Boston Celtics: 3 things to monitor during tonight’s game against Orlando
By Mark Nilon
What to monitor tonight No. 2) Mo Bamba
I’m not sure if you know this (he says with the most sarcastic tone), but we here at the Houdini have been huge advocates for the Boston Celtics to pursue the Orlando Magic’s second-year center Mo Bamba via trade.
In fact, earlier this week we posted our, what, 1,000,000th piece discussing why the Cs should consider trading for him.
Look, we understand this appreciation for Bamba is at an obscene level. That said, with someone of his skill set and size, it’s hard not to ooze at the potential he has.
We’ve talked about him so much, that it’s beginning to become monotonous explaining our reasoning as to why the Celtics should consider pursuing him so we’re just going to reference one of our previous pieces discussing the matter:
"The former sixth overall pick back in 2018 has started just one game during his two year career, and averages only 15.3 minutes during this span. However, when playing the same position as teammate Nikola Vucevic, minutes will unsurprisingly be tough to attain. Per-36 minutes, the 21-year-old is boasting averages of 13.7 points, 11.7 rebounds and 3.3 blocks per game on 47 percent shooting from the field and 33 percent shooting from 3. In short, he is a young 7-0 talent who has impressive athleticism, defensive chops and has proven capable of stretching the floor. With the fact that the Magic re-signed Vucevic to a four-year, $100 million deal this past offseason, it appears they are set at center for the foreseeable future, which makes Bamba expendable."
We get it, his sample size has been quite small since coming into the league and, yes, it is fair to say that he’s a bit of a gamble at this point. That said, with the fact that Johnathan Issac is out for the rest of the season with a torn ACL, it could lead to more playing time for Bamba which, in turn, would lead to enlarging said sample size.
With this in mind, Celtics fans should closely monitor the play of Mo Bamba tonight.