NBA Draft 2023: December scouting notes on Judah Mintz, Arthur Kaluma and others
Eastern Michigan @ Illinois State – December 7th
Emoni Bates – Eastern Michigan – 6’9, 190 lbs – Jan 2004
The prospect I was most interested to see, Bates had his worst game of the year in Bloomington. He is tall, and shot it well in warm-ups with a clean stroke.
But, the game was a disaster. Illinois State was denying and face-guarding him, but Bates made no effort to cut, get open, or screen for others in an attempt to utilize the gravity he attracts. When he did get touches early, he was clearly forcing it. He traveled on a stepback that would have been a dumb three anyway. In a loose ball scrum, Bates took a cheap elbow to his opponent and was whistled for a tech (his second foul of the half).
He seemed unwilling to listen to coaching and instruction from the EMU staff. The second half wasn’t much better. He picked up a third foul on an illegal screen. Hit a jumper over a smaller defender, and did have some moments of space-creation with his handle. Bates was unwilling to pass, and his team ended up losing.
It was Bates’ worst game of the season, but regardless of whether he made or missed shots, a lot of my fears about him were actualized. I don’t love his approach and seeing his lack of willingness to be coached was a concern. He also doesn’t contribute much to winning basketball. I know Eastern Michigan isn’t good, but Bates should theoretically be able to carry them to something better than a 2-9 start. He has a BPM of 0.0, low steal and block rates (kind of signaling a lack of effort on defense and an assist rate of 7).
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I think he’s talented and he’s still young. He can legit shoot and has size, but there is more to basketball than talent. The tools could make him a role player given the size and shooting, but I don’t believe he will ever buy into a smaller role and play to his strengths. I think someone will probably pick him in the second round on talent alone. I wouldn’t hate it, I just don’t think I would want to deal with it.