OT: Emoni Bates from Memphis and Ypsilanti enters the portal
i don’t want him here. I don’t think he’s looking here. Just sad to see his career progression so far. I hope he figures things out and gets back on the NBA track.
"Just sad to see his career progression so far."
It's looking more like a career regression.
maybe his father can start a college for him this season then recruit a bunch of role players to help feature his son.
End thread
His name is Coach Hardaway. You don’t call Coach Saban, Nick, do you?
it would not surprise me to hear that penny asks his players to call him by that name.
April 16th, 2022 at 10:13 PM ^
Makes no more or less sense than “Coach Prime” . . .
Pretty sure his name is whatever he wants his players to call him
This has all the markings of a tragic story now in mid-plunge. The fact that he's not even going to the NBA is startling given the hype he carried early in high school. (Edit: corrected by others below, he's not eligible).
It's one thing to develop physically early and then level off as the rest of the world catches up to you, but Emoni got an extreme level of hype that probably did his circle no favors in making decisions for his future. Creating an "academy" specifically for him to play was a pretty audacious action that's hard to imagine occurring for a guy that wasn't getting magazine covers, and there is at least an argument to be made that it had a directly negative effect on his development as a player. Among other things.
It's fun to root against people who are too big for their britches and all, and there's some schadenfreude here... but I suspect that within a year or two this story could be really sad, and I might start rooting for him just to get things straightened out and find a way to make it in the NBA, life, and so on.
We'll see. Not good signs so far.
He is not eligible for the NBA draft until next year
Huh. Didn't realize that his reclassification didn't change that; thanks for the correction.
Still strange to me that he can't stick on. Even a year early.
Player A:
32 minutes/game 38.4 FG% 35% 3% 4.0 REB 1.4 AST 10.1 PPG
Player B:
23.4 minutes/game 38:6 FG% 32.9 3% 3.3 REB 1.3 AST 9.7 PPG
Player B is Emoni Bates.
Player A is Caleb Houstan.
April 17th, 2022 at 10:38 AM ^
Oh my!
April 17th, 2022 at 12:34 PM ^
Bates played like half the games Houstan did and had higher usage, that's probably why the raw numbers are similar.
He reclassified as he was supposed to be in the 2022 recruiting class so he’s ineligible to join the NBA until the 2023 draft. A team would’ve still taken him first round if he was eligible this year.
If he's been born a few weeks earlier he would have been eligible.
completely agree. i didn’t think he’d ever show up on a campus, but he did show up, which in my opinion speaks well of him.
he’s SO young, and probably gotten some terrible guidance. i’m surprised to find myself hoping that he gets things straightened out and becomes an nba player.
Completely agree, it’s sad. He should’ve gone to Montverde or IMG and gotten real coaching after his sophomore year
No can do. We don't want him!
Maybe Tiny Tom still wants him?
waiting with bated breath
Can he get emancipated from his father?
you misspelled emonicipated.
Eastern Michigan may give him a look
Sparty in play?
Not sure where he ends up but I can not fathom him playing a year under Izzo and being yelled at for anything and everything. He is going pro after this upcoming season no matter where he goes so a school with a player friendly coach and the ability to star makes sense. I’m guessing his ego won’t permit him to go to a school like Dayton where lots of transfers seem to thrive so maybe an SEC school like Auburn or Alabama.
My best guess (and it's only a guess) is Kentucky, which is a big name with plenty of cash and a coach who knows how to coach talented guys that he only gets for a year in a way that benefits them. Kentucky likes transfers now, and Bates is their kind of guy.
Tennessee was also recruiting him and he wouldn't even have to leave the state to go there. He wouldn't make that many friends in doing so.
He doesn't seem like he makes a lot of friends anyways.
Calipari also demands defense from his guys. I could seem him wanting him and vice versa but Calipari has no problem not playing a kid
The rumor is Ignite but I don't think Ignite is interested in Emoni.
It may be a mid-major where he can play a big role.
Without looking at the roster I was thinking Arkansas. IIRC a few years back their coach fielded a team at Nevada that was all transfers in their fifth year post-HS. He might have a better sense for how that works than most.
I assume he'll either wind up at a Kentucky/LSU type team (a nice bag game with dubious history of reining in malcontents) where he'll get some national exposure or he goes to a major G5 league (like the AAC) where (he assumes) he can put up big numbers.
But honestly, this feels like a story that ends with him getting drafted late in the first/early 2nd, scuttling in the G league, and being overseas by his early 20s. It's really sad.
I dunno. There's sad where you eat well, and end up going in the late first round of the NBA, and sad where bombs are raining around you or your not eating in East Africa b c wheat isn't growing in Ukraine. Respectfully--as with Stephenjrking's post above--I'll withhold judgement. Kids are pretty resilient, and he's making a business decision and moving to a new hotel.
One hopes.
But we've seen stories like this before.
Not all kids "turn out ok."
