The Unlikely Fall and Rise Again Of Emoni Bates..

we've seen very few players ever gain a level of hype in recruiting attention that Amani Bates received as just a middle schooler his first big jump in notoriety came when he was in sixth grade he was already averaging 28 points and 12 rebounds during the AAU season then he would jump to the National stage as a seventh grader he was already six foot six and averaging 46 points but it wasn't just the height and production that had everyone tuning in it was the skill set he possessed scoring in a KDs fashion by the time he reached 8th grade the Middle School ranks had become so uncompetitive it wasn't even worth Imani's time he decided to forgo the season just to focus on training individually ahead of his freshman season we would get our first chance to see him at the highest level of High school-aged basketball the Nike eybl where he was already averaging 17 a game he wasn't just a child prodigy anymore NBA Scouts were already paying attention already planning their future race to the bottom to land Imani in the draft now attending Lincoln Heights school he would lead them to a State title average 29 Points and 10 rebounds and again as just a freshman was named a Michigan player of the year to put in perspective the hype surrounding the now six foot nine Wing at the time during his sophomore season he was already gracing the cover of Sports Illustrated now we've seen other High School phenoms do this LeBron James Jabari Parker Andrew Wiggins but no one has done that as a sophomore he would average 32 points that season Imani Bates from Michigan is this year's Gatorade player of the year he became the first sophomore ever to win the award in live on SportsCenter he would make his college commitment I will be committed to Michigan State University then we reach his Junior season he comes in as the number one recruit in the country and in the eyes of many by a mile he would decide to transfer to Ipsy Prep Academy a brand new Prep School actually created by his father there we would still put up a really solid 23.6 rebounds and 3 assists but this wasn't quite the dominance we'd come to expect from Bates as 24 7 Sports put it he looks to have hit a bit of a roadblock in his development the momentum for Bates seemed to be coming to a screeching halt for the first time in the history of this recruiting class we would see someone overtake a spot as the top recruit in the country on both 27 Sports and Rivals that player was Jalen Duren then we would see a couple interesting decisions in April he announced he was de-committing for Michigan State in opening up his recruitment in August we find out that he's not even going to play a senior season instead he's going to reclassify deciding to go straight to college in this new recruiting class we would see him ranked fifth by 24 7 worth by Rivals third on ESPN only behind Chet Holmgren and Jaden Hardy ahead of the likes of Paolo bencaro and Jabari Smith now while there isn't any doubt that ahmadi's height wasn't at the place it was when he was making the cover of Sports Illustrated winning Gatorade National Player of the Year at 15 years old let's make it very clear in the summer of 2021 just two years ago Amani was still being looked at as an elite Prospect NBA draft room is one of the top draft Outlets let's take a look at some of the first mocks that featured Amani Bates his first appearance was actually in the 2022 draft as they were projecting a change in the draft eligibility meaning this mock actually combined the top prospects in both 2022 and 2023 and ahead of Jabari Smith Chad Holmgren Paolo Ben Caro and yes Victor win benyama in their own words was smaller KD Amani Bates we Flash Forward a year later and just ahead of his freshman season they were no longer expecting Bates to be in that 2022 class and we also saw him lose his spot at the top of the mock that now belonged to win benyama who clearly held onto that position to this day but we didn't see him fall too far right after him they had Amani you can even see their justification in the screenshot amadi's opened up his Recruitment and could even be looking at the professional route he's still an elite Prospect but is no longer that number one guy in his class at this time he was still yet to make the decision on where he would play for the upcoming season but shortly after a decision was made big news out of college basketball and a big get for Memphis five-star Prospect Imani Bates heading to play for Penny Hardaway and the Tigers he joins fellow five-star Prospect Jalen Duren he would step on the campus at just 17 years old he would be taking the court as the youngest player in college basketball in his debut would come against Tennessee Tech where you really couldn't ask for a much better start he put up 17 points four rebounds and 4-6 going 6 for 9 from the field and knocking down four of his seven three-point editions as the ball up top step back to three on the way whoa he then continued to play really well he averaged 16 on 58-50 splits through his first three