Last Saturday, the Magic were in Philadelphia and, for the first time in an NBA regular-season game, Magic rookie Mo Bamba squared off against star Sixers big man Joel Embiid. The contrast was striking. Embiid is filled out, a 7-footer with a dense build that belies his listed weight of 250 pounds. Bamba, just 20 years old, is also listed at 7-feet but weighs in at a taut 221 pounds.
Still, for the Magic brain trust — team president Jeff Weltman and general manager John Hammond — the sight was rousing. Embiid is a sweet-shooting center with a deft passing touch who also can dominate defensively. Weltman and Hammond envision Bamba, in due time, becoming something similar.
"I said to Jeff," Hammond recalled, "‘It’s going to be interesting to see in about five years from now.’ He’s not as naturally big and thick as Joel, but just see who he is five years from now. He’s going to look a lot different. We just have to have a lot of patience."
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Of course, patience is in short supply in Orlando, where the Magic have not seen the postseason since 2012, just before the tumult and collapse of the Dwight Howard-Stan Van Gundy era. The organization floundered (averaging 26.4 wins over five seasons) under old executive Rob Hennigan, who was replaced by Weltman two years ago. Since then, Orlando has failed to identify and build around a star player, and failed to find a coach who could provide stability.
The hope is that new hire Steve Clifford, a defensive-minded coach who has done well helping to develop big men (including Howard) in the past, can be a much-needed stabilizer. And that Bamba, in time, can be the star the team needs. The success of the tenure of Weltman and Hammond may well depend on it.
To that end, Clifford has not thrown Bamba completely into the NBA blender just yet. He’s averaged 19.3 minutes — fewest among any other rookie drafted in the top eight — and though Clifford has played him at power forward alongside starting center Nikola Vucevic, Bamba has strictly come off the bench, and is likely to do so as long as Vucevic is healthy and with the team.
But Clifford shoots down the notion that Bamba is somehow being coddled or held back.
"I want to make sure you understand, it’s not like he’s not playing," Clifford said. "He’s playing big minutes. I mean, what I am saying when people talk about starting, he’s not going to be ready this year, physically, to play 32 minutes. That’s not his body and all that. He is playing big minutes. He’s a huge part of our team. And if we’re going to be good, we need both [Bamba and Vucevic].
"But that would be, in my opinion, a misconception because he is going to play a lot, and he is a big part of things. It’s just that, again, at his age, for where he is physically, he is not capable of playing 30 minutes."
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Bamba has had his focus not only on learning the differences in the NBA game, but also on how to manage nutrition, strength training and rest over a travel-packed six-month season.
"I am just trusting what coach has in mind for me," Bamba said. "I am more than OK with how they have been bringing me along."
A week into his NBA career, Bamba has relatively mild numbers, especially in comparison to some of his fellow fast-starting rookies. He’s scoring 4.5 points per game with 4.5 rebounds, but adding 2.0 blocked shots and 1.3 assists per game.
Those assists are underrated. Bamba is working on becoming a stretch big man, like Embiid, and Clifford said that there is more to being a quality deep-shooting big than a decent 3-point percentage. Seeing the floor is a critical element.
"I think that he can shoot," Clifford said, "and I think people will see as we get going here and as he gets more and more comfortable, he can also pass. That’s the other piece. He had a very nice pass the other night playing with Vuc, actually two of them, and that’s one of the reasons why as we keep going, they can play together. He has a high IQ, and he’s very poised on the floor."
The shot is still coming along. In his one year at Texas, Bamba shot just 27.5 percent from the 3-point line on 51 attempts. He’s made just two of the eight he has attempted so far.
But Hammond told SN that his impression of Bamba as a shooter dates back to the spring of 2017, at the Nike Hoops Summit, and that for a 20-year-old, there’s more to shooting potential than percentages.
"I remember seeing him there even before he went to college," Hammond said, "and here’s this kid who walks out on the floor and you’re kind of awestruck by his presence. But even at that time, you watch him at the free-throw line and the ball just kind of flutters up to the basket. You can see what kind of soft touch he has."
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It was that soft touch, along with his incredible length — Bamba measured in with a wingspan of 7-10 at the Chicago predraft combine, a new record — and mobility that had Hammond and Weltman eager to see whether Bamba would be available when they picked sixth in the June draft.
There had been rumors aplenty ahead of the draft that a team would trade up to land Bamba. His hometown Knicks were one of them.
"Chicago, Boston, I heard all of that," Bamba told SN. "During the draft, you’re not playing so it’s not like you have anything you’re distracted from. It’s just like, ‘Oh, these are places I could be playing for however many years.’"
In Orlando, there was only a slim hope he’d fall.
"We didn’t expect him to get to No. 6," Hammond said. "But I can tell you we were thrilled when he was there."
Now all there is for the Magic to do is wait, to let Bamba blossom in his current role, get him to bulk up, hone his shot and, hopefully, follow the path of Embiid, who worked out with Bamba this summer with trainer Drew Hanlen and has instigated a friendly rivalry with the rookie. The two had a trash-talking back-and-forth on Twitter this summer.
On Saturday, when Embiid scored on Bamba in that Sixers game, the Wells Fargo Center PA system played the song "Mo Bamba" by Bamba’s friend, rapper Sheck Wes. The guy who might well be the prototype for Bamba sure likes poking at him. But Bamba shrugs it all off.
"No bad blood," he said, "but at the same time, we step on the floor and that goes out the window. He’s a stand-up guy."