PHILADELPHIA — The Philadelphia 76ers have relied on Mo Bamba a great deal as a starter as Joel Embiid continues to recover from a meniscus injury that required surgery.
Bamba hasn’t been Embiid. Then again, who is? But what Bamba has done is provide size and rim protection on defense, and he has begun to show off more of a 3-point shot on the offensive end.
Over his previous five games, Bamba is a combined 3-for-5 from deep. He has shown something on offense as a pick-and-pop option in the halfcourt offense and he has been an option as a trailer on the fast break for a 3-point opportunity.
“Mo, I think, is getting better,” said coach Nick Nurse. “He’s getting better. I think that he’s getting a little bit more in shape. He’s been able to go a lot longer stints than I think he was even a month ago, and I think he’s actually getting close to being a little bit more of a pick-and-pop threat than he’s been in his career. Instead of one a week, I think he can start hunting down like two a game — two or four 3s a game and be comfortable on it.”
The more Bamba continues to hunt those 3-pointers, the more it makes opposing defenses have to pay attention to him and it spaces the floor even more for Tyrese Maxey and the others on the offensive end. That’s why Nurse wants him to take those shots.
“He mentioned in Milwaukee a few times, if you’re gonna make some, keep taking them, and I think it takes our team to a different level when I’m stretching the floor and having their big step out of the paint to do something that they don’t normally do,” Bamba added. “Especially when you’re playing against the (Rudy) Gobert’s and the (Brook) Lopez’s and Bam (Adebayo) who is also a good rim protector out there, but I think it takes our team to another level and step up.”
The Sixers will continue to hunt for great shots, but they will want to get Bamba involved offensively with those types of looks.
“I feel good about him now on the pick-and-pop,” Nurse finished. “He’s starting to look like — if he doesn’t make it, it’s going to go in and out or something like that. So he is improving at both ends.”
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