Mohamed Bamba: 2018 NBA Draft player profile

Strengths

Length

Obviously the first strength that comes to mind with Bamba is his length. I already mentioned that his combine measurements were borderline inhuman. He measured in at 7’0.75″ with shoes on. Bamba built off his near 7’1″ height with a 7’10” wingspan.

His wingspan was a combine record, along with posting  9’7.5″ standing reach. This is the second-longest standing reach ever recorded at the combine, per NBA.com, and is a half-inch greater than Rudy Gobert’s.

His one-of-a-kind length is a tremendous benefit in his game. What really sets Bamba’s length apart is the combination of athleticism that he pairs it with. This allows him to make plays that very few players have made before. I’m sure everyone remembers this dunk against VCU where Bamba’s wingspan is put on full display. It is more than just his wingspan though, as you can see his leaping ability as well.

Rim protection 

This trait builds off of Bamba’s incredible length. While it’s a major contributor to his rim protection, he is also very fundamentally sound blocking shots as well. He can challenge and block shots by not even jumping because of his length and patience.

This great patience allows Bamba to still contest shots and come up with blocks without fouling. Look at how Bamba stacked up this year compared to other rim protectors in fouls and blocks per 100 possessions:

Bamba also executes his blocks with perfect timing. This block against LaGerald Vick is very impressive. He does not even appear to be in position to block the shot. However, Bamba goes up and swats the floater attempt away, timing his rejection perfectly and going up to get the ball at its highest point.

Another impressive factor that makes Bamba such a complete shot-blocker is his instincts at the rim.

Here’s another clip from his game against Kansas, where Bamba is out on the perimeter involved in a pick-and-roll. As Malik Newman dribbles off the screen, Bamba recovers quickly back on his man. Newman appears to have an easy opportunity to score at the rim, but the Texas big man is able to easily reject his shot attempt after hustling back to make sure Newman could not pass the ball down low to Bamba’s man.

Bamba has also flashed the ability to make quality rotations on weak-side blocks as well. Here against TCU, he sees Horned Frogs guard Jaylen Fisher driving hard to the rim. Bamba is originally matched up with Fisher, but tells his teammate to switch onto the quicker guard.

This leaves Bamba out on the perimeter to pick up Kenrich Williams. However, he sees that his teammate is too late on the switch to fight through the screen set for Fisher. Bamba rotates over and meets the much smaller Fisher at the rim for an easy block.

Offensive potential 

With Bamba’s length, athletic ability and developing skill level, there is a lot you can do with him as a prospect. Whether that comes to fruition depends on him honing in on his improving perimeter game. He has been working on improved shooting mechanics and offensive skill with Drew Hanlen. He could become a quality pick-and-pop jump shooting threat if he continues to put the work in.

However, where I like Bamba developing the most offensively is accepting the roll of a rim-runner and lob-catcher in pick-and-rolls and off of dribble penetration, where he can use his athleticism, length and long strides to finish over defenders and catch lobs that most players couldn’t even imagine grabbing.

Unfortunately, Texas did not have very good spacing this year. This led to few pick-and-roll possessions that emulate NBA spacing, but you can see how his length and coordination allow him to convert on poor alley-oop passes that most players would not be able to succeed in converting.

The first step in immediate offensive development would be to succeed as a rim-runner. Then, whatever Bamba gets from his jump shot development will be a bonus. It’s a matter of accepting the role as a complementary player when it comes to scoring.

He will not be viewed as a unicorn in this role, nor will he be knocking down 3s with regularity. It is a less desirable role for young players, but it is definitely a role that translates to successful NBA careers.