Orlando Magic: Evaluating the season heading into the hiatus

3. Not Enough Mo Bamba

It’s incredibly unfair to label Mo Bamba a bust. Playing behind Vucevic is stunting the big man’s growth as a stretch five.

The 21-year-old has logged 20 minutes in a game ten times in two NBA seasons. It’s way too early for the Orlando Magic to give up on the sixth overall pick from 2018.

Coming out of college, Bamba was labeled with classic buzz words like wingspan, upside, and raw. It turns out the draft experts were right, but Orlando hasn’t done him any favors.

The former Texas Longhorn is full of potential as a 3-point shooter and shot-blocker. He just needs the time to show it off.

Bamba leads the NBA in blocks per 36 minutes, and opponents have hit just 50.6 percent of shots at the rim with him nearby (via NBA.com). That puts him in the top 20 of all players who have challenged at least two shots at the rim per game.

Bamba has been an extremely valuable player in the rare moments he’s been on the court.

Per Cleaning the Glass, Bamba is second to D.J. Augustin in efficiency differential. The Orlando Magic play like a 53-win team with Bamba on the floor and a 35-win team when he’s off the floor.

Their defense, which is already pretty good, improves significantly with Bamba. Vucevic, at the same time, is a poor defender who makes Orlando worse on that end.

Bamba needs be stronger around the rim.

The big man is in the 74th percentile of efficiency on putback possessions, but he’s only converting 63 percent of his shots within four feet of the basket.

Bamba only made 30 percent of his threes as a rookie, but this season, he’s shooting a respectable 35.6 percent on 1.7 attempts per game. According to NBA.com, Bamba converted on 40.3 percent of his wide-open 3-point attempts this season.

The most impressive part of Bamba’s 3-point improvement is that his attempt rate shot up this season from 28.8 percent to 36.9 percent.

The big man has also developed a great rapport with D.J. Augustin. More than 23 percent of his makes this season have been assisted by the veteran point guard.