Coming into this season, it wasn’t realistic for Emoni Bates to play much with the Cleveland Cavaliers given the team’s current wing depth. Bates, who was a second-round pick in the 2023 NBA Draft and is one of Cleveland’s two-way players, played most of his significant minutes with the Cleveland Charge, the Cavaliers’ G League affiliate this season.
Reinforcing the first point, Bates it probably wasn’t a prospect who looked poised for tons of NBA runs this season with the Cavaliers. To this point in the 2023-24 campaign, Bates has appeared in 11 games for the Cavs, in which he has received eight minutes of playing time per appearance. He averaged 2.3 points and one rebound per outing in those contests.
Chances have been few and far between with the Cavaliers for the rookie, but he filled them up for the Charge. With them, he averaged 19.8 points and 5.9 rebounds per game in 17 games. He had eight games with 20+ points with the Charge, including two games where he scored 30+ points.
Bates has a way to go physically and defensively before contributing regularly to the Cavaliers, but his efforts in the G-League hints at a bright potential future for the young prospect.
With the injuries Cleveland is currently suffering from, JB Bickerstaff and company should consider giving Bates time to prove himself with some defensive guys in the lineups with him. This could potentially give Darius Garland and Caris LeVert, who has had some ups and downs latelya useful lift with Max Strus also released recently.
Bates hasn’t played much with the Wine and Gold so far, but given the injuries plaguing the Cavs, they might consider giving him some legitimate playing time in future games.
Bates has struggled during his college career and will need to further refine his game over the rest of the season and offseason, but some chances on the hardwood could accelerate his growth. He could give Cleveland some juice on the perimeter in the meantime with some bench minutes, and he can create some of his own offense at his best.
Bates had a eventful academic career and was unsuccessful at Memphis before transferring to Eastern Michigan. In his second campaign at EMU, he had much better production. Unfortunately, it wasn’t a memorable season from a team perspective. He also still needs to complete his frame to compete at the NBA’s highest level.
Those things aside, with the way Bates can shoot the ball, giving him some bench minutes could make Bates a unique asset for the latter part of the season while Cleveland waits for its stars to return. The Cavaliers could use some of his perimeter for scoring pop and speed.
Bates is unlikely to receive extended playing time; However, with Mitchell and Strus sidelined and Cleveland’s recent inconsistency, giving Bates catch-and-shoot opportunities in spurts could provide a spark to the team. During a 12-minute stint in Sunday’s lopsided loss to the Brooklyn Nets, Bates went one-for-four from three and three-for-seven overall. He’s still struggling to find his place in the Cavs’ game plan, given his lack of playing time.
If the Cavs were to find some meaningful minutes for Bates in future games, perhaps that could give them a little more juice on this road trip. Again, probably not something to expect, but it could be something to watch out for.
Things are tough right now for the short-handed Wine and Gold, and while this suggestion from Bates may be unrealistic, this team, which has been a resilient group this season, may want to try something else, aside from the potential playoff rotation. The Cleveland Cavaliers are struggling and they’ve already managed to find additional production from hidden contributors multiple times this year.
Following. 3 Cavaliers players who should play more before the playoffs. 3 Cavaliers players who should play more before the playoffs. dark
