CLEVELAND — With the No. 49 pick in the 2023 NBA Draft, the Cleveland Cavaliers selected Eastern Michigan shooting guard/small forward Emoni Bates.
What follows are three things to know about the newest member of the Cavs' roster:
Cover Boy
While Bates officially became a pro on Thursday night, the Ypsilanti native has been on the radar of NBA fans since 2019. That's when Bates -- then just 15 years old -- was featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated along with the hyperbolic headline "Born for this. Magic, Michael, LeBron... and the 15-year-old who's next in line."
The cover story by Michael Rosenberg chronicled the then-high school sophomore's emergence as one of the basketball prospects in the country. The first-ever sophomore to be named the boys Gatorade National Player of the Year -- beating out future top 3 picks Cade Cunningham and Evan Mobley -- Bates drew favorable comparisons to Kevin Durant and projected as a future No. 1 overall pick.
"An NBA scouting director calls the Durant analogy “obvious . . . the shooting is remarkable. He has a chance to be really special,'" Rosenberg wrote. "One coach who recruited KD calls Emoni 'the same level shooter' but “a much better ballhandler” than Durant at that age."
Originally the second-ranked prospect in the class of 2022, Bates reclassified to the class of 2021, with the 247Sports composite ranking him as the country's No. 5 recruit by the end of his prep career at Lincoln High School. After initially committing to spend his college career at Michigan State, Bates ultimately opted to enroll at Memphis to play for former NBA star Penny Hardaway.
That's where his once-promising trajectory began to veer off course.
From Michigan to Memphis and back
Bates' time in "The Home of the Blues" lasted just one season, as he averaged an underwhelming 9.7 points on .386 percent shooting (.329 from 3-point range) in 18 games (13 starts) for the Tigers in a freshman season hampered by a back injury. Still ineligible to enter the 2022 NBA Draft because he wouldn't turn 19 until 2023, the former 5-star prospect opted to transfer to Eastern Michigan, where he would play in the same arena he used to fill as a highly touted high school prospect.
"I'm coming home," he said at the time.
Bates' Great Lakes State homecoming didn't get off to a strong start, as he was suspended by the team after being arrested on felony gun charges. He was reinstated after pleading guilty to a misdemeanor charge of attempting to transport a loaded firearm in a vehicle, which resulted in the initial felony charges being dropped.
Bates made his Eastern Michigan debut in spectacular fashion, scoring 30 points in a closer-than-expected 88-83 loss to Michigan. His sophomore season, however, was filled with both highs and lows.
At his best, he scored 29 straight points to end the first half in a game against Toledo, ending the game with a season-high 43 points. But poor shooting performances were more common than the spectacular ones, as he shot 2-for-14 vs. Bowling Green, 1-for-12 vs. Akron, 2-for-17 vs. Toledo and 3-for-14 in a season-ending loss vs. Northern Illinois
Ultimately, Bates earned third-team All-MAC honors while averaging 19.2 points on .405 shooting (.330 from 3-point range) as the Eagles went 8-23 and 5-13 in conference play. Despite no longer projecting as a lottery pick -- or even a likely first-round -- pick, he declared for the 2023 NBA Draft, where he was selected by the Cavs with the 19th pick of the second round.
Scouting report
Having been on the NBA's radar for the past four years, teams and scouts alike have had plenty of time to dissect both the good and bad of Bates' game.
On the plus side, it's easy to be intrigued by Bates' size -- 6-foot-9 -- and shot-making prowess, even if he isn't always the most efficient scorer. As his outburst against Toledo showed, he's capable of scoring in bunches and doing it from all three levels of the offensive side of the floor.
While his 3-point shooting percentages leave something to be desired -- especially for a player whose primary skill is scoring -- his 78.2 percent free throw percentage from the free throw line last season suggests that his shot is far from broken. He also showed flashes of getting to the free-throw line on a consistent basis in certain games -- but didn't do it nearly often enough.
As for the negatives, Bates doesn't seem to have much to offer aside from his streaky scoring. Despite his size, he has shorter arms and averaged just 5.8 rebounds per game in his lone season at Eastern Michigan while playing against much less heralded competition. In both of his college seasons, he averaged less than 1.5 assists and more than two turnovers per game.
Bates' athleticism is considered subpar and his defense is relatively nonexistent. Perhaps most alarmingly, whatever individual success he found at Eastern Michigan meant very little for the team, with ESPN draft analyst Jonathan Givony writing of him: "Bates' tough shot-making prowess and overall scoring instincts hold some appeal, but he plays such a losing brand of basketball on both ends of the floor, making him a relatively tough sell."
Add in questions about his maturity, and it's hard to imagine Bates making an immediate impact in Cleveland. Rather, it wouldn't be a surprise to see the once highly touted prospect spend the bulk of his rookie season with the Cleveland Charge in the G League, as the Cavs look to accentuate his strengths and minimize his weaknesses.
