2018DD
#6 — Mo Bamba — Orlando Magic
Jeff Hawkins is an award-winning sportswriter with more than four decades in the industry (print and digital media). A freelance writer/stay-at-home dad since 2008, Hawkins started his career with newspaper stints in Michigan, North Carolina, Florida, Upstate New York and Illinois, where he earned the 2004 APSE first-place award for column writing (under 40,000 circulation). As a beat writer, he covered NASCAR Winston Cup events at NHIS (1999-2003), the NHL's Chicago Blackhawks (2003-06) and the NFL's Carolina Panthers (2011-12). Hawkins penned four youth sports books, including a Michael Jordan biography. Hawkins' main hobbies include mountain bike riding, 5k trail runs at the Whitewater Center in Charlotte, N.C., and live music.
All posts by Jeff HawkinsUpdated19 Oct 2021
The Orlando Magic will select Mo Bamba from Texas with the sixth pick in the NBA Draft.
In his only season at Texas, Bamba came out firing. He averaged 12.9 points, 10.5 rebounds, 3.7 blocks, 0.8 blocks, 0.5 steals per game. He shot 54.1 percent from the field, 27.5 percent from three and 68.1 percent from the free throw line.
Let’s talk about wingspans for a second, Bamba has a 7-foot-10 wingspan.
He had a very productive freshman year, and Texas has a history of very productive players coming out of their system. With Bamba, the Magic add another talented player to their already talented front court and fill a potential void in the future. They now have two young core pieces to build around with Bamba and Jonathan Isaac.
Bamba’s game is going to translate very well. The Magic have not had a forward this dynamic in a long time. He is very athletic and skilled at the rim. He is also great at getting rebounds and just dominates the board, something the Magic haven’t had since Dwight Howard. He is going to be the future for the Magic for a long time and Magic fans should be pleased with him sliding to the number six pick. He fits Steve Clifford’s system very well and will now play alongside Nikola Vučević with a dangerous and lethal front court.
He is not the traditional stretch four (shooting the three ball), but he will still be very productive in today’s NBA.
