Defending Emoni Bates

This week Emoni Bates was selected by the Cleveland Cavaliers with the 49th overall selection in the 2023 NBA Draft. Ending what has been a long circuitous route for a one time highly touted prep prospect.

If you have clicked on this article to read some scathing take down of his decision making process. You have come to the wrong place. Conversely if the title implies that this is going to be a puff piece about how his immense talent was stifled. Once again not the place.

I chose the photo at the top of this page intentionally. That is the Emoni Bates I first encountered. This article isn’t about me. However Bates’ ascent into “phenom” status happened around the same time I was beginning to cover grassroots basketball for various publications. Living in Michigan I was there for much of it. At AAU events in East Lansing and Grans Rapids as a middle schooler. At the Breslin Center when he lifted a state championship trophy as a ninth grader. At various regular season Saturday showcases that were “Beatles” like in their hysteria and environment.

Once again it would be easy to venture into “too much too soon” zone. For every LeBron James. There are more Schea Cotton and Lenny Cooke stories (look them up kids) While there was an arrest for firearm possession that should not be taken lightly. We don’t need some foreboding postmortem on his career. Why? Because there is nothing really sad or tragic to see here.

Unfortunately the Emoni Bates career arc illuminates an aspect of society that has more far reaching negatives than anything regarding a basketball court. I promise this is as far from sports as I will stray. From an election, to a pandemic, to insert the hot button topic of the day. It bares a simple ugly truth. Human beings hate to admit when they are wrong.

Just do a simple Google search for “what went wrong with Emoni Bates”. There you’ll find the greatest hits of those who dislike grassroots basketball. The influence of his family (oh the humanity) He left high school too early for NIL (oh that scourge of capitalism) All creating a selfish player who never learned to be a part of team (whatever that means)

The parentheses tell you what I think of these lazy and veiled tropes. The fact is this. Emoni Bates was picked where he was picked for one simple reason. That is what the talent and scouting report demanded. To be more blunt— he just wasn’t that good. He is a very slender player who appears to have limited athletic upside. He is also an advanced and talented scorer. This scoring was accomplished on a losing team at the mid major level with a high usage rate.

Take out name and take out the hype. It’s not a much different profile and draft position than fellow Mitten player Ryan Rollins (Toledo/Golden St) and Abdel Nader (Northern Illinois-Iowa St) There is absolutely no shade in that comparison. Those players have and are going to make a lot of money playing the game of basketball.

However neither of those players were on the cover of Sports Illustrated at 15 years old. Neither of them were anointed the best high school basketball prospect since LeBron James. I’ll ask this simple question. Is any of that Emoni Bates’ fault?

I’m not looking to identify a “bad” guy in this saga. I’ll be the first to admit. The hype was fun and I got caught up in it at times. I saw firsthand what happened to basketball in Northeast Ohio. Could this generational prospect lead a hoops renaissance in a state still reeling from the recession and corresponding population loss?

My heart told me yes. However my head went on a rollercoaster ride that ended up on no. He definitely dominated at the middle school level against his peers. Once he got to high school. I saw him lose and get beat up by teams full of men like River Rogue and Benton Harbor. There is no shame in that. That being said. I couldn’t shake the feeling that LeBron James wouldn’t have gotten pushed around like that. Heck I’m in my mid forties. I know Chris Webber didn’t get pushed around like that.

Then in that same year he went on a miraculous and clutch run to win a state championship. While Webber lifted three trophies. He didn’t do it as a ninth grader. I don’t think anyone in Michigan has (as a focal point) Maybe everyone is right about this kid. Then came the famous EYBL game in front of LeBron James. A 43 point 11 rebound outing with James watching from the sidelines. It was great story that was buzzing around grassroots basketball.

I couldn’t shake one small detail though. Why was LeBron watching? He didn’t come to watch Emoni. He came to watch his son. Why was Bates Fundamentals (his Nike sponsored AAU team) playing and losing to Bronny James’ team in the first place? Bronny was a younger prospect. The answer is his team was playing up an age group. Shouldn’t Bates be doing the same if he is the best prospect in basketball? Something wasn’t adding up.

