To be fair, he decommitted to Michigan State because he was planning to go pro. Everyone assumed he wouldn’t go to college but then he found out he could make similar money with NIL as going pro so the college route was back on the table.
This isn’t entirely accurate. NIL was already in motion before Bates even committed to MSU. It wasn’t official, but a handful of states had passed laws and the NCAA already had a committee working how to roll out NIL.
The issue has always been his age. He can’t go to the G League without a rule change or some other exemption. He isn’t NBA draft eligibile until 2023.
If he didn’t reclassify, then he could go straight to the G League (in 2022 after another year of “school.”)
As soon as he reclassed, it pretty much guaranteed he would spend at least a semester in college.
I think it’s just how the Bates Camp have expectations on how Emoni will be used and Izzo isn’t going to guarantee anything to them. Like they kicked Akins out of Emoni Prep because he didn’t always pass the ball to Bates. That shit wouldn’t fly with Izzo. Not playing defense also wouldn’t fly.
Supposedly Izzo wasn’t even aware that Bates was going to commit originally.
So this relationship has been strange from the beginning to say the least.
Nor should Izzo his job is to build a team so if it’s not best for the team then whatever. I probably would also take 3-4 years of Akins over 2 of bates
Yea if I had to pick, I’d probably lean towards the high level 3/4 year PG. But Emoni does have the talent to be special. He just needs to stop thinking that he’s above criticism.
It’s like he thinks he doesn’t have to be continuously improving…
He’s in for a rude awakening at some point; he got a taste this past year, but it doesn’t appear to have humbled that camp as much as it should have.
I realize the idea NIL was in motion when he committed but the amount elite players could make was highly uncertain. When he committed to MSU, it wasn’t clear that he could make more from NIL than the G League. That fundamentally changed the equation.
Am I understanding you correctly that Emoni Bates cannot play in the G League until he turns 18 in January? Seems like the G League would happily give him an exemption if he wanted to go that route.
Debateable on your first point. I think everyone could see that the stars of college were about to start pulling deals well above the $200k that the G League offers.
Second point; I’m not sure the G League can offer exemptions. If the players are collectively bargained for, then it’s almost certain they can’t offer exemptions without that being written in the CBA.
Either way, it looks like Emoni is enrolled at Memphis, so you’ve got him at least until his Bday.
Yeah, but how many times has a blue blood came in at the 11th hour and still scooped the guy? I have no doubts that if, say, Duke wanted him, they would’ve came in strong after it became clear that Bates possibly would go to college.
I don’t know how many programs were willing to get into it when they were going to have to come up with an NIL package that could beat whatever his pro package would be. Lots of universities are behind the times when it comes to NIL.
You’re underestimating how prepared blue bloods are for NIL.
Whitehead was offered $500k by Overtime and Duke beat it. Lively is being offered a similar figure and will almost certainly end up at Duke or Kentucky.
NIL is largely seen as a win for big programs. Do you really think these blue bloods are being scared off by Overtime and the G-League? They were beating them pre-NIL.
I was talking more specifically for Bates. I think he values the $ more than other players. Especially if he does one year in college and then goes G League. Other players are more likely to leave money on the table in exchange for the exposure that attending a blue blood gets you.
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u/TheBlueRajasSpork Memphis Tigers 19d ago
To be fair, he decommitted to Michigan State because he was planning to go pro. Everyone assumed he wouldn’t go to college but then he found out he could make similar money with NIL as going pro so the college route was back on the table.