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I thought it was interesting how he responded to a question about his work ethic on the Ricky. He ran through his day, which definitely consisted of a lot of training, and then said something like "does that sound like someone with a poor work ethic?" How you're training makes a big difference. Bamba clearly does not approach these things appropriately enough for a professional.

Bumba has no basketball IQ whatsoever, on top of that he makes zero effort and has no motor.

He’s definitely a guy who looks like trash in limited minutes. He’s probably feeling anxious that he has to perform when he goes in and makes a ton of mistakes. That’s why he looked better on the Magic where they allowed him to fail throughout the game and he’ll still get plenty of minutes

Idk how he trains, could do everything he’s supposed to do and just not be good enough. He just seems like someone that got pushed through the system because he’s tall and reasonably coordinated and might not have the ability and instinct beyond that. It’s one thing to do a million squats, it’s another to take a ball and dunk it on top of a similarly talented grown man with more of a killer instinct and so on.

Stanford wrote:I thought it was interesting how he responded to a question about his work ethic on the Ricky. He ran through his day, which definitely consisted of a lot of training, and then said something like "does that sound like someone with a poor work ethic?" How you're training makes a big difference. Bamba clearly does not approach these things appropriately enough for a professional.

Funny to read this because after we signed him in the summer I watched one of his YouTube videos and it was going through him training at a lush gym (hard to even call it a gym honestly, more like a day spa for trophy wives where they have cucumber water at the front desk). Pretty sure it was LA, but it was just bleh to watch, dude did some pilates and some light shooting. Kind of a red flag comparing it to other guys who post their training.

I wanted the kid to succeed here. Guess that one game he dropped 30 on the Sixers was a fluke.

Yeah, he's the textbook example of someone who has great pyhysical tools, good coordination/technique/skills, but just doesn't have the IQ, feel for the game and mental resilience to perform consistenly against similar talented players.

It was worth a shot, but he just isnt good enough. At this rate, he's going to be out of the league soon.

All he has to do is fight for rebounds, block or disrupt a couple of shots around the rim and sit out at the 3pt line as a stretch big....

Is that too much to ask from him?

phillynative wrote:All he has to do is fight for rebounds, block or disrupt a couple of shots around the rim and sit out at the 3pt line as a stretch big....

Is that too much to ask from him?

He does that. He just looks so ugly doing it that nobody appreciates it. And he's so long that when he does block or rebound it doesn't even look like he earned it so that doesn't count, either.

He has still only played 57 minutes this year, so don't put too much weight in this, but:

3/7 on three-pointers for 42.9%
.636 TS% is second on the team to Batum
20.4% TRB% is highest on the team and would be top 5 in the league if he could keep it up while playing enough minutes to qualify.
11.0% BLK% is more than double Embiid's (2nd highest on the team), and would lead the league if he could keep it up while playing enough minutes to qualify. He couldn't, of course, but it's still an impressive number.
Per-possession, he is 3rd highest scorer on the team behind Embiid and Maxey
DRtg is tied with Embiid for 2nd-best behind RoCo

Those are awesome numbers. The numbers are mostly against bench units and it's still a small sample size, but all the data says he is not the total waste most people seem to claim he is.

He looks lost. He makes mistakes. But he's long enough to disrupt things seemingly without even trying, and while looking bad doing it. And since he's mainly just putting back ORebs for dunks and shooting 3-pointers at a decent percentage, his offensive contribution is also decent. Even though he also sometimes looks lost on offense and turns the ball over more than he should. It adds up to... an average center. Just like he has been his whole career.

FlyingArrow wrote:

phillynative wrote:All he has to do is fight for rebounds, block or disrupt a couple of shots around the rim and sit out at the 3pt line as a stretch big....

Is that too much to ask from him?

He does that. He just looks so ugly doing it that nobody appreciates it. And he's so long that when he does block or rebound it doesn't even look like he earned it so that doesn't count, either.

He has still only played 57 minutes this year, so don't put too much weight in this, but:

3/7 on three-pointers for 42.9%
.636 TS% is second on the team to Batum
20.4% TRB% is highest on the team and would be top 5 in the league if he could keep it up while playing enough minutes to qualify.
11.0% BLK% is more than double Embiid's (2nd highest on the team), and would lead the league if he could keep it up while playing enough minutes to qualify. He couldn't, of course, but it's still an impressive number.
Per-possession, he is 3rd highest scorer on the team behind Embiid and Maxey
DRtg is tied with Embiid for 2nd-best behind RoCo

Those are awesome numbers. The numbers are mostly against bench units and it's still a small sample size, but all the data says he is not the total waste most people seem to claim he is.

He looks lost. He makes mistakes. But he's long enough to disrupt things seemingly without even trying, and while looking bad doing it. And since he's mainly just putting back ORebs for dunks and shooting 3-pointers at a decent percentage, his offensive contribution is also decent. Even though he also sometimes looks lost on offense and turns the ball over more than he should. It adds up to... an average center. Just like he has been his whole career.

I think it's his motor, he usually has a size and length advantage but he's constantly getting outworked..

phillynative wrote:I think it's his motor, he usually has a size and length advantage but he's constantly getting outworked..

No doubt, and it looks terrible. I know those numbers aren't sustainable against the first string or if he played 30mpg, and they'll come down with a larger sample size anyway. But we don't need him for 30mpg or to play very long against the other team's starters. His length and his ability to hit an open 3 are all that we need. Fortunately, we aren't as desperate for a center as we have been in some past seasons. Well, we kind of are, because Embiid's other backups aren't really centers. Paul Reed is a PF playing center. Since Reed does a decent job, we don't need a lot of minutes from Bamba. But if he did play, we'd get more average, ugly minutes.

phillynative wrote:All he has to do is fight for rebounds, block or disrupt a couple of shots around the rim and sit out at the 3pt line as a stretch big....

Is that too much to ask from him?

Yes, yes it is, if he did that then no doubt Nurse would play him much more. he is basically unplayable.

It's a shame though, you watch his college videos, pre draft scouting, and the man was looking like a poor man's Embiid out there, if he would put in the effort, it's evident he would be so much better.

UT fans definitely noticed the under-skilled offensive toolkit from the first time we saw him though. Defensively he was as reputed and a menace from day 1. I'd say his career has turned out how a lot of us thought it would. He's very intelligent and has a lot of academic and non-basketball interests that have roots in his parents so I'm not sure how that has impacted how hard he has worked at basketball.

Bamba was only interesting because of his ability to shoot. His shot blocking would be intriguing if it were 2005, but these stringbean long guys aren't as effective as they once were. I'd rather have an (engaged) Embiid, who isn't known as an all time shot blocker, being an immovable object in the post and removing clean looks at the basket than trying to hunt for an elite shotblocker.

Bamba having no other discernible skill is why he's a 3rd string center right now.

It's interesting because both Reed and Bumba talked about potentially playing with Embiid.

Bamba is way too slow to be on the floor with Biid.
Reed is starting to look more comfortable on offense. I think there is still a chance we could see them on the floor because Nurse is willing to experiment and the defensive potential is there. When Embiid is being stretched out of the paint by a stretch big , I think Reed is good enough defensively and mobile enough to help in spot mins.