Mo Bamba- a keeper?

[Skin]

When Fultz returns, Bamba will look even better. No guard on the team has his combination of ball handling, explosiveness and physicality driving to the rim. He can beat his man and command attention which will leave Bamba with better looks. I think Cole and Suggs will be better too. Cole will face more 2nd teams and be less of a team flow disruption. Suggs will play next to a better passer and defender. Can't wait for his return already.

[drsd]

When Fultz returns, Bamba will look even better.

The concern would be that Bamba has not focused on pick and roll situations, and is not really able to prosper from Fultz style of play.

Fultz has been billed as a pick-and-roll playmaker, after all.


..

[Skin]

When Fultz returns, Bamba will look even better.

The concern would be that Bamba has not focused on pick and roll situations, and is not really able to prosper from Fultz style of play.

Fultz has been billed as a pick-and-roll playmaker, after all.


..

Cole, Suggs, RJ have not shown to be good PnR playmakers like Fultz either. Can we really blame Bamba for that? Hyperbole... Ie. If CP3 were on this team, Bamba would have focused more on PnR than he has.

[drsd]

When Fultz returns, Bamba will look even better.

The concern would be that Bamba has not focused on pick and roll situations, and is not really able to prosper from Fultz style of play.

Fultz has been billed as a pick-and-roll playmaker, after all.


..

Cole, Suggs, RJ have not shown to be good PnR playmakers like Fultz either. Can we really blame Bamba for that? Hyperbole... Ie. If CP3 were on this team, Bamba would have focused more on PnR than he has.

Yes we can. By advanced metrics, Bamba is a horrible PnR player. This he is not projected to play well with Fultz.

In contrast, Carter’s game fits with Fultz.

If Bamba is a bench player, the question is how he will perform with Anthony and Hampton. There I see a good fit. The fire-away offense the bench is projected, Bamba’s rebounding will be important on offense.

[flaco]

Bucks fan here. The Bucks are in need of a backup Center cause Brook Lopez is out indefinitely with a back injury. We run a drop scheme on defense, hence we could have a use for a rim protector in order for Giannis to operate as a free safety. Ideally, he'd also be a stretch 5 to space the floor for Giannis. Bamba ticks all the boxes. Would you guys be interested in a trade around DiVincenzo? For instance:



DiVincenzo is a high-BBIQ, 2-way combo guard. He was a starter last season. The recent addition of Grayson Allen has made him a bit expendable.
Nwora is a promising swing who can provide instant scoring off the bench.

[drsd]

Bucks fan here. The Bucks are in need of a backup Center cause Brook Lopez is out indefinitely with a back injury. We run a drop scheme on defense, hence we could have a use for a rim protector in order for Giannis to operate as a free safety. Ideally, he'd also be a stretch 5 to space the floor for Giannis. Bamba ticks all the boxes. Would you guys be interested in a trade around DiVincenzo? For instance:



DiVincenzo is a high-BBIQ, 2-way combo guard.
Nwora is a promising swing who can provide instant scoring off the bench.

The very last thing Orlando needs is another guard.

Perhaps Bamba and Ross for Kalaitzakis, B-Lopez, an unprotected FRP in 2023, and a right to FRP swap in 2024 would work.


Robin Lopez and M-Wagner are probably untradeable, so it kind of needs to be Bamba.


..

[flaco]

Bucks fan here. The Bucks are in need of a backup Center cause Brook Lopez is out indefinitely with a back injury. We run a drop scheme on defense, hence we could have a use for a rim protector in order for Giannis to operate as a free safety. Ideally, he'd also be a stretch 5 to space the floor for Giannis. Bamba ticks all the boxes. Would you guys be interested in a trade around DiVincenzo? For instance:



DiVincenzo is a high-BBIQ, 2-way combo guard.
Nwora is a promising swing who can provide instant scoring off the bench.

The very last thing Orlando needs is another guard.

Perhaps Bamba and Ross for Kalaitzakis, B-Lopez, an unprotected FRP in 2023, and a right to FRP swap in 2024 would work.


Robin Lopez and M-Wagner are probably untradeable, so it kind of needs to be Bamba.


..

Unfortunately, we cannot trade a FRP till 2029. We can offer a FRP swap this season. Cannot swap firsts from 2023 till 2027. All we have is our 2023, 2024 and 2027 SRP, plus Indy's SRP in 2025.

[Optimus_Steel]

Bucks fan here. The Bucks are in need of a backup Center cause Brook Lopez is out indefinitely with a back injury. We run a drop scheme on defense, hence we could have a use for a rim protector in order for Giannis to operate as a free safety. Ideally, he'd also be a stretch 5 to space the floor for Giannis. Bamba ticks all the boxes. Would you guys be interested in a trade around DiVincenzo? For instance:



DiVincenzo is a high-BBIQ, 2-way combo guard. He was a starter last season. The recent addition of Grayson Allen has made him a bit expendable.
Nwora is a promising swing who can provide instant scoring off the bench.

