Georgetown Making a Move For NC State's Manny Bates?
Rumors emerged on Tuesday that the talented sophomore center from NC State was entering the transfer portal and potentially heading to the Hilltop.
Patrick Ewing showed that his offseason roster tinkering isn’t complete yet, despite missing out on Patrick Baldwin Jr., as rumors surfaced Tuesday morning that North Carolina State redshirt sophomore center Manny Bates would be entering the transfer portal, and was likely headed to Georgetown.
Bates, a 6-foot-11, 230-pound center from Fayetteville, North Carolina, was a 4-star prospect coming out of high school, and was heavily recruited by Georgetown. The Hoyas finished as the runner-up to NC State when Bates made his decision, however.
Last season, Bates averaged 9.8 points, 5.9 rebounds, and 2.7 blocks per game, and was a defensive force in the middle for the Wolfpack. Bates earned All-ACC Defensive Team honors this past season, and led the ACC in blocks both years he has played in college so far. He is also the fastest player in NC State history to reach 100 blocks.
News of Bates’ impending transfer first came from Joe Giglio of 99.9 The Fan and Inside Pack Sports on Tuesday morning.
And the circumstances of Bates’ departure seem eerily similar, based on this tweet, to Qudus Wahab leaving Georgetown.
Giglio also tweeted that he heard that Georgetown is Bates’ eventual destination.
Georgetown basketball Twitter aficionado Nationwide Nolan also picked up some intel from NC State message boards, where a top Wolfpack insider said the following:
Later in the day, however, the following was tweeted by NC State men’s basketball SID Craig Hammel:
So, while this is a developing situation that certainly is worth monitoring, nothing has been decided yet, it appears.
Bates, if he did come to Georgetown, would be an upgrade over what Georgetown had in Qudus Wahab last season. He’s a defensive anchor for any team in the middle, and is an athletic, rim-running threat on offense who would pair well in the pick-and-roll with Dante Harris.
Defensively, Bates is an imposing shot-blocker: As a freshman, Bates led the nation in block rate at 16%; as a sophomore, he was still 18th in the country, blocking 10.7% of opponent field goal attempts when he was on the floor.
But Bates shows promise in other areas of his game too. While he is not known for his offensive skills, his offensive analytics show potential. As a sophomore, Bates averaged 0.89 points per possession on post ups, according to Synergy Sports.
Bates is at his best operating in pick-and-rolls, where he ranked in the 95th percentile last season in pick-and-roll efficiency, averaging 1.46 points per possession. The sophomore center shot almost 72% at the rim last year, recording 37 dunks in 24 games played. Unlike Wahab, this is not a player who requires post touches every other trip down the floor. He is happy to crash to the rim and score there off pick-and-rolls.
This story figures to have a couple more twists and turns before a decision is reached, as it appears now that NC State head coach Kevin Keatts is trying to talk Bates out of transferring.
Reeling in Patrick Baldwin Jr. would have been a grand slam for Georgetown, but pivoting to bringing in an elite center like Manny Bates would be the equivalent of a hitting a bases-clearing ground-rule double in the bottom of the eighth inning. We’ll see if Ewing can get this one across the finish line.