outings games in which Memphis had gone undefeated but unfortunately the rest of his freshman season would be a much different story that 17-point outing in his very first game would end up being his season hive by October we already saw shade and sharpen scoot Henderson jump ahead of him in the mock over the next 13 games he would average just nine points shooting 35 from the field and 27 from three this was not good in a matter of weeks he had completely disappeared from basically every draft board as Bates had gotten closer and closer to draft eligibility concerns were creeping up and quickly when he was 14 years old there was no conversation about wingspan defense or play making time was in his favor and he was one of not the most skilled six for nine Wings we'd ever seen at that age but the desired development in those non-scoring aspects of the game just never came he was thin despite the height lacked length but even past the frame we just never saw much as a playmaker or Defender those flaws would be negated to a degree if he proved to be that generational screen Talent like he was once projected but that projection was fading then at the end of this season we would see him deal with a back injury that caused him to miss 12 games only returning for the NCAA tournament for another two disappointing outings so going into his sophomore season with Bates now seeing his draft stock absolutely fall off a cliff this just in Amani Bates the top player in the 24 7 Sports transfer portal rankings is headed to Michigan Eastern Michigan it'll be a homecoming for Bates who will play in his hometown of Ypsilanti in a situation where he was gonna have the free reign to do whatever he wanted but then we saw the biggest bump in the road to date before even taking the court foreign Bates the former number one recruit in the 2022 class was arrested Sunday night in Superior Township Michigan after sheriff's deputies discovered a firearm in a vehicle he was driving now Bates who recently transferred from Memphis to Eastern Michigan was charged with both carrying a concealed weapon and altering ID marks on a firearm at this time the sentiment that Amani bates's basketball career was over was becoming more and more common he was already off draft boards for concerns on the court not potentially serious concerns off the court were added to the mix a prison sentence was a true possibility these were felony charges almost immediately we would receive a statement from his attorneys to reserve our judgment there was way more to the story he borrowed someone's car was pulled over and a gun was located in the car it would only take just over a month for the case to be resolved football standout and money Bates just took a plea deal in a gun case the deal drops the felony charges against the Eastern Michigan University basketball star in allows him to avoid jail time he reached a plea deal that dismissed the felony charges and instead would be charged with a misdemeanor count of attempted unlawful transportation of a weapon a charge that would come with 18 months of probation he issued a statement shortly after saying the crazy thing about living your life on stage is the inability to escape judgment and experience The Growing Pains of Life as a normal adolescent privately I hold myself accountable for making a poor decision and I hope you can forgive me as I grow because this will not be my last mistake however a lasting stigma to remind me of the severity of such a mistake while the legal issues were now out of the way there is no question this situation put its draft stock in a significantly worse place than it already was Prior his debut wouldn't come till December in a matchup with top program Michigan where just like the start of his freshman season he would rise to the equation [Applause] he drops 30 points in five rebounds shooting an incredible 13 for 19 from the field and three for six from three an amazing start that just made things a lot more interesting now he wouldn't quite live up to that level of production over the course of the rest of the season inconsistency defined of the year for him he averaged 23-6 shooting 41 from the field and 33 percent from three but despite the lack of efficiency a lot more confidence was reinstituted surrounding his scoring ability for every one for 12 game or two for 17 game yes he actually did that he had a 43-point game going 15 for 23 a 35-point game going 14 for 26 a 36 point game going 13 for 25. it was in these contests we were seeing signs of the player that was once considered one of the best prospects that the game had ever seen remember despite being a sophomore he was only the age of a freshman we were seeing other freshmen such as chiante George and Nick Smith still consider top prospects despite a lack of efficiency but that wasn't happening for Bates the concern surrounding nearly every other aspect outside of scoring were still there it was rare to see a draft board or mock draft with his name even listed going undrafted it seemed more likely than not then we reached the NBA Combine