The Orlando Magic may be in the midst of a rebuild. There is no denying that. This has been further manifested by their tepid 1-5 start.
But fans need to find a silver lining to get them through this season. Mo Bamba epitomizes this.
Bamba is simply a talented untapped player with a lot to prove. And so far this season, he has taken advantage of the opportunity.
Bamba had a lot working against him early in his career. He was playing behind an All-Star for a coach who was trying to get the team to win and advance in the playoffs. There was little patience for a raw young center. Especially one who dealt with injuries.
But Bamba is having a breakout season. With the enticement of a contract this offseason and a fresh opportunity, Bamba is making a positive impact for the team.
Mo Bamba had a rough start to his career. But the Orlando Magic big man has put himself in a strong position to make an impact to start this season.
Just take Friday’s loss to the Toronto Raptors, where Bamba scored 14 points, grabbed 18 rebounds and blocked three shots. This showed he can make an impact beyond his shooting. Bamba has four double-doubles in six games too.
He has taken a huge step forward and seems to be previewing an interesting decision for the Magic when they get to the offseason and his upcoming free agency.
Unlike teammate Wendell Carter, Orlando was unable to reach a long-term deal with their up-and-coming center. A lot of that was the inconsistency Bamba showed through his first three seasons. He had a lot to prove on the court before the team committed to him.
This means Bamba is in a contract year before he can potentially reach restricted free agency this offseason. When you are trying to secure the bag, an uptick in play is expected. Bamba is no different.
It is not just due to being into a contract year, but this is a much different team from last season.
There is no Khem Birch or Nikola Vucevic in front of him on the depth chart taking away minutes and opportunity.
Even better than getting more opportunities, he seems to have an impeccable rapport with his new head coach Jamahl Mosley. That was something that was virtually non-existent with former coach Steve Clifford.
Clifford was not terrible for Bamba or for young players. But he was very rigid in his rotations and had a dearth of patience with young players. Orlando was trying to win and had little time to let a young player develop. Especially once Bamba got behind because of a series of injuries into his career.
That is why he leaned on an All-Star in Vucevic and even the more solid Birch over Bamba.
Even last season after both of those guys were gone, he was still reticent to really give Bamba a fair shot. This can be seen by looking at his per-game minutes last season as season splits.
His minutes were still only 19 per game in the month of April even though Vucevic was traded to the Chicago Bulls the previous month. Even in May, it was only 25 a month and by then, Khem Birch was on the Toronto Raptors after the Orlando Magic bought him out.
That is quite the dichotomy when juxtaposed with this season. He is now averaging a career-high 32.3 minutes per night, which is good enough for third-highest on the team while starting every game.
Even better, while not as impressive numbers-wise as Vucevic was last season, he is averaging 13.7 points, 10.0 rebounds, 1.8 blocks and nearly a steal per game. The icing on the cake is shooting splits comprised of 50.8-percent from the floor, 40.7-percent from deep and 61.1-percent from the line.
As you can imagine, all of these would be considered career highs so far.
Even better, it seems like he has developed some promising on-court chemistry with Carter.
In six games this season, the Magic have a -0.1 net rating with both Bamba and Carter on the floor together in 134 minutes. Most of those minutes have come with the team’s stellar starting lineup. But something has clicked with the right guards paired with them.
They make sense as a congruous fit with the taller option in Bamba at the 5 and Carter as the quintessential 4. There is not a major concern of them creating a conundrum with spacing issues because both are capable of shooting inside and even from long range.
Bamba right now is not as good as Carter rolling off of screen and rolls and as an outside shooter, but he is showing more than just a modicum of improvement.
It was easy to give up on Bamba thanks to his slow start to his career.
However, most of that was out of his control. He had a coach who was not interested in playing him significant minutes, a logjam at center and injuries that caused him to miss significant time during his first three years.
Two of those years it even carried into the offseason. This stymied him from ever developing a rhythm and level of comfort with his team.
This year really seems different and his confidence is obviously growing.
Hopefully, it can translate to more wins over the rest of the season. If Bamba can sustain this pace, he is definitely worth keeping around as a cornerstone of this franchise.