ROUTINE REBOOT
Magic center Mo Bamba trains without a basketball hoop, connects with fans online
Like everyone else connected to the NBA, Orlando Magic center Mo Bamba is eager to get back on the court and resume the season. He’s also well aware of the enormity behind what forced the suspension of the season.
The NBA is a small stakeholder in the worldwide coronavirus pandemic, and Bamba applauds the efforts the league and commissioner Adam Silver have taken to this point.
“I have full faith in our commissioner,” Bamba said during an Orlando Sentinel phone interview Friday. “He’s done a great job of handling this so far. I’m just ready to see what he says about it and we’ll go from there.”
What the NBA season looks like when it returns remains unknown. The most likely scenario continues to focus on teams playing games without fans. Multiple reports have indicated the league has asked teams to look for smaller-venue sites, such as practice facilities, to use for games.
Bamba said he last played at an empty arena — the 16,734-seat Frank Erwin Center — during scrimmages at the University of Texas, so he does have some recent experience with crowd-less competition.
But an NBA game with no one in the stands? While he’s curious to see how that works, Bamba said he expects players to compete at a high level — fans or no fans.
“I’m honestly not sure what that’ll be like,” Bamba said. “I can’t say it’ll be like Summer League because there’s still fans there. I can’t say it’s going to be like practice because of the intensity in the game, but I think
my teammates and I are all going to be just ready to just play the game that we’ve been playing.
“It’s tough because we love our fans and they do give us a boost whenever we need them as far as momentum, just cheering us on, but at the end of the day, competitive basketball is competitive basketball, and whenever you line up against somebody with the opposing jersey, you just want to go at them.”
A run through social media platforms reveals the extent of fans’ hunger for the NBA to return. The extended days of isolation and quarantines certainly are adding to that longing.
Bamba’s message to fans is simple: Hang in there.
“I would tell the fans to support us as they were [before],” he said. “I’m sure there will be a bunch of different ways to stream games. I’m sure the NBA is going to broadcast these games as much if not more. I’d tell them to stay engaged as much as they were before.
“I think us as players, whenever we’re not on the court, whenever we’re not working on our craft, we’ll engage with them as much as possible.”
While players are trying to maintain their competitive edge, they also must deal with the physical component of the season shutdown. Bamba is doing his best to stay in shape and keep the rust away as much as possible.
Visualization work has been a part of that.
“You can just lay in your bed and shoot the ball,” he said.
Bamba also works out every day, doing strength training and cardio work.
“I try to keep a schedule as much as possible,” he said.
For his cardio work, Bamba utilizes his stationary bike and gets in some running at a local track.
“I don’t have a basketball court, I don’t have the Magic facility to use, so it can be a challenge,” he said. “It’s hard to stay in playing shape when you’re not playing actual basketball.”
The skill work is a little trickier, but Bamba has been here before.
Growing up in an apartment, Bamba remembers the challenges of trying to hone his basketball skills when even the softest footstep could be heard by neighbors.
Dribbling a basketball definitely was off limits. That was his mom’s rule.
Now that those training limitations have resurfaced, Bamba is putting to use those lessons from long ago.
“Now I just do things around the house,” he said.
He recently shared some of his at-home workout drills — including ballhandling work without dribbling — on social media as he took over the NBA’s Instagram account last week.
Bamba, who turns 22 next month, also has used the time off as a chance to readjust the work on his left leg.
He missed the final 30 regular-season games as well as the playoffs last year with a stress fracture in his left tibia.
The Magic first approached this season with extra caution, limiting Bamba to one game in backto-back sets and capping his minutes. Eventually, his back-to-back restriction was lifted.
Bamba said his leg is feeling good and he’s continuing to work to strengthen that area. He’s trying to apply what he calls “good stress.”
For example, Bamba simulates jump shots — from the concrete balcony of his condo — to focus on his form as well as work on his leg.
“The thing is you don’t want to just not do anything because that doesn’t help whenever you do get back on the court. You want to keep adding on healthy stress,” he said. “And healthy stress is just jumping around and making sure your leg is able to handle what you do on the court.”
Bamba also is trying to rebuild his body a little. His offseason work pushed his weight to close to 240 pounds as he added about 20 pounds of muscle, and Bamba said he felt good playing at that weight. The break gives him a chance to regain some of the weight and muscle mass he cut from playing 60 games this season.
At the same time, he’s far from eating everything in his cabinets. Unlike the offseason, when players know how much time they have before the regular season arrives, no one knows when the hiatus caused by the coronavirus will be over. So Bamba is closely watching his diet.
A chef prepares meals and drops them off, helping Bamba stay on track with caloric consumption. He also stays in touch with Magic team chef and dietitian Zach Kerkow-Provo.
“It’s a huge email chain between me, Zach and our athletic training staff,” Bamba said. “We just go back and forth on different ways on how to optimize this time as much as possible so I can make gains and be a different player whenever we do get back.”
Bamba’s focus hasn’t solely been on basketball. He remains in touch with friends he made during his spring break trip to China as a high school senior and continues to monitor the pandemic there closely.
“It’s just been tough to see, but every time I reach out, I’m able to offer some words of encouragement,” he said.
Bamba, who has 851,000 followers on Instagram, also has taken advantage of the time off to interact with fans through social media. He’s made two appearances on the NBA’s Instagram account.
“I saw the opportunity was there to really connect with our fans,” he said.
“We’re able to have face time with our fans three nights a week, four times a week sometimes, and when you’re not able to do that anymore, you’ve got to try to find different ways to let them know we’re here and we’re going to do the same thing. I just found it perfectly suitable to go out and just connect with them as much as possible.”
He also took part in last week’s Magic Gaming’s “Help from Home” online donation event that raised nearly $10,000 for the Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida.
Bamba also gave away three pairs of Under Armour shoes — he has an endorsement deal with the company — during the event.
“It was actually really awesome,” he said of the experience.
The break wouldn’t be complete without some video-game activity. Bamba said his playing focus has been on “Fortnite,” “NBA 2K” and “Grand Theft Auto.”
“I’m not really into ‘Call of Duty,’ ” he said.
And not to worry, Bamba has company as he rides out the pandemic. His mom and sister have joined him at his Orlando condo. He said — jokingly — that while he likes to have the “house to myself,” he’s happy to have family with him.
“We’re just trying our due diligence to make sure we’re staying safe,” Bamba said.
And that’s the same approach he wants everyone to take.