2018 NBA Draft: Early scouting report on Mo Bamba

Taking a closer look at Mo Bamba’s game, one of the bigger names expected to enter the 2018 NBA Draft

The 2017-18 NCAA basketball season is well underway, and we’ve already seen some epic performances from some of the better projected NBA Draft prospects. As we continue take a deeper look at the 2018 draft, Mo Bamba is the focus in this scouting report.

Mohamed Bamba,C, Texas

Freshman 

Big Board Rank: 6

Strengths: Bamba’s biggest strength in his game right now is his rim protection, standing at almost 7 feet and has been measured with a 7-foot-9 wingspan. He’s averaging four blocks a game in under 30 minutes of action. There’s a chance you could plug him in a NBA game soon, and he’d be a solid rim protector.

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He also shows promise in his face up game. Often catching the ball around the baseline 14 foot and in area facing up and showing great touch on contested jump shots. He’s already attempting 3’s as well, and if he starts knocking those down Bamba could be a nightmare of a matchup.

Bamba is another one of those ceiling guys where you just banking on him developing. What I really like about him though is that he already has a use in the NBA. At worst with Bamba you’re getting a guy you can plug in for 10-15 minutes and protect the rim.

Weaknesses: Bamba stands at nearly 7 feet and is listed at 225 pounds. That’s very generous, even though Bamba has worked on his upper body strength his legs still look like toothpicks. This hurts him mostly offensively. As Bamba can’t get the positioning in the low post he wants, and often has to settle for working in the high post.

His motor has been the biggest concern early on. The lack of effort put in to run the floor and at least try and get physical down low has been very noticeable.

He is also lacking any kind of developed post offense. Bamba generally just uses his little right handed hook shot that rarely goes in. Other than that hook Bamba only shoots faceup jump shots, lobs, and put backs.

Bamba could be very special defensively if he guards smaller guards on the perimeter. However he routinely gets blown by even by smaller forwards when he’s forced to guard outside the paint. This is a surprise given the type of athlete Bamba was reported as.

Must Read: 2018 NBA Draft: Big board 1.0 and draft stock updates

Outlook: Mohamed Bamba has physical gifts you only get to see once a generation. There’s no teaching his size and length. His success at the next level will be fully dependent on his motor and muscle. If Bamba adds more muscle and starts playing with some urgency he won’t even need to develop his offensive game to be effective.

If he doesn’t, though, we could be looking at a potential bust. Bamba showed an improved motor in his best game of the season. In that game against VCU, Bamba put up 13 points, 13 rebounds, and four blocks.