Nows the time: Mo Bamba dishes on his improved strength and Nikola Vucevics return -

LAS VEGAS — His arms. What you notice first about Mo Bamba these days are his arms. They are larger, more defined. They resemble the arms of an NBA center.

Five months have elapsed since a stress fracture in his left shin ended Bamba’s rookie year prematurely, but he put that time to good use. As his Orlando Magic teammates steamrolled their way through the end of their regular season, earning a playoff berth in the process, Bamba unleashed his frustrations in the team’s weight room.

He has added 15 pounds, all of it muscle, since the NBA Draft Combine in May 2018.

Bamba intends to display those gains in the days ahead. He is the 7-foot-tall, 240-pound centerpiece of the Magic’s summer league team, which held its first practice Tuesday morning at UNLV’s Cox Pavilion and will play its first game Friday night.

“I think the goal of this whole thing is to just get better,” Bamba said. “It’s not a matter of putting up the best stats possible. It’s to get better and just learn and really, really buy into what all of our coaching staff is preaching and be the best version of myself.”

Bamba looked new-and-improved Tuesday, and not just because of his arms. Pat Delany, the Magic assistant coach running the summer league team, said Bamba played more energetically and at a faster pace than he played during his rookie year. Bamba also fought through contact and gathered more rebounds in traffic than he did last season.

“Really, it’s just a steppingstone,” Delany said. “What’s it been, six months since he’s really played organized five-on-five? He’s been doing a ton of work. It looks like he’s in a really good place.”

Bamba exulted Tuesday. On several occasions during the opening practice, he said, he broke into wide smiles on the court just because he was back on the court playing again. It did not matter that he was surrounded by undrafted players and G-Leaguers. Basketball is basketball, and Bamba is back.

The truth is he never went far away. Once doctors cleared him to sit on the sidelines again, he sat on the Magic’s bench, at home and on the road. On April 7, for instance, he put his long right arm around coach Steve Clifford after the final buzzer sounded and the Magic clinched their first trip to the postseason in seven years. Bamba said he regards that night as his favorite moment from his rookie season.

Clifford and Magic assistant coach Mike Batiste, a former NBA and EuroLeague big man, spoke with Bamba after every game, asking Bamba to describe his impressions of opposing post players and how Orlando played.

Magic executives have taken a long-term approach to Bamba’s development. He was only 20 years old during his rookie season, and at times, he looked overmatched. He was, after all, a youngster facing off against grown men. To be sure, Bamba needed to improve his cardiovascular conditioning and add strength.

In recent days, the Magic reached a deal with incumbent starting center Nikola Vucevic on a new four-year contract said to be worth a total of $100 million. Having Vucevic in the fold long-term likely will prevent Bamba from winning a starting role for the foreseeable future.

But on Tuesday, Bamba sounded excited to have Vucevic back, calling it “awesome” and “exciting to have somebody like that back on our roster.”

“I just think it was best for the team,” Bamba added. “He was our guy last year. He was an All-Star and he was the reason why we were in the playoffs. But I’m going to keep working. It’s not going to stop me from working on my game and working on the best version of myself.”

Vucevic and Bamba became friends even before last year’s training camp started. Bamba would ask Vucevic questions, and Vucevic gladly responded.

“He’s like an older brother,” Bamba said Tuesday. “He’s like a guy that I can really lean on to point out different things that he sees on the floor, and I point out different things that I see on the floor. And we just feed off of each other.”

Bamba is not shy about learning from veterans. He recently returned from a six-day Under Armour promotional trip to Beijing and Shanghai with Stephen Curry and Joel Embiid, and Bamba gushed Tuesday about how approachable Curry and Embiid are.

Bamba and Embiid took a picture together atop The Great Wall of China, and Bamba outshot Curry from 3-point range during a court dedication event in Shanghai.

“Twussst tha Pwocessss!!” 😂😂😂@underarmour @uabasketball pic.twitter.com/XF05COhJlH

— Mo Bamba (@TheRealMoBamba) June 28, 2019

But Bamba continued his work overseas. He brought Nathan Spencer, a Magic performance and rehabilitation coach, to China to supervise his workouts. Every day, Bamba lifted weights or did on-court work as Spencer watched closely.

Bamba started noticing changes in his body as early as March, especially with his core muscles. And now, he said, his legs no longer fit into the jeans he wore last year because his leg muscles have grown.

Before Bamba took the court for Tuesday morning’s practice, he wondered to himself whether his newfound muscle would prevent him from being as agile as he wants to be.

So how did he fare?

“I think I’m doing pretty well,” he said.

“Honestly,” he added, “it feels good to play at this weight because your bumps (against other players) are working, you’re getting to spots easier. And trust me, I’m still a ways to go, but it feels good. Progress.”

When the NBA Summer League tips off Friday, Bamba expects to show everyone how much he has improved.

“Now’s the time,” Bamba said.

(Top photo of Mo Bamba: Reinhold Matay / USA Today)

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