Cleveland Cavaliers: 3 players to watch in the 2018 NCAA Tournament
By Ryan Piers
2. Mohamed Bamba
Cleveland struck out on landing DeAndre Jordan at the trade deadline. The seven-foot post player from Texas would be a great consolation prize.
Bamba is your contemporary NBA center — athletic, defensively skilled and crazy long. His wing span is measured at 7’9” and he can nearly touch the rim without jumping. It’s no wonder Bamba is being compared to the Stifle Tower himself, Rudy Gobert.
Built like the skyscrapers he once walked among, the Harlem native not only overshadows his peers in size, but style. Bamba’s offensive game is more evolved than your typical rim protector. His finesse around the rim is impressive and he has enough range to make teams defend him in the NBA. He displayed the entire package against TCU in January.
Bamba would be a great complementary piece to Cleveland’s formidable front line. Both Kevin Love and Tristan Thompson are good rebounders, but neither excels as a shot-blocker.
Enter Bamba, who is averaging 3.7 blocks per game and built like a sequoia tree. He’ll provide much-needed punch to the Cavs’ interior defense, where opponents have an effective field goal of 54.5 percent, 28th in the league.
Most importantly, he provides a punishing post presence, leaving LeBron to play on the wing. James pretty much does everything great. Being battered and bruised in the paint, however, is something he would rather avoid.
Bamba would do LeBron’s grunt work, assuming James decides to stay with Cleveland. Maybe selecting Bamaba would entice him to remain in C-Town.