Thread by @klaytheist11

Gonna thread some Emoni Bates clips here in anticipation of more #words

Wanted to qualify all of this by saying this entire Memphis offense is a mess, so starting with a clip that shows some of that. No movement, cutters, screens, everyone staring at the ball.

Emoni is pretty good at using his height on defense when in the lane. Denies any lane for a good shot or entry pass and forces the player into a tough hook shot off the glass

I get why people saw the Kevin Durant in Emoni Bates through his high school/youth circuit days. For a 6’9” wing this is some impressive control of his momentum to slow himself into a controlled shot.

There are a few good things here. Gets some nice separation on the crossover and plants hard to fake the defender into the air. Has the height and length to get off a clean scoop shot near the rim, though it’s pretty off

Emoni’s quickness and handle make him pretty solid at attacking closeouts. He scoots past the defender to his right and uses his large frame to box out defenders from contesting without fouling, and it's an easy two. The question is how much teams will respect his shot

I’m pretty worried about Emoni’s overall coordination when finishing at the rim. It’s good that he has the length to overcome being driven to the baseline and get off a decent scoop layup, but it’s way off. This comes up a LOT when evaluating him, and often in spectacular fashion

Emoni doesn’t see the screen coming and gets absolutely bodied, then a huge momentum-swinging three is hit in front of Duren’s contest

Bates has pretty good footwork on his step-backs and side to side jumpers to get separation, but the lack of makes on these is pretty concerning when shooting was supposed to be his most bankable skill

Love the vision to see his teammate at the rim on the broken play, and makes a nice overhead pass to find him from ~35 feet

The lack of strength really hampers Emoni on his drives and it’s tough to project him adding that much more mass. The negative wingspan isn’t helping either, and it’s pretty easy to move him off his spots and force tough looks for him at the rim

Another video showing why Emoni is really good at attacking closeouts. Basically the mirror image of his attack off the left corner, but this time from the right

Another Emoni head-scratcher. I'm not sure what's worse, that he tried a one-footed three or that he traveled while trying

Bates' relocation skill needs a lot of work. In the late half with no shot clock, everyone on the floor except Emoni is working to get themselves open. Emoni stands still, calling for the ball, being tracked by the defense the entire time. That's not helping anyone

Caught ball-watching while trying to navigate a split between two players, the low man is able to sneak to the rim and Emoni panics, fouling him in addition to giving up the baseline cut

In isolation against Jabri Abdur-Rahim, JAR drives to the paint to rise for the jumper, but Bates is caught reaching in a pretty obvious fashion. Again the physical work is there, but the lack of attention to detail and self-control is frustrating

Being a tough shotmaker at that height is a big part of Emoni’s floor if he can make enough of these shots. Really nice turnaround, establishing deep position on the backdown to his fight before fading away into the shot

Another example of the tough shots Emoni is capable of creating and making. The quick dribble to his left gets separation out of the triple threat and he sticks the jumper in the face of the defender

Trying to find an outlet pass when the dribble move doesn’t work, Emoni has no feel for the double coming from Tyrese Hunter, who deflects his bailout pass

This is a good summary of Emoni's play so far. Threat of the shot and a great head fake throw his defender, and he’s gone. Tries to go into a 360-degree spin dump-off to make a mess out of an easy play. If he can clean up the headache-inducing plays, there’s a good player there