Huge blow for the former rival of Victor Wembanyama before the Draft!

Emoni Bates is expected to be the No.1 attraction for the next NCAA season. Announced as a future No. 1 in Draft, the young player from Memphis will have insane pressure to confirm this status. And Unfortunately for him, the year could not have started off worse.

He still had to complete a season at the High School level, where he had been blithely dominating for three years, but by dint of both athletic and academic work, Emoni Bates managed to enter the NCAA circuit with a little head start… Excellent news which ensures more or less the first place of the Draft 2023 to the Frenchman Victor Wembanyama ! And on his first training sessions, Bates showed he was ready for the professional world.

Emoni Bates brought great energy to the Memphis Pro Day, giving NBA scouts a taste of his advanced scoring instincts and developing playmaking ability. Has clearly worked on his body over the summer and the results are starting to show. pic.twitter.com/H9Id5cWuHc

— Jonathan Givony (@DraftExpress) October 7, 2021

Emoni Bates not built for the NBA?

The concern is that before each season in the NCAA, the players must undergo a whole series of tests, in particular physical, to already give indications to the NBA scouts. And at this level, the one the media already sees as the “new KD” has huge loopholes. What to weaken its rating for the next draft? Unfortunately, there are chances.

Emoni Bates has a recorded wingspan of 2 meters, the width and length of her hands have been noted as 20 centimeters, and her dry trigger is 60 centimeters, compared to 78 centimeters with a moving start. On the other hand, his results in agility and in sprinting would have placed him at the last position among the prospects during the last Draft.

Emoni Bates is a formidable basketball player, a striker with rare talent… But physically, he is well below the standards of the modern player! And these results recorded before the NCAA season are inevitably very worrying for the scouts. Will he have the explosiveness necessary to overtake his direct opponent in penetration? Will it be powerful enough to digest the contacts in the racket? Will he jump high enough to avoid counters?

And not to mention those athletic elements that can improve with a lot of work, his body in itself is “worrying” for the high level. For example, his small arms could quickly become a handicap at the defensive level, both to hinder the passing lines and to challenge the shots. Likewise, with his “small” hands, will he be able to catch all the balls thrown by his leader (problem encountered by the bust Kwame Brown)? Answer at the start of the NCAA season.

Emoni Bates doesn’t necessarily have the physique to match his talent, and NBA executives might be concerned. It remains to be seen if this will harm him.