Then the sophomore year. More losses to River Rogue and Benton Harbor. Not much change in either his game or frame. Still just a skinny shooter. I was determined going into 2020 to try and figure out what I was missing. No one was budging off their assessment. He even became the first sophomore to win the Gatorade National Player of the Year— EVER! What was I missing?

Then that little thing called a pandemic hit. I never got to see Bates that summer. I’ll tell who I did see though. A certain player named Paolo Banchero. That was was the physically overpowering LeBron-type prospect I was looking for. You want to say I’m just playing the results with that one. I also got to watch Pat Baldwin. That was what a sweet shooting 6-9 wing should look like. There was a gracefulness and composure to his perimeter game that Bates simply didn’t have.

If you are fan you know that was just the tip of the iceberg. In the junior year Chet Holmgren came into the state and took a win on national TV. I got see Jalen Duren show his grown man post presence. Through it all Bates stayed on top of the rankings. Not just for his class, but for the all grades of high school basketball.

This is the point were the bad decisions supposedly began to hamper his development. The Michigan St de commitment. The reclassification and enrollment at Memphis. I’m sorry the development had stagnated long before then. This was just young man trying his best to live up to the lofty status foisted upon him through no fault of his own.

It’s perfectly logical for a player who wants to diversify his perimeter game to go and play for Penny Hardaway. Quite possibly one of the more versatile wings of his generation. Maybe the coaching staff should have pumped the breaks on that one. I’m not going to go blow by blow. Things did not go well at Memphis and it was on to transfer portal.

Through it all I remained shocked at what I heard as he lasted through the summer. I’m not going to name names. Not my goal. That being said these were some well respected analysts. In unison they seemed to say that when the dust settled. He would still be a first round or even lottery pick. It was all about how difficult the family was. All about the so-called poor decisions.

I simply want to pose this question. What did the family do wrong? Think their son is better than what he was? Have you been to an AAU tournament? I hate admit it. These unreal expectations are what the whole industry is built upon. Whatever you think of my work. It is why I have a job evaluating players. Everyone has unrealistic goals for their own children. I don’t believe the Bates family has an ownership stake in Sports Illustrated. They didn’t put him on that cover at 15.

The Bates family isn’t any different than Ball family— the Bagely family— the Porter family. I could could go on and on. It’s not complicated. The players from those respective families succeeded simply because they had more talent.

Returning home to Ypsilanti was supposed to be a redemptive homecoming. Despite some definite high points. That just wasn’t the case. However those highs provide a glimpse of an alternative path that was too late to explore. What if the industry looked at the Chet Holmgren game and reacted and ranked accordingly? What if Nike had told the family they were not going to fund the travel team or academy?

Would Bates have joined The Family or another AAU team and learned how to blend in amongst his peers? If if he was now sitting in the 20’s or 30’s in recruiting rankings. Might he have not reclassified? Might he have transferred back home to Ypsilanti for his true senior year? To continue to work on his game in more familiar surroundings. It would have better than trying to do it on the fly in Memphis.

I’m not naive. I know the answers to those hypotheticals are probably no. The toothpaste was already out of the tube. As previously stated. When someone is spoken of in those aforementioned absolutes. Nobody on any side wants to admit they were wrong. For what is worth. A handful of national writers began jump off the ship they pushed off shore in the first place. However the damage had already been done.

Selfishly I’d like to return to the Emoni Bates pictured at the top of this article. A few months removed from a state championship. A player who made up for his thin stature with a ferocious competitiveness. A player who clearly had a boundless work ethic and was well schooled in the gym.

I won’t pretend to be plugged in enough to completely know what happened to that player. I just know I haven’t seen him in quite some time. If the remnants of that player still exists. Bates could become a solid NBA contributor. However once again. Will that be enough to expunge the past?

For his sake. I hope the answer to all these questions is yes. The story had such a promising start. Unfortunately these arcs don’t often end well. Hopefully this will be the exception.