Orlando Magic: Mohamed Bamba has the right attitude facing adversity

To say Mohamed Bamba has had a turbulent time since being selected sixth overall in the 2018 NBA Draft by the Orlando Magic, would be putting it lightly. Bamba’s career, despite beginning with one of the catchiest songs of the summer named after him, has failed to get off the ground, for a number of reasons.

These include, but are not limited to, a leg fracture, being stuck behind Nikola Vucevic and Khem Birch in the depth chart, having Covid-19 and head coach Steve Clifford not trusting in younger players when trying to make the playoffs. In recent times though, many of these impediments have gone away, although new ones have taken their place. They even signed Moe Wagner.

The most concerning of these for Bamba, being the fact the Orlando Magic traded away Vucevic in a deal involving first-round draft picks, and Wendell Carter Jr. Another young center who was taken one spot after Bamba by the Chicago Bulls back in 2018.

Bamba continues to find himself against the ropes, but there is no doubt that he has the right attitude to ultimately succeed with the Orlando Magic.

That might seem a strange stance to take. After all, if you’ve watched enough Magic games, and you deserve a medal at this point if you have, then you’ll know that the body language of Bamba on the court isn’t always great. For all of the raw talent that he has, the combination of height, willingness to shoot and blocking ability will always be exciting, it has rarely all come together.

Bamba can point to a lack of consistent playing time as a key reason for this, as when he has gotten a good run in the team, he has been able to string together better showings. So although the body language and effort haven’t always been there, everything else regarding his attitude has been.

Two moments in the last number of days stick out here, and they may yet be what saves Bamba and leads to him having a long-term role with the Orlando Magic. The first was how he handled the devastating ankle injury to Devin Cannady in a recent loss to the Indiana Pacers. Right away we knew it was a bad one, and Bamba made a great reactionary move to cover the injured area with his jersey so that Cannady couldn’t see quite how bad it was.

You might say that anybody would have done the same in this situation. Bamba himself basically said as much when asked about it afterward. But there’s no doubt that not everybody would have acted in the same manner. Not out of selfishness or malice, but because in moments like that, most of us freeze and are unsure what to do.

If helping out Cannady was one thing worth applauding, Bamba’s comments about helping coach Clifford after he was diagnosed with Covid-19 were something else entirely. Even from the outside looking in, it feels as though Clifford has never really trusted Bamba, and has been reluctant to let him get out and run. Yet when asked about his coach, Bamba had this to say;

"Cliff is a strong dude. Us northeast dudes, we’re pretty tough. … I called him and I just wanted to tell him that I was there for him. If he needed me to drop off stuff at his house, I’ll do it. I knew firsthand how bad COVID could be — not even necessarily the during but the after, the aftermath of it. I just wanted him to know that I was there for him, the same thing he would’ve done for me."

Bamba was always going to say something that, at the very least, wouldn’t have been negative when put on the spot like this. But rather than give a fluff answer, he put forward one that appeared honest and genuine. Even if it was not those things, killing somebody with kindness isn’t an approach usually taken by players, and was a great way to handle the situation anyway.