Rookie Bamba disappointed in himself so far
Mohamed Bamba is his own harshest critic and, in his own words, the Orlando Magic rookie center isn’t playing up to par.
Just 23 games into the 7-footer’s first season in the NBA, he was asked Monday to critique his play.
“Not really happy with what’s going on now,” Bamba said. “Just gotta stay the course and keep doing the little things.”
He’s playing 17 minutes a game and averaging 6.7 points, 4.5 rebounds, 1.1 assists and 1.3 blocked shots.
By comparison, although it’s somewhat ridiculous to compare college to the pros, he was putting up far larger numbers during his one-and-done season at the University of Texas last year. He averaged 13 points, 10.5 rebounds and 3.7 blocks in playing 30 minutes a game.
While you can’t really compare amateur to professional basketball, it’s still something that sits in the back of a player’s mind. Sure, perhaps he’s not expected to put up the same sort of numbers he did in college, but to the player the sudden drop in production is frustrating to most rookies.
Dealing with the lack of production at the next level is sometimes an even bigger challenge than the production itself.
When Bamba was asked what specific parts of his game he was not happy with, he said, “All of it.”
“I’m kind of tough on myself, but there’s definitely room for improvement. Twentythree games in is just a lot of games. Would have been two-thirds of the college season already, but I think I’m pretty up to par with how this game is played; haven’t played everybody just yet but I’m getting the gist of it. I’m still kinda learning how this league