Thanks for the share, that was a good read. I hope the best for the kid, but I feel like I have as many doubts about him at the next level now as I had last year at Memphis. Bates reminds me so much physically and game-wise of Brandon Boston...who has basically been stuck in the G League for 2 years. The highs with Emoni are really high, but there's a lot of "low" games in between the "highs." I expected a lot more from Eastern this year with Bates and Noah F in the back court. They might not even make it to Cleveland. That shocks me.
First, when I heard several years ago about the prep "school" his dad started, I thought it was a scam. One of Elmore James' teammates at Brush, Marlon Barnes, went there for a season and then returned home. (Barnes heads to Pitt next year).
I looked at Bates' stats at EMU. Of the top 7 players (in terms of scoring or minutes played), Bates has the worst shooting percentage. He's also a turnover machine. At best, a developmental project for an NBA team, with a 50-50 chance of ever taking the court.