an event that was going to play a pivotal role in his stock where things did not get off to a great start he measured in with a six foot nine wingspan a link that matched his height which is a big deal as autism may seem at first wingspan can be the difference between being a lottery selection and going undrafted a wingspan around your height is deemed a massive negative in the sport and especially during the prospect evaluation process for perspective this is a shorter wingspan than six foot one Donovan Mitchell and six foot two Marcus Smart he also measured in with the third smallest hands the fourth lowest weight the third lowest Sprint time in the sixth lowest vertical these are truly some of the worst combine measurements we have ever seen from someone standing at six foot nine but luckily it really wasn't much of a surprise these were terrible but everyone was kind of expecting that so somehow despite those numbers he ended up helping his stock at the combine and in a big way it was on the back of one thing in particular shooting he had the second best on the Move shooting score the fifth best off the dribble score in the six best spot up score despite all the negatives he had solidified his placement as one of the most talented players in this class but even with that being the case after leaving the combine he was still far from guaranteed to hear his name caught on draft night Buzz was picking up but he had only Advanced from unlikely to get drafted to maybe so we go to the draft the first round goes by and unsurprisingly no one takes a shot halfway through the second round it's not looking good still nothing but then with only 10 selections left with the 49th pick in the 2023 NBA draft the Cleveland Cavaliers select Imani Bates from Eastern Michigan University there were high highs low lows but the story of Imani Bates wasn't over he made it to the league and the first step in that Journey was the NBA Summer League no one knew what to expect but he played better than even the biggest Bulls were projecting he averaged 17 points and six rebounds shooting 44 from the field and most notably 40 from three taking nearly eight attempts a game he also held up on the defensive end at least okay he was legitimately one of the top rookie performers and played a massive role in the Cavaliers eventually taking home the summer league title he was just getting better and better as the week went on we were clearly seeing the confidence rising and he would end up coming home with all summer league team honors the hype is starting to roll back in excitement is on the rise and right now it feels Justified but while things are trending in the right direction for him while things are way better than anyone could have ever imagined in September fate still has a lot of work cut out for him the next big hurdle is just making the Cavaliers main roster and actually getting on the tort just we're clear right now that's far from a guarantee he's only on a two-way contract most of the minutes we'll see from Bates this season will likely be in the G League it might have been a different story if the Cavaliers were in a position where they're trying to compete at the top of the league but they are the Cavaliers also just brought in multiple free agents that play potential positions for Bates making a role for him even harder to Shell out right now they've got a group of Garland Mitchell leverge Spruce and okoro on the wing and Jared Allen Evan Mobley Dean Wade and niang in the front Court we don't usually see rotations extend too far past 10 players and for whatever little minutes are left Amani faces even more competition he was far from the only summer league standout for the Cavs both Sam Merrill and Isaiah Mobley were equally if not more impressive to add onto the list of roadblocks a small role will likely extract little to no value out of a mind's game we're unlikely to see the day where he's just a productive role player he needs a significant portion of the offense to succeed considering both his strengths and weaknesses if he isn't scoring the ball he's very likely to be a negative presence on the court moral of the story the path to an NBA role is not an easy one but he has a game set up really well to dominate he's setting like the G League hopefully that happens he proves worthy of a spot in the league and goes on to be that player we all thought he would be a cinema-worthy story of an epic rise tragic fall an unlikely Rise Again truly seems to be in the making how do you describe your journey from plaster Sports [Music] Journey you know I was in a spotlight since I was 12 years [Music] old basketball experience my expectations you know I'm with talented players you're not gonna learn from everybody

Channel: JimmerRange

Views: 76,065

Keywords: nba, jimmerrange, jimmer range, emoni bates, emoni, Cleveland cavaliers, nba draft, nba rookies, nba summer league, emoni bates summer league, nba bust, nba what happened, number one recruit, second round pick

Id: O54Uw1no81A

Length: 14min 22sec (862 seconds)

Published: Sun Aug 06 2023