During his time in high school, Emoni Bates was ranked as the number one overall player in the class of 2022. He drew comparisons to Kevin Durant, and stands at 6’10 with a lean 170 pound frame. Many thought he would be one of the NBA’s next great scorers, and a near shoe-in to be the number one overall pick. But then he reclassified to the class of 2021, meaning he would have to spend two years playing college basketball before becoming draft eligible. After an up and down freshman season at Memphis where he was outshined by Jalen Duren, he transferred to mid-major Eastern Michigan. He put up a lot of points, but struggled with efficiency. So coming into the draft, he was a very polarizing prospect. He was a former top recruit who had an up and down two years in college, as well as dealing with some off-court issues. However, the talent was clearly there. People didn’t really know where he would get drafted, but he ended up going to the Cleveland Cavaliers with the 49th overall pick. A major slide from the number one spot people once thought of him. But honestly people were overthinking it. And he’s proving it right away. He helped lead the Cavs to a summer league title, and was named second team all summer league. He’s picked it up right where he left off in the preseason as well. He’s averaged 13 points per game off the bench through the team’s three games, and it looks like he could end up getting minutes for the Cavs to start the regular season. The Cavs struck gold with Emoni Bates.
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5 Comments
6.9 190 now btw
It’s crazy how 2K forgot about him
Still mad the pistons didn't draft him
He is on a 2 way contract and I believe that limits him to 50 games with the cavs. Pretty sure the plan is for him to use this year as a development year with the Charge in the G league so unless you see the cavs convert his contract to a full nba contract don't expect him to play much with the team.
Emoni Bates should be our starting 3 day 1. He's the best one we have and the biggest 1 we have. He's a walking bucket and he would space the floor and make the game easier for all the other 4 starters but Bickerstaff is our basketball coach version of Stefanski and those types think they are the smartest ppl in the room. I hate how he coaches. Emoni needs to start day 1 if this organization wants to make a serious run at the playoffs and beyond. He could possibly be r.o.y. runner up after Wemby wins it.