Mo Bamba

Bamba's rookie season was cut short by a foot injury and, ultimately, a tibia stress fracture that required surgery. The pair of injuries caused the big man to play in just 47 games over the course of his first regular season. Now, Bamba enters year two completely healthy, but he is likely to take on a similar role as last season. In 47 games, most of which were spent backing up All-Star center Nikola Vucevic, Bamba averaged 6.2 points, 5.0 rebounds and 1.4 blocks across 16.3 minutes per game. Even if it was a small sample size, Bamba showed promise on both ends with his ability to rack up rebounds and blocked shots in short spurts along with making 30 percent of his three-point attempts, which is a good baseline for the seven-footer. But with Vucevic wasting no time signing a four-year, $100 million contract with the Magic this offseason, it looks like Bamba's workload will remain relatively unchanged. However, while Vucevic did play 80 games for the first time in his NBA career last season, he is no stranger to injuries, which would be Bamba's only clear avenue to seeing extended minutes in his sophomore season.

Bamba, selected out of Texas with the sixth overall pick in this summer’s draft, checks in at seven feet tall with a 7-foot-9 wingspan. Due to his physical tools, the Big 12 All-Defensive Team honoree projects to be a high-level shot-blocker from Day 1, as he averaged 3.7 blocks across 30.2 minutes last season. His quality rebounding (10.5) and scoring (12.9) also helped him be selected to the All-Big 12 Second Team. While Bamba already seems to be a lock as an imposing defensive presence, his upside as a three-point shooter has intrigued scouts. He only shot 14-of-51 (27.5 percent) from three at Texas, but has since showed off improved form in workouts. That said, he was conservative with the shot during summer league, going just 2-for-4 in 59 minutes. So, Fantasy owners hoping Bamba will come out shooting multiple threes every night could be let down. Starter’s minutes aren't a guarantee, either, as 27-year-old Nikola Vucevic remains on the roster. He saw 29.5 minutes per game last season and was 0.8 boards away from averaging a double-double. Regardless, given that Orlando is deep into a rebuild, it would be surprising if Bamba doesn't see significant run during his rookie campaign.