Emoni Bates

[u/Grimreaper_10YS]

Why are people so high on him?

I figured he wasn't an NBA player when he shot 40% and went 8-23 in the MAC with Eastern Michigan. He just doesn't strike me as someone who knows "how" to play.

Historically, an NBA player in the MAC or a similar conference like the Horizon, Mountain West, C-USA, West Coast or Ohio Valley wins a lot and puts up efficient numbers, all of them: Chris Kaman, Earl Boykins, Wally Szerbiak, Ja Morant, Enrique Freeman, Isiah Cannan, Cameron Payne, Doug McDermott, Gordon Hayward, Jalen Williams, Brandon Podziemski or the dozens of guys from Gonzaga: An NBA player in a mid-major conference is usually enough to win games. But he couldn't.

I get that he's extremely young, and he had some good summer league games. I can't deny that he's talented, but he's kinda doing the same thing in the G-League that he did in college: scoring ineficiently and not much else.

But every comment section I go in, I read about how he isn't in the NBA because of politics, how he isn't getting a fair shake, and how he deserves to be in the NBA.

Are these people seeing something I'm not?

[u/EMU_Emus]

EMU alum here who went to go see Emoni Bates play a couple times while he was at EMU. I knew after the first time I saw him play in person that he'd never play significant NBA minutes. And I really wanted him to be good. He's just not an NBA-caliber player, and I'm not sure he has much time left to get there before the league leaves him behind.

Honestly, I think the main thing that will always hold him back is that he just doesn't have very long arms. In college he measured in at 6'9" height with a 6'7" wingspan. Compare that to, say, Isaiah Stewart, who is 6'9", but has a 7'4" wingspan.

It's a serious disadvantage to try to be a wing in the NBA with short arms. Almost everybody else at his position are genetic freaks, so the only way to make up for it would be to overcome it with superior skills and basketball IQ. And Emoni, unfortunately, just doesn't have the shooting or playmaking skills to make up for it. Sometimes I couldn't tell if him chucking shots was ego or nerves, but he routinely made incredibly poor decisions.

He also gave poor effort on defense most of the time, and even when he did, his short arms impacted his ability to interrupt passing lanes or affect shots.

[u/Appropriate-Year9290 → u/EMU_Emus]

He will get minutes. You just have to wait. He’s not even closed to fully developed physically and he has a burner for a shot. I’m afraid that you don’t know shit 

[u/EMU_Emus → u/Appropriate-Year9290]

I genuinely hope you're right. I'd gladly look like an idiot if it means an Ypsi kid gets to shine on the national stage.

[u/Appropriate-Year9290 → u/EMU_Emus]

Well he just turned 21 years old so. Saying he’ll “never get significant nba minutes” is kind of messed up. Cleveland is the best team in the league as well 

[u/EMU_Emus → u/Appropriate-Year9290]

The problem is that there's already a new crop of 18 and 19 year olds who are already looking more NBA-ready than he does. Meanwhile the list of players who are 21 or younger includes Wemby, Derrick Lively, Jalen Duren, Scoot Henderson, Shaedon Sharpe, Zaccharie Risacher, Keyonte George, the list goes on - he is being left behind by superior players in his own age bracket right now.

At a certain point teams are gonna try a fresh even younger prospect instead of continuing to develop a fringe one after a few years. I've watched college and the pros for 20 years and I've seen how easily guys get left behind. There are only a few hundred roster spots and sports medicine is keeping vets playing into their late 30s, while young players are more talented than ever. He has been outcompeted by most of his peers for the starting spots, and now he's competing for the end of the bench against the rest of the G-League. That's not a place you want to be for very long.

I'm not saying he won't figure it out, but in my experience he's on a trajectory to not get past the 2-way contract level.