Season review: Emoni Bates
Bates’s shooting will translate to the NBA. The rest of his game is an open question.
Emoni Bates’s shot translates to the professional game. That appeared like it was going to be the case as early as the 2023 Las Vegas Summer League. The ensuing season that Bates spent mostly in the G League with the Cleveland Charge only confirmed it.
Bates shot 37.1% from distance on 10.5 attempts in 27 games with the Charge. His ability to get up a high volume of attempts is what was most impressive. Teams knew that he wanted to shoot threes, but that didn’t stop him from doing so. His quick release, limitless range, and ability to confidentially take contested jumpers allowed him to do so.
There were few things more impressive than when he got hot and all of those things were working in concert. This included a 38-point performance for the Charge in the beginning of January where he went 8-15 shooting from three.
“I was blown away and laughing at the shots that he made,” said Charge head coach Mike Gerrity said that night. “I mean, they were just ridiculous.”
The shot is NBA-ready. It’s the rest of his game that needs refinement before Bates can put his shooting to use at the highest level.
The lack of burst and ability to create separation was a knock on Bates coming into the draft. That proved true in his time with the Charge. Bates struggled to effectively attack hard closeouts. This led to completing just 58.6% of his looks within five feet of the rim which isn’t a good number considering the level of interior G League defense.
The midrange shot would be the natural counter for someone with as good of shooting as Bates, but his exceptional three-point shooting didn’t translate to the midrange where he shot 42.6% between 10 and 20 feet.
Bates isn’t a play-making wing as demonstrated by his 1.9 assists to 2.9 turnovers per game. He became more comfortable operating with the ball as the season progressed, but that didn’t carry over to the stat sheet.
This left three-point shooting as Emoni’s only plus skill even though there is room to improve how he gets those shots. Many of those threes at the beginning of the season were purely off the dribble which doesn’t open up things for others the way someone who’s doing their damage on assisted jumpers does.
Bates did take strides in moving off-ball during his rookie season. He showed that he could be lethal without the ball, but he didn’t have the endless motor you need to have if you’re going to be on the court only for your shooting. The improvements are, however, noteworthy considering where he started the season.
“A lot of the things that we had been emphasizing throughout the season, we saw come more naturally to him,” Gerrity said last month. “Just playing quicker and faster when he doesn’t have the ball. Things that we emphasize like finishing cuts, at the beginning of the year maybe if he didn’t get the ball, he might come back and try to beg for it versus now he’s finishing his cut to the rim and giving himself up and now trusting that the ball is going to find something good or it’s going to find its way back to him.”
The defensive side of the ball is still Bates’s biggest weakness. He was passable in on-ball defense with the Charge but would often get lost away from the action. Bates struggled at times with knowing when to help and when to stick with his man. This led to him frequently getting caught in no-man’s land. That needs to be cleaned up before a conversation about whether he can get NBA minutes is had.
Bates’s defensive rebounding was a positive development. He does a good job of using his size on the glass to grab contested rebounds. This skill allowed him to push in transition which is where his off-the-dribble shooting is most dangerous.
To say Bates is an incredible shooter is an understatement. There simply aren’t many people that have that pure of a shot and are 6’ 8” or taller. Unlike scoring inside, outside shooting does translate from the G League to the NBA and could be something he gets off much easier when he isn’t the opponent’s number-one priority.
To use that skill, Bates needs to continue to take steps forward in all areas of his game. Bates showed progress and flashes of putting it all together for stretches. The next step is being more consistent so he’s able to positively impact the game with the threat of his shot on a nightly basis.