5 players the Portland Trail Blazers should consider trading up for

2. Mohamed Bamba

• Height: 7’0.5”
• Weight: 226 lbs
• Position: C
• Age: 20

Coming out of the University of Texas after one year, Mohamed Bamba is the most physically impressive player in the entire draft class. Bamba stands 7’0″ tall and boasts a 7’10″ wingspan. He moves fast for his height and has fantastic balance.

Bamba has the potential to be a Rudy Gobert or DeAndre Jordan-type player, but with the ability to space the floor with shooting one day. He is still raw in his basketball skills and needs to get stronger to be able to handle guys down low like Karl-Anthony Towns or DeMarcus Cousins, but Bama’s physical tools are out of this world, and that is something you cannot teach.

In his one season at Texas, Bamba averaged 12.9 points, 10.5 rebounds, 3.7 blocks and 0.8 steals in 30.2 minutes per game while shooting 54.1 percent from the field and 68.1 percent from the free throw line. Bamba has a good looking jump shot, but he needs to work on it more to improve his consistency. For now, he is going to be a rim protector and lob threat on the offensive end when he enters the NBA. ESPN has Bamba ranked as the third-best prospect in the entire draft.

If the Blazers decided to move on from Jusuf Nurkic or decided they want to build around young talent, they should look to trade up and add Bamba. He could be the defensive anchor down low this franchise has been searching for. He can also be a threat rolling to the hoop off a pick-and-roll. Portland would be able to pair Bamba with last year’s first round selection, Zach Collins.

Bamba will see more space in the NBA then he did in college where everything is crowded. Portland would then have two young bigs with All-NBA potential and either both or just one of McCollum or Lillard in the backcourt. It would take a lot for the Blazers to trade up for Bamba in the top five, but he is a guy who could be worth whatever it takes to acquire him.