Hmmm. Not what I am seeing on the court. Wilson has the ability to sag off and still effect the opposing players 3 point shot if he needs to. Several times Wilson appears to be getting beat by smaller quicker players but he has been recovering beautifully.
I believe JB, in an interview said DJ can guard 3. I might be wrong on that…
Beilein said he can guard 5 positions.
Yup, just found a recent quote:
"Defense was much better,” Beilein said. “DJ Wilson is really changing the way we guard. We can switch more because he can guard five positions.”
Ditto for Bamba, in my opinion.
You don’t think Matthews starts?
If Michigan has a chance with Bamba I think it will be in their ability to capture his imagination with how they would use him on offense and defense. Duke and Kentucky have an established body of work when it comes to big men. Bamba sees himself as a guy the skills to contribute at 5 positions.
From what I’ve seen Bamba doesn’t seem to ACTUALLY have the ability to contribute at 5 positions. For example, here is DX’s scouting report from a year ago.
USA Basketball Junior Nat’l Team Mini-Camp Scouting Reports: Big Men
October 10, 2015
Mohamed Bamba, 6-11, Center, New York, Class of 2017
Jonathan Givony
Strengths
-Absolute physical specimen of a human being. Measured 6’11 in shoes, with a ridiculous 7’8 wingspan. Also has gigantic hands
-Very thin at the moment, but has big shoulders and should have very little problem filling out his frame long term
-Impressive athlete, even though he’s nowhere close to reaching his full potential physically
-Mobile and agile. Can run the floor and elevate quickly around the basket
-Excellent finisher around the basket. Has good hands and barely needs to jump to dunk
-Has enormous potential defensively with combination of size, length and instincts
-Can get in a low stance and move his feet. Steps out to the perimeter impressively. Contests shots from 10 feet away seemingly.
-Great potential as a rebounder. Gets to loose balls that most players can’t dream of
-Has a bit of an edge to him. Likes to compete
-Articulate and intelligent off the court
Weaknesses
-Feel for the game is a work in progress. Lacks significant strength and experience. Has a long ways to go still
-Very raw offensively. Doesn’t have any real ability to score inside the post. Lacks significant lower body strength so can’t establish any type of position or back anyone down, even players much smaller than him. Wants to dribble every time he catches it
-Doesn’t really know how to utilize his athleticism. Looks somewhat awkward with his movements at times. Still at a very early stage of his development physically
-Confidence, motor tends to waver. Goes through spurts where he doesn’t play as hard as he should. Gets down on himself easily.
Outlook: Extremely raw, but had arguably the highest upside of any player in attendance. Really struggled the first day, but came back strong and showed some very impressive things in the second and last day of the Camp. Will draw some inevitable comparisons to Rudy Gobert.
Idk, if JB is gonna be willing to lie to him and tell him he’ll be allowed to drop 3s from Day 1, haha.
Coach Beilein doesn’t need to fabricate anything to Bamba. Just tell him to unpack his bags, get comfortable, enjoy college, be receptive to coaching, and prepare to be an All American.
Is it really hard to imagine Bamba defending 5 positions in the big ten?
Yeah, I can’t see that. Not much shooting or ballhandling with that lineup. Could average 20 TOs per game.
I was more talking offensively, where Bamba would likely be completely restricted to playing the 5. I’m sure Bamba could switch defenders similarly to how DJ does.
Man, people are getting way ahead of themselves around these parts. In the other thread I saw people alright talking about what’s next for Donlon… he’s been an assistant coach here for four games.
As for Bamba, I think he’s almost certainly a five at Michigan. The idea of Bamba and Wilson in the frontcourt would be Michigan’s best interior defense in I don’t even know how long.
Bamba will play the five, yes he can switch more screens and things like that, but he’s an elite player around the basket. He dunks everything, blocks everything and rebounds everything. Playing the five at Michigan will get you some pick and pop opportunities as well, but Bamba is a five all the way IMO.
Like I’ve said, there is little out there from him. He has said though that he sees himself as positionless and he wants to turn potential into production.
My opinion that Bamba would be a fine option at the 4 is influenced by my belief that a) Bamba wants to play power forward; b) we have two good centers and potentially one great centers in Junior Wagner and sophomore Teske; and c) Wilson can play 3 offensively.
Under no circumstances do I believe Bamba getting court time is going to be contingent on him outplaying and putting Wilson and Wagner on the bench. Redshirt Junior Wilson, Junior Wagner and Freshman Bamba (hopefully) will play their 30 minutes.
We haven’t seen it yet,except in practices but Wilson can shoot. His form is good and he rarely misses by much. JB goes out of his way to say “Wilson can shoot”.
I don’t completely reject the scouting report Reegs offered but I think the report reflects a very high standard. I mean, scouts are not looking at Bamba and thinking x,y,z are the weakness that will prevent him from being a dominant college player. His weaknesses are not even things that will prevent him from getting drafted. He will get drafted. …rather If he fixes his weaknesses x,y,z then he will be an NBA allstar.
What he wants doesn’t really matter if he can’t do it. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Went 0/4 from three in AAU play this year, and doesn’t look to have any handles either. I can see JB selling him on maximizing his talents, but he doesn’t seem to actually have the tools to be a perimeter player, despite what he thinks.
Slow down the hyperbole. Bamba sounds like a dynamic skilled big man. But it took McGary nearly 3 mos of games to finally “click.” At Kentucky Skal Labissier never really “clicked” as a dominant college freshman. At Kansas Joel Embiid had an up-and-down freshman season. At Wisconsin Frank Kaminski wasn’t a game changer as a freshman. It’s a tough position for a skilled tall man to come in and dominate.
“Slow the hyperbole”.
Why? I am having so much fun…seriously though, I think people are underestimating how good Bamba would be for us. Compare Kaminsky in high school to Bamba. It would have been entirely reasonable to predict that Kaminsky is going to be a bit of a project to become good. Same with Mcgary…
I agree with the idea that it is very difficult to be an excellent center defender. It takes focus. It takes reading the play. It takes time. McGary looked somewhat lost for almost the entire season to be honest. Which is another reason why it does not make sense to assume Bamba would play center, yet you want him on the court, right away.
I see no reason Bamba and Wagner couldn’t play on the court together. With Wagner’s 3 point shooting ability and Bamba’s agility and length, why not?
I agree a hundred percent. I see Wagner getting heavy minutes at the four there in that situation. Wilson sliding to the three briefly. All three play 27-32 minutes a game. Everyone wins.
Not saying it won’t happen, because we did transition DJ from the 5 to the 4 this year but the biggest reason I don’t think Wagner would ever play the 4 even with Bamba next year is the number of wing options we will have.
Assuming X and MAAR are both playing the majority of the game at the 1 and 2, that leaves Matthews, Poole, Duncan, Ibi, Wilson and Livers to split 80 minutes at the 3 & 4 spots. I don’t see Wagner sliding down with the wealth of options there already.
Im’ sure it will work out. Can’t speak for Harvard, But I’m certain UK, Duke and whatever other schools he is looking at has good underclassman at the 4 and 5 spots as well, not to mention incoming recruits. And he knows that. I think he’s good enough to carve out his minutes. The Michigan situation is as good if not better than the other schools. I think having a good season this year would go a long ways towards having a chance to secure his services.