magic pay him, his effort and production will regress toward the mean next season, and they haven't been all that great this season. Plus, does Mo help you win games? If we replaced him with Khem Birch or Dewayne Dedmon would our record be any different? So it would be a no for me.

[fendilim]

If the price is right.

[DSN1423]

I admit I'm losing my faith in Bamba long-term. I still feel he didn't have the best situation with Clifford and Vuc's ascent at the same time but the more analysis I read and ponder this year, the more I think he's not our guy for long. DSN1423's Mosley history lesson is fascinating, especially when we remember the first thing we saw Mosley doing upon being hired was banging with Mo in an empty gym. Coach must be near tears looking at Mo and saying "If I had had that kid's body...". The WCJ/Bamba combo has been good, but I'm kind of convinced that Isaac steps more productively into Mo's spot than WCJ's. I don't know if Mo's a guy we marginalize for the rest of the season, re-sign on the cheap, and keep around as a third big...more likely, he's moved around the Trade Deadline, to a team that still believes they can be the ones to unlock his cheat codes. I don't think ATL needs him, but maybe something (3 teamer?) gets up Cam Reddish, who I think is a similar-value, high-upside guy who may or may not bloom in a different environment.

I found a game of Coach Mosely's from early 2000's (when our pro league was quite bad, basically you had to be over 30 with lots of NBL experience to get a contract, very few young players got court time). I think he was worse skill wise than I remember, must have been the awe I held him in as a teenager.

Link to game below

Watch on YouTube

He gets subbed in around 8:30 into the video.

Watching him play, gives you a bit of insight to probably how he shaped his coaching philosophy and maybe some standards he holds the athletes to.

Enjoy if you can stomach some severely average basketball

[Skin]

We are seeing Mo at his very best, playing for a contract, starting every game, getting big minutes. This is it. He's not a prospect anymore. You can almost guarantee that if the Magic pay him, his effort and production will regress toward the mean next season, and they haven't been all that great this season. Plus, does Mo help you win games? If we replaced him with Khem Birch or Dewayne Dedmon would our record be any different? So it would be a no for me.

Bamba is clearly trending upward. If Vuc is here, he just continues to get benched for all the wrong reasons. How you came to the conclusion that he's at his peak is beyond me.

Birch and Dedmon WISH they could shoot from 3 like Bamba... but then again, I just think Magic fans are so used to not having 3 point shooters that when they see one, they don't notice it. If we had all star wings that attack the rim, Bamba would be the perfect Center in that system because he can space the floor. If anything I want Bamba shooting MORE 3s every game.

[Husky1]

I almost change my mind with MO game by game. He is def trending up so I think we have to sign him, he will always be tradeable if this is his floor. It's ludicrous that someone said this is him at his best, we drafted him as a long term project with upside, he hardly played at all his first 3 years. Its year 4, centers take longer. There is almost an argument this is his rookie year. He is as intriguing as he is frustrating, but were in a rebuild so would be silly not to keep him. (IMO)

[JTG_92940618]

I admit I'm losing my faith in Bamba long-term. I still feel he didn't have the best situation with Clifford and Vuc's ascent at the same time but the more analysis I read and ponder this year, the more I think he's not our guy for long. DSN1423's Mosley history lesson is fascinating, especially when we remember the first thing we saw Mosley doing upon being hired was banging with Mo in an empty gym. Coach must be near tears looking at Mo and saying "If I had had that kid's body...". The WCJ/Bamba combo has been good, but I'm kind of convinced that Isaac steps more productively into Mo's spot than WCJ's. I don't know if Mo's a guy we marginalize for the rest of the season, re-sign on the cheap, and keep around as a third big...more likely, he's moved around the Trade Deadline, to a team that still believes they can be the ones to unlock his cheat codes. I don't think ATL needs him, but maybe something (3 teamer?) gets up Cam Reddish, who I think is a similar-value, high-upside guy who may or may not bloom in a different environment.

I found a game of Coach Mosely's from early 2000's (when our pro league was quite bad, basically you had to be over 30 with lots of NBL experience to get a contract, very few young players got court time). I think he was worse skill wise than I remember, must have been the awe I held him in as a teenager.

Link to game below

Watch on YouTube

He gets subbed in around 8:30 into the video.

Watching him play, gives you a bit of insight to probably how he shaped his coaching philosophy and maybe some standards he holds the athletes to.

Enjoy if you can stomach some severely average basketball

Darryl McDonald, Brett Wheeler, Tony Ronaldson, and Jason Smith. That Titans team was pretty stacked. It seems like Chris Anstey was also on the team but injured in that game.

I looked it up and they went 22-6, finished top but flamed out in the first playoffs.

[Skybox]

Anyone notice Harden covering Bamba quite a bit last night? Only in spots but don't you go right at that and punish the midget? He looked passive, I'm not piling on Mo but He looked a bit lost against a team without a true big man.

[pepe1991]

Anyone notice Harden covering Bamba quite a bit last night? Only in spots but don't you go right at that and punish the midget? He looked passive, I'm not piling on Mo but He looked a bit lost against a team without a true big man.

Teams are not stupid, they know Bamba will never take adventage of missmatch because he doesn't have strenght nor awarness to push his way to good position, even vs guards.
That's why Harden missmatches resulted of him standing on perimeter and not being able to get deeper inside or him shooting fadeaway 2s over 6'5 chubby guard who is always considered one of most worthless nba defenders.