I would do it. Divicenzo can take over Garry Harris's empty spot on the roster and also prepares us for us eventually trading Tross. Fair deal for both.

[Knightro]

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[RookieStar]

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So like Vuc and AG, WeHam has blown up the value of the "supposedly" low value trade package we have in Mo??? Good enough for me. lol

[Bergmaniac]

His level of play has really decreased after his very good start. In the last 10 games his stats are:

9.3 PPG, 9,0 RPG, 1.6 AST, 40.2 FG%, 25.6 3P%, 47.1 TS%, 114.7 defensive rating (third worst on the team), -22.4 net rating (only Harris has a worse one in this stretch). And he's also shot a grand total of 4 FTs during the stretch.

[Knightro]

His level of play has really decreased after his very good start. In the last 10 games his stats are:

9.3 PPG, 9,0 RPG, 1.6 AST, 40.2 FG%, 25.6 3P%, 47.1 TS%, 114.7 defensive rating (third worst on the team), -22.4 net rating (only Harris has a worse one in this stretch). And he's also shot a grand total of 4 FTs during the stretch.

This may just be me personally, but Bamba is a tough player to root for because even in the games he plays well, there are still way too many possessions where just doesn't try hard enough. That is just so infuriating to me.

He's so tall and long that he's going to alter shots defensively that other guys will simply never get to, that's true. But it's clear to me that his issues with motor on both ends of the floor just aren't likely to ever go away.

[GameOver25]

Either he accepts being a backup for us on a reasonable contract, which is not likely to happen or we trade him while his value (ie blocking shots, still young) is still somewhat high I'm hoping. But yeah I can't get over his lack of awareness and motor. I'd trade him in a heartbeat if the deal is right.

[ReadyOrlando]

No

[T-Cat]

Either he accepts being a backup for us on a reasonable contract, which is not likely to happen or we trade him while his value (ie blocking shots, still young) is still somewhat high I'm hoping. But yeah I can't get over his lack of awareness and motor. I'd trade him in a heartbeat if the deal is right.

Players do improve over time!

I will say this, Mo is not a finished product and hopefully this summer he will continue to improve his overall game!

Right now his game is shooting 3s and protecting the rim!

[pepe1991]

Either he accepts being a backup for us on a reasonable contract, which is not likely to happen or we trade him while his value (ie blocking shots, still young) is still somewhat high I'm hoping. But yeah I can't get over his lack of awareness and motor. I'd trade him in a heartbeat if the deal is right.

Players do improve over time!

I will say this, Mo is not a finished product and hopefully this summer he will continue to improve his overall game!

Right now his game is shooting 3s and protecting the rim!

That was also his game 4 years ago.
He also can't really shoot (sub league average every year) .
For rim protector, his team defense and awarness is garbage.

Clifford pretty much saw through him. Crazy wingspan but lazy player without motor or desire to develop skillset for position.
He is like Bol and Maker. One wants to dribble ball for no reason, other two want to just shoot 3s for no reason.
It's like having PG who can't dribble ball but wants to play in post whole the time. Their skillset/lack of right skill to play positon they should be playing are just all messed up.

For all the crying past 3 years it's not hard to sit back and figure Bamba was draft mistake and playing him as backup is only way how you can use him. Regardless who your starter is.

[Tarheel]

Yep, certainly looks like the increased effort we saw at the beginning of the season hasn't even lasted to the quarter pole.

If there's a year for him to put the effort in it's now as it would likely translate to millions of extra dollars on his next contract, but he just doesn't seem to be able to motivate himself for some reason.

It will be interesting to see what ends up happening to him over the offseason. I personally wouldn't want to extend him and would probably try and package him with Ross this season to try and return some value and remove that decision.

[drsd]

After the to Bucks disaster-games for Bamba, nice to see the bounce back.

Was this his first game with Suggs as the lead guard? It is not clear that Suggs fuelled Bamba in any way in this game. Perhaps these to need to work on in-court chemistry.

[drsd]

Some interesting Bamba quotes, but no real answers on his free agency goals:

Bamba discussed his career journey thus far, the difference playing for coach Mosley following Steve Clifford, the outlook for the Magic, and his free agency future this summer with HoopsHype.

HoopsHype link: Q&A: Mo Bamba on his journey, the Magic's outlook, free agency

[Knightro]

Right now his game is shooting 3s and protecting the rim!

The problem with this is we’re now in year 4 of his NBA career and he doesn’t actually do either one of these things all that well.

What Bamba *could* be theoretically and what he actually is are pretty far apart.