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Let’s Talk About Emoni Bates – NBA Summer League Preview – Cleveland Cavaliers, Cavs News



Let’s Talk About Emoni Bates – NBA Summer League Preview – Cleveland Cavaliers, Cavs News

originally I planned on doing a full roster breakdown of the Cavs 2024 summer league Squad and while I still planned on doing some sort of preview before the game start as well as covering this team throughout the summer league I wound up spending so much time focusing on ammani Bates that I figured a separate video was warranted because bat is still one of the most interesting prospects and highly talked about guys in the g-league and he has headed back to Las Vegas this summer while lmani has not lived up to the lofty and unfair expectations that were placed on him coming out of high school he is still working hard behind the scenes to make his jump to the next level he spent almost a full season in the G League last year averaging about 22 points six rebounds and two assists while charge had coach Mike gity emphasized expanding amman’s game off of the ball while still giving him enough freedom to create for himself throughout the flow of a game ammani was named to the G League allstar game and I would say he had a successful season overall and today we are going to talk about where Amman has improved how he can still get better and what we should be looking for in Las Vegas before we officially get started if you enjoy this content and you want to support the channel you can do so simply by hitting subscribe dropping a like or leaving a comment I know some people immediately think that analyzing a player’s flaws means that I hate them but that couldn’t be farther from the truth and I think most people get that I’m just talking basketball on this channel and that means I have to cover the strengths and weaknesses of each player I talk about I tend to have a pretty optimistic spin on just about every player including ammani so before you lump me into the very real group out there where they just hate ammani for no reason understand that I not one of those people and I’m simply here to break down the game as I see it and now at this point in amman’s development he is absolutely still at his best when he is knocking down stationary catch and shoot attempts he’s a fluid lights out shooter when he is being set up by a teammate last year in the G League ammani shot just 38% from the field and 34% on jump shots overall but more than 70% of his makes came on of assists this match is the eye test to me that shows ammani is an elite shooter when he is on the catch but he still has work to do elsewhere he has a quick release and enough height to punish Defenders who are late closing out to him but while ammani does flash a few flamethrower moments with the ball in his hands he still is searching for a way to be an efficient Creator on the ball and his activity without it is a work in progress this dude has Supreme confidence in his three-point shooting ability and it leads to some ridiculous heat check moments but this is also something that contributed to his struggles in college and I actually think his coaching staff in the G league has done a good job of helping ammani strike a finer balance between taking those tough jumpers and playing within the flow of an offense amman’s ability to knock down difficult shots is a great skill to have but it’s not one that will be enough to get him to the NBA there’s still work to be done and I do think last season was a clear step forward for amanii I think it’s important that he has shown a willingness to buy in and learn from his coaches if we look back to 10 years from now and Amman is enjoying a successful career then I would say that one of the core reasons for that success is that he has been incredibly coachable up to this point shifting our Focus to the obstacles that he still has to overcome ammani doesn’t really have NBA level athleticism and this has been my primary concern with him as a prospect he’s not as fluid in his movements or coordinated when being compared to other pro athletes his footwork is a little clunky and I don’t think he has the explosiveness or vertical pop to overwhelm his opponents athletic testing at the NBA draft combine was below what you would have hoped on top of measuring with a negative wingspan and a 179 pound frame Bates was undoubtedly one of the best Shooters at the combine and I actually think his overall performance is what helped the money get drafted after a rough experience in college but the combine did give us concrete measurements showing that he’s a little slower and less athletic than his Pierce and so if you don’t have the foot speed to keep up with your opponent then you need to be crafty enough to make up for it elsewhere and it just 19 years old in his rookie season ammani did not have that craft to his game at least not yet and again not at the NBA level you can think of an example in someone like Kyle Anderson who might lack athleticism but is still able to be an impact player because of his feel for the game ammani will have to follow a similar path if he wants to reach his individual ceiling and since the combine Bates has apparently added close to 20 pounds entering Las Vegas at 196 compared to just 179 at the combine this is important because because it will allow ammani to better utilize his 68 frame and stop him from being knocked off balance when he’s getting to his spots whether that’s on the ball or getting to the rim just navigating screens in general that added weight is a huge stepping zone for Bates because if there is a path forward to being a three-level scorer then bulking up and rounding out the rest of his game is the key for amanii and so I’m interested to see how he looks with this added weight and if it becomes easier for him in Las Vegas then it has been in the past so what else should we be looking for ammani has world class Talent as a three-point shooter but he has not caught up to the versatility that NBA players are expected to have in this era he will be asked to dribble pass and shoot if he’s going to play meaningful minutes on an NBA team especially a contender such as the Cavs his handle and playmaking are still big question marks Bates finished with more turnovers than assists with the charge which is a major concern he isn’t great at getting around Defenders and he shot just 50% from within 9 ft this lack of an interior game makes it too easy for Defenders to run him off three-point line without fearing any consequences Bates will have to improve getting downhill and either converting at The Rim or making reads against a scrambling defense by kicking out two teammates or finding his bigs in the dunker spot creating an attacking advantages has been a point of emphasis for Bates in the G league and I think it’s something he is working to improve it just might take a little more time I’d watched to see how Bates processes the game in the summer league now that he has more experience under his belt and the competition is a little a little lower than what he has seen throughout the year and if we see some more Advantage creation out of him then that would be a positive sign on top of this Bates must continue to expand his shot profile diversifying his three-point attempts by improving without the ball and getting better at navigating screens he’s a great catch and shoot threat but Bates hasn’t carved out a knack for flying off of screens and drilling shots on the move just yet I’m interested to see how ammani has grown off ball and if he can be better utilized on this summer league Squad and I hope to see more flashes of that on bball shot creation his pull-up shooting is promising but it hasn’t been perfect just yet and this skill has been limited by the fact that he isn’t able to do other things at a sufficient level amman’s three-point shooting is his greatest strength but maximizing that Talent requires some growth in other areas to round this out if there’s one thing that no one can question about ammani Bates it’s his willingness to learn and his hunger to improve he’s an incredibly self-aware player and understands the task ahead of him back in January I was able to ask Mani which aspect of his development he has been the most proud of and he replied with his defense and being more aware of himself going on to say he is learning how to be an impactful player even when his shot isn’t falling he said this directly after scoring a career-high 38 points with the charge and his head coach echoed the same sentiment right before saying this was the best defensive game he had seen from Amman ignoring the 38 points altogether and so I do believe focusing more on the other aspects of this game is what it will take for ammani to re reach the next level I do question if he can ever be a truly impactful Defender I think the best case scenario would be just breaking even but I don’t question if he is committed to basketball or any of the other stupid things that people have said about him off of the Court he is fully bought into the developmental path that has been laid out to him by the Cavs and while he has many hurdles to clear before stamping himself into an NBA rotation the Las Vegas summerly gives ammani Bates another opportunity to grow as a player and I can’t wait to see what he shows [Music]

Emoni Bates is one of the most interesting prospects at the NBA’s Las Vegas Summer League.

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