Training camp is starting in just a few wiggles, and the Philadelphia 76ers will soon make an official preview for the upcoming season with the team slated to conduct its Media Day in just a couple of days before shortly leaving for Dubai to take part in the league’s annual preseason games abroad.
The team’s roster is technically close to being set (with only Quentin Grimes holding them back in that regard), but the preseason allows teams to carry a lot more players above the usual limit. That is precisely the reason why many have clamored about the front office bringing new players in for trials, and lo and behold, they did exactly that.
The 76ers have reportedly brought in four new players through Exhibit 10 deals to round out their training camp roster in Emoni Bates, Jaylen Martin, Malcolm Hill, and Kennedy Chandler. As of this moment, the team does not really have any more room for another guaranteed deal given the front office’s preference to keep an open roster spot (with the other already earmarked for Grimes), making it an interesting point to see if any of them can even crack the final roster.
Of those four, Bates is perhaps the most recognizable. But to be frank, the fact that he is even there should perplex a lot of people.
The 76ers absolutely do not need someone like Emoni Bates
Bates, who was once a top prospect in high school, ended up being an afterthought after getting drafted by the Cavaliers with the 49th overall pick in the 2023 NBA Draft. Over the last couple of years, he could only muster 25 appearances, and his putrid shooting splits are pretty telling as to why he never got a real role.
He drained just 32.2 percent of all his shots while draining just 33.3 percent of his attempts from three-point range. His reputation as a one-dimensional, low-efficiency scorer turned out to be actual descriptors of his play, resulting in Cleveland not pursuing another deal with him.
Now, it is probably elementary to postulate that the 76ers have absolutely no use for a player of such a troubling archetype. Philadelphia needs complementary pieces who will be willing to do then dirty work on defense and help smoothen out the offense as connctors, and Bates is most definitely not anywhere close even having that in his DNA.
While this might be a moot “discourse” anyway, the 76ers should have brought in players who have an actual shot at making it to the final roster and putting some pressure on those under contract. Emoni Bates is simply not that, and the front office should have known better by now.