To put it in less nice way- James Harden was on Bamba because he needed rest on defense. That's who Harden usually defends, least capable offensive player of opposing team.
And Bamba, after active first quater, scored 2 points for rest of a game ( and here we are 6th game in last 7 with 0 FTs for him)...

[Mauro Pedrosa]

My two cents:

He has vastly improved this season, obviously due to being in a contract year, but maybe the positive atmosphere this team has will push him to keep improving.

What I’ll say from personal experience, is that cardio takes a LONG time to develop, and compared to what he was Bamba already deserves applause. He still needs to have a lot more energy throughout the game but to expect that in 12 months instead of 4 to 5 years is just unrealistic.

Bamba decides who Bamba becomes. It’s all about effort and learning the game

[Bergmaniac]

Anyone notice Harden covering Bamba quite a bit last night? Only in spots but don't you go right at that and punish the midget? He looked passive, I'm not piling on Mo but He looked a bit lost against a team without a true big man.

Harden is the best post defender at his position, he is extremely strong and quite a few centres struggle against him in the low post. Someone like Bamba who has no back to the basket game whatsoever and can't back down much weaker players won't do much against Harden on a switch.

[Statlanta]

Id only keep him if he looks like the best player on the team. The worst team(s) in the league are supposed to jettison washed players and inconsistent projects out the league. The best players on these teams are usually mediocre players.

[The Real Dalic]

We are seeing Mo at his very best, playing for a contract, starting every game, getting big minutes. This is it. He's not a prospect anymore. You can almost guarantee that if the Magic pay him, his effort and production will regress toward the mean next season, and they haven't been all that great this season. Plus, does Mo help you win games? If we replaced him with Khem Birch or Dewayne Dedmon would our record be any different? So it would be a no for me.

Bamba is clearly trending upward. If Vuc is here, he just continues to get benched for all the wrong reasons. How you came to the conclusion that he's at his peak is beyond me.

Birch and Dedmon WISH they could shoot from 3 like Bamba... but then again, I just think Magic fans are so used to not having 3 point shooters that when they see one, they don't notice it. If we had all star wings that attack the rim, Bamba would be the perfect Center in that system because he can space the floor. If anything I want Bamba shooting MORE 3s every game.

Bamba only shoots 32.4% from 3's. I'm not sure I'd call him a 3 point shooter. He can hit them, but I'd actually prefer he take a couple less and use his post game a bit more. He's shown he has a little bit of a hook shot and a decent post fadeaway game.

[Knightro]

Anyone notice Harden covering Bamba quite a bit last night? Only in spots but don't you go right at that and punish the midget? He looked passive, I'm not piling on Mo but He looked a bit lost against a team without a true big man.

You'd be surprised.

Harden has low key been one of the NBA's better post defenders for several years. The Rockets finally figured that out a few years into his run there and they realized they could get away with an uber small lineup because Harden wasn't the proverbial mouse in the house defensively on a big in the post.

Beyond that, more often than not teams that chase mismatches in the post end up killing their entire flow offensively. Post ups are quite inefficient compared to almost any other type of offense and usually the defense is glad to concede and ill-fated post up instead of free flowing ball movement that ends in a shot at the rim or a 3PT.

[I Rasharted]

Watch on YouTube

[Mc-o]

Anyone notice Harden covering Bamba quite a bit last night? Only in spots but don't you go right at that and punish the midget? He looked passive, I'm not piling on Mo but He looked a bit lost against a team without a true big man.

You'd be surprised.

Harden has low key been one of the NBA's better post defenders for several years. The Rockets finally figured that out a few years into his run there and they realized they could get away with an uber small lineup because Harden wasn't the proverbial mouse in the house defensively on a big in the post.

Beyond that, more often than not teams that chase mismatches in the post end up killing their entire flow offensively. Post ups are quite inefficient compared to almost any other type of offense and usually the defense is glad to concede and ill-fated post up instead of free flowing ball movement that ends in a shot at the rim or a 3PT.

Bamba sucks in the post . He rarely can take advantage of a smaller player in the post

[Skybox]

Anyone notice Harden covering Bamba quite a bit last night? Only in spots but don't you go right at that and punish the midget? He looked passive, I'm not piling on Mo but He looked a bit lost against a team without a true big man.

Teams are not stupid, they know Bamba will never take adventage of missmatch because he doesn't have strenght nor awarness to push his way to good position, even vs guards.
That's why Harden missmatches resulted of him standing on perimeter and not being able to get deeper inside or him shooting fadeaway 2s over 6'5 chubby guard who is always considered one of most worthless nba defenders.

To put it in less nice way- James Harden was on Bamba because he needed rest on defense. That's who Harden usually defends, least capable offensive player of opposing team.
And Bamba, after active first quater, scored 2 points for rest of a game ( and here we are 6th game in last 7 with 0 FTs for him)...

Clearly, that was the case...they should have gone at Harden more even just to deny him the rest. If that means sitting Bamba, so be it. Franz was definitely putting up a fight when he covered Harden...Harden still scored nearly at will, but he had to work and even got into it with Franz a bit about an elbow that caught Harden a little high. Even in a terrible choke of a loss, my respect for Franz' toughness grows.

[RichCollab]

He is an NBA player. He could be solid off the bench. It’s about his health and effort rest of year. Then, is the price right.