NBA: 10 young players in need of a breakout 2019-20 season

10. Mo Bamba, C, Orlando Magic

Mohamed Bamba entered the league in a precarious position from the beginning. He plays the most replaceable position and was part of a class stocked with quality big men. Four other bigs went in the top seven picks of the 2018 NBA Draft, which doesn’t include All-Rookie selection Mitchell Robinson.

That makes Bamba’s slow start to his career look even worse. DeAndre Ayton, Marvin Bagley III and Jaren Jackson Jr. went before Bamba and all filled it up during their rookie years. By contrast Bamba played in just 47 games, with only one start, and put up just 4.9 points per game. He missed the stretch run of the season with a tibia fracture.

The real blemish against Bamba is the performance of the Orlando Magic before and after Bamba’s injury. The team was 21-31 when he went down, but then caught fire and went 21-9 down the stretch. Many analysts point to Khem Birch‘s replacement of Bamba in the rotation as a key factor in that surge.

This offseason the team re-signed Nikola Vucevic to a lucrative contract and retained Birch on a two-year deal, hardly a vote of confidence in Bamba.

This is a critical year for Bamba to demonstrate he can deliver on the promise of his top-six selection. The underlying reality is that while he has a lot to improve on, he was not all that bad a year ago. He ranked sixth among rookies in box plus-minus, 13th in win shares (fourth in win shares per 48) and had the lowest defensive rating among all rookies.

Bamba can build on that to become a more consistent player, one who reacts instinctively on defense and who can extend his range on offense. The former Texas center has all of the tools to be a unicorn big man in the league, but centers who don’t deliver quickly are pushed to the edge just as quickly.