NBA Summer League Watchability Rankings: Denver Nuggets vs Orlando Magic, July 19

The Denver Nuggets 2019-20 NBA Summer League kicks off in Las Vegas on July 5. At Nugg Love we will be compiling watchability rankings for the four Nuggets summer league contests.

The Denver Nuggets second game of NBA Summer League will be a fun matchup because it features the return of another high-upside prospect, second-year center Mohamed Bamba. After playing in only 47 games last season, Bamba will be looking to show that he has improved significantly as the Magic organization simultaneously deal with the free agency of first-time All-Star Nikola Vucevic. If we are lucky, we will get an extended look at the all-length matchup that is Bamba vs Bol Bol.

Outside of Bamba, Orlando has an interesting summer league squad because they will have six members of their NBA G League outfit, the Lakeland Magic.

This includes players like power forward Amile Jefferson, who was All NBA D-League second team in 2018 and just averaged an 18-point, 11-rebound double-double over 34 games with Lakeland. Jefferson—an NCAA Champion with over 3300 minutes played at Duke—is an effective defender, active rebounder and possesses solid touch on his shots from the post.

Watching him battle on the boards with Jarred Vanderbilt will be interesting, as Jefferson—a great rebounder in his own regard—lacks the strength that will be present in even second unit four-men at the NBA level.

The Magic also have a sleeper prospect on their roster in 6-foot-5 wing Daquan Jeffries, who has a massive wingspan at 6-foot-11. Between he, Bamba and Jefferson, the Magic have a ton of length to frustrate Michael Porter Jr. and disrupt any actions the Denver Nuggets try to run.

The possible matchup between Bol Bol and Bamba is intriguing for many, many reasons, the most obvious being the similar body types of the two prospects, and the second most obvious being, that we have not the slightest idea of what the fully realized version of each will look like in the NBA.

Bamba played 47 games last season for the Orlando Magic (averaging 9 PPG/4 RPG/ 2 APG vs Nuggets) and he proved to be a capable shot blocker from the start. In his rookie season, Bamba averaged a whopping 3.3 blocks per 40 minutes. Bol averaged 3.6 blocks per 40 minutes at Oregon.

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Bol comes in with a 7-foot-8 wingspan, while Bamba has the NBA Combine record-breaking 7-foot-10 wingspan. The two unbelievably lanky big men have the potential to be two of the best bigs in the league, and it isn’t just due to their amazing shot-blocking skills. Both have solid jump shots and though Bamba’s awful free throw shooting raises concerns, the shooting potential is evident in both.

While Bamba shot an unimpressive 30 percent from the 3-point line, Bamba was a much more effective on corner 3-point shots, converting at a 35 percent rate per Cleaning the Glass ($). Bol possesses the same strengths, though he profiles as a much more reliable 3-point shooter and lacks the same defensive upside as Bol based off of what we have seen from him in terms of reading the floor.

Summer league will give Bol the chance to play the way the Denver Nuggets want him to play and Bamba’s length will give Bol the rare chance to go against someone who actually possesses similar measurements. This could give us a brief look into his shot-creating ability off the dribble, a facet of his game that will not be utilized much in year one.

As you will hear often throughout the offseason, NBA Summer League isn’t some amazing indicator of long-term success. However, it is still a useful evaluation tool. If we get to see Bol vs Bamba on July 19, we will officially have another useful plot point to use as we evaluate the careers of these awesome, similar and (definitely) modern-NBA center prospects.