2018 NBA Mock Draft: Knicks go big with Mo Bamba

In an oral history at Grantland on the 1980s Houston Rockets, Sports Illustrated writer Jack McCallum said that those Rockets, which paired Hakeem Olajuwon and Ralph Sampson in its “Twin Towers ” frontcourt, were a really big deal. New York has the chance to create a similar situation with their bigs if Bamba falls to nine.

“The Twin Towers concept was really a big deal. The NBA was resistant to change. You went out there and you had a center and somebody else had to be a forward. That’s the first time I remember someone doing something different” McCallum said. These days, one could argue that while there are key innovators pushing the boundaries of small ball and switching on defense, the NBA is resistant to returning to what used to be effective in the league. Even with a dominant big man, teams like Minnesota refuse to play through them when there are many more isolation scorers around. Bamba joining Kristaps Porzingis could create an overpowering duo for opponents and provide the level of impact those Houston bigs found together.

Bamba is going to be a tremendous rebounder and shot deterrent right away — his growth will be dependent upon his motor and how much he develops on offense. Bamba shot just 28 percent from deep this season despite coming into it with high hopes as a floor-spacer. The cat’s out of the bag on his awkward jump shot.

However, Bamba would slide Porzingis onto smaller players that Porzingis would have to adjust for. Porzingis is not as quick as some stretch big men, and his most natural defensive position is center, where he could simply be a last line of defense at the rim. Bringing in Bamba would help the Knicks in some areas, and hurt Porzingis in others.