One hopes that those who have influence on Emoni are seeing the potential danger and taking steps to make sure he's on the right track. And perhaps leaving Memphis is actually a step in that direction--his camp sees issues and wants to stabilize things, looking for a place that's good for Emoni instead of good for business. Perhaps. But it's hard not to see at least a few alarm bells. Next Lebron to also-ran freshman on a .500 AAC team.
One might argue that it's unfair to scrutinize him just because some other people hyped him up as the next Lebron, but part of the point is that the hype likely had a direct effect on his development and/or was a product of those around him who are the primary influences on that development. So the scrutiny is a part of the hype that is an intrinsic part of his story. There is some evidence that suggests that the people influencing Emoni have made unwise decisions. Who is making the choices here? What is the reasoning?
Not quarrelling with the basics, just wondering how much one has really failed if they go in the late first round, as still projected? Yes, it's eye-opening that he's on the move. . .
I always think of myself, within my own profession, or any professional--let's take an architect. They may not be designing Manhattan skyscrapers, but if they are just doing what they love at a high level, have they failed? Our conception of when a player has failed wants a little scrutiny. These are exquisitely gifted people, and we. . . kinda enjoy either crying for them or mocking them.
These are fair points. My concern isn't so much about a player being "only a good NBA player." That's a disappointment given the hype, but just a disappointment given the hype. If he has a good season, goes late first-round, and puts together a 5-10 year career as a rotation NBA player with no real baggage, my concerns are unfounded even if he isn't the player people suggested he was a couple of years ago.
The concern I have is that the people influencing him haven't necessarily had good perspective on what his longer-term best interests are, and that can be dangerous. In a bigger way than "doesn't shoot as well as he should" isn't.
I don't wish him ill will, and obviously there are worst outcomes than not living up to outrageous expectations but still making tons of money playing a sport you enjoy. But I'm more saying that it doesn't sound like he's been getting the best guidance for a while now, and one consistent theme seems to be that if he isn't a star he moves somewhere else. That's not always a winning strategy.
This is where we (and that "we" definitely includes me, particularly in my post upthread) are just speculating. It *looks* like he's just looking for greener pastures, again, as he (or rather, in my opinion anyway, the people guiding him) have been doing for years now. So, didn't have a great time in Memphis, Penny Hardaway isn't coaching up his prospects well, assume it's the circumstances and can't possibly be us, go somewhere else.
But: if, at some point, the alarm bells are going off in the Bates camp that the future they've been banking on is now in serious jeopardy (and if he looks like the same player next year, the NBA is going to get *really* cool on him), they might decide it's time to change their approach. Time to find new influences, get Emoni connected with someone who knows how to develop a player and a man that can succeed in the NBA.
And in that hypothetical, that might also lead to a decision to transfer away from Memphis, because it's not going to properly prepare him to have a prosperous career, and look for a place where he can really take that next step. In a way that Penny Hardaway and his dad aren't able to do.
So, we'll see. Now, even a decision like that could look kinda slimy - a lot of guys that are good at coaching players also run dirty programs - but if they're looking for real development, the option exists.
If.
At LSU he can play the 1 thru 5. No competition.
I hope parents learn a lesson from this, don't coddle your kids and instill hard work ethics in them.
Most will not as their kid is SPECIAL!
I am not aware of any facts to indicate Emoni has a poor work ethic. I have only heard how hard he works. Is there info I am missing about his work ethic?
For sure I think bad decisions were made about his development (send him to Montverde or IMG instead of creating a school) but I think he wasn’t physically or mentally ready for college ball. Should not have reclassified. He is going to put in the work but is he good enough to be a superstar? That remains to be seen.
I think people question the work ethic, because he's pretty much remained the same for the last couple years skillwise and he seems to run from challenges (fight with Akins, problems and then leaving Memphis). He may be a hard worker, but it seems like whenever you leave or get mad when the slightest thing doesn't go your way, you might not be working too hard to change that.
True, but he also seems to have individuals leading him to these things. Maybe lack of development was due to the fact they basically created a prep school to feature him instead of to improve his game. I understand the point of running, but there is a lot to be said for the people guiding him. Would be interesting to see what would have happened had he played at an IMG or Monteverd, and not had those advising him try to clear a path. Maybe the same results, or maybe a guy who kept elevating his game at the same rate as many players at those schools. Will never know
I’m rooting for the kid and think it’s weird that so many are seemingly and proudly writing him off already. He turned 18 just four months ago. He’s going to be a pro.
He's been on the radar so long I didn't realize he is only 18. He can still pull it together if he gets the right leadership and isn't coddled. Nate Oats seems like a good coach to land with.
Lmfao, he's such a clown.
First good move he has made getting away from Penny.
Bates is easy to hate on because he’s an entitled kid who has underachieved but it’s kinda sad. Had immense talent at a young age, has bad people in his camp, didn’t continue developing, ended up at a bad school for his development l, and is now in the portal. If he had transferred to IMG or Montverde after his sophomore year and not reclassified, I think he’d be in a much bette position rn