The Cleveland Cavaliers’ Summer League run has been phenomenal in Las Vegas. They are 3-0, and are one of five teams that are undefeated. The Summer Cavaliers were also the first team to have won three games, and are now the best team in the Summer League, statistically.
Also, the Cavaliers have the best point differential at plus-16.7, while the Brooklyn Nets (2-1) are second in that metric, at plus-11.7. As of now, it seems the Cavaliers have near the best odds to win the whole Summer League Tournament. The Cavaliers play against the Chicago Bulls on Thursday, and that will be their last game before the tournament starts.
One of the most exciting players in the whole Summer League is Emoni Bates. Bates was a five-star recruit coming out of high school, and had lofty expectations when he was going to come into the league.
Unfortunately for his sake, Bates did not reach those expectations in college, as he fell to the 49th pick in the second round. The Cavaliers liked what they saw from Bates, though, so they gave him an opportunity with a two-way contract.
On Monday night, the Cavaliers faced off against the Memphis Grizzlies, and Cleveland won 100-77. Bates was a key factor in that game, as he dropped 21 points, to go with four rebounds. He also shot seven-of-11 from the field, as well as five-of-eight from three-point range.
Bates has been known to be a shoot-first player, as his playmaking abilities are not great by any means. Bates averaged 1.4 assists in Eastern Michigan, but also averaged 2.5 turnovers per game, so he had a negative assist-to-turnover ratio.
He was inconsistent in his collegiate career, but to his credit, he’s shown flashes in the Summer League, and has demonstrated that someday he could be an All-Star-level talent.
There are many things that Bates has shown for the Cavs in Summer League so far, so let’s take a closer look at a few that have jumped out.
We’ll begin with his defensive play.
No. 1: Bates’ defense hasn’t been awful
When Bates came into the league, many people were projecting that he would be a negative defender, and for good reason. Bates has a negative wingspan, meaning that his wingspan is shorter than his height. Having a longer wingspan usually means better perimeter defense, and Bates’ wingspan isn’t amazing.
Bates added in two steals in the previous game against the Grizzlies, which was encouraging. His ability to pick off plays in passing lanes has been a pleasant surprise, as he didn’t really showcase that skill in college.
Bates also has shown a lot more effort on defense, as he’s become more vocal on the defensive side of the ball, and has just had more energy while guarding on the perimeter.
Bates will not likely ever become an All-Defensive-kind of player, but he might not end up being a player that teams target on defense to try and get easy baskets. He should improve on defense throughout his career, and could eventually become a factor on that end as he hopefully gets stronger.
No. 2: Bates has been a better teammate than one might’ve anticipated
Emoni Bates has been known to be a sort of player who has the “give me the ball and get out of the way” playstyle. In Eastern Michigan, he was a shot-chucker. He didn’t really try to pass a lot. He played in isolation a lot, and that was the case for a lot of the games.
This isn’t to hate on Bates, he just played a bit selfishly in college, also at Memphis to some degree; his roles did lead to some of that too, though.
However, in the Summer League, he’s looked a lot more selfless. He’s been making the extra passes, he’s been playing hard, and being vocal.
Sure, one assist in the recent game against Memphis isn’t amazing, but that’s fine. He saw when he had open looks, and if he didn’t have a look he liked, he either swung the ball or tried to get separation with a screen.
Eastern Michigan’s team wasn’t very good, either. They had a record of 8-23, and their second-leading scorer averaged 14.3 points. It’s reasonable to assume that he must’ve thought that the key to succeed was for him to get his shots up, but that was a recipe for failure, and Eastern Michigan’s record plummeted.
At the end of the victory against Memphis, the cameras went over to Sam Merrill and Bates, to get their voices on input on the game. Here’s what Bates had to say.
"“So far it’s been fun for me, being out here with my teammates, like he said. I’ve been learning every game, first game ’till now, I’ve just been learning. I ask him questions too, like, even at the facility. Just trying to learn as much as I can, they’ve been here before me, so I’m just trying to pick off what they did from last year.”"
Bates was talking about Sam Merrill in the interview, and how he wanted to learn from the 27-year-old guard. Merrill has been in the Summer League before, and has been in the league for a few years now. Because of that, Bates has been a student under Merrill, it seems, which is impressive to see Bates take that initiative.
No. 3: Bates’ offense still has some time to go, and he’s a work in progress
Bates didn’t look that good during his first two Summer League games. In his first game against the Nets, Bates was a net negative on offense. He shot five-of-18 from the field, as well as four-of-13 from beyond the arc. To add insult to injury, Bates had no assists in the game, but Cleveland still won the game by four points.
In Cleveland’s second Summer League game against the Toronto Raptors, Bates played a bit better, but he still wasn’t efficient. He shot five-of-12 from the field, as well as one-of-five from distance.
Now, he did have two assists in the game, which was nice to see, on the plus side, and did move the ball somewhat better. He also added in eight rebounds and a block, which were other positives. His shooting splits weren’t great, but they were fine, especially compared to his first game.
His playmaking is still not great, which is fine. He’ll have time to hone in on his passing down in the G-League, as that’s probably where he’ll spend a lot of his time with his two-way contract this next season. He gets tunnel vision occasionally, which is fine. A lot of rookies have had that problem coming into the league, so this isn’t a new thing.
His free throw shooting has been terrific, too, which has been outstanding. As of now, Bates is a combined five-of-five from the free throw line in the Summer League. He shot 78.2 percent from the free throw line in college, which is solid, and overall, his shot looks better and more natural, regardless of the splits.
All in all, Emoni Bates is a very gifted player, and he should have a fine NBA career. This Vegas Summer League will definitely be a great first stepping stone when it comes to Bates getting better and better in the league, so we’ll just have to see how well he plays against the Bulls, and hopefully in the Summer League Tournament, as well.