Bronny James is a NBA prospect like no other. #nba

Over the years, I have made videos tracking LeBron James Jr., Bronny.

But I have never seen a more confusing prospect than this.

And now he got drafted to the Lakers, congratulations to Bronny!

We’ve seen Michael Jordan’s son Marcus get to the college stage a bit off of name too and then fizzle out and even he averaged more points.

Bronny shouldn’t be here, and yet his potential has always been sky high, enough to validate contention. We’ll get to his upside but Bronny wasn’t ready for the NBA draft, he should have never declared, yet he would have developed into a NBA player. So how good is Bronny actually?

At first, Bronny was compared to his dad LeBron. But even at 15, it was apparent that while they may have similar traits ad tendencies of high IQ basketball, getting players involved, LeBron was a freak athlete that Bronny just didn’t develop into, nor did Bronny play in systems where he was the main option. The only thing that was better was his jumpshot but that isn’t saying the most.

Bronny didn’t show much during his high school years, buried under other NBA prospects like Brandon Boston Jr. and Amari Bailey.

but he was always well regarded.

College was his chance to finally show a bit of growth in his game, while he physically stopped growing and ended at 6’ 3”, that was a lie 6’ 1.5”, everyone wanted to see his athleticism, his playmaking, just him doing more than 15 minutes a night.

We were robbed of the opportunity to see what Bronny was capable of because a majority of the season was spent in Bronny just working his way back after a hiatus without being able to train with the team before the season. His subpar averages of 4.8 points on 36% from the field, 2.8 rebounds, 2.1 assists, alright is anyone going into the draft with these averages, what? But we couldn’t definitively be attributed to his game or his health.

I can’t definitely say that Bronny is or isn’t an NBA prospect. This draft class has also been considered by many to be weak.

But there’s a narrative that LeBron, that Klutch sports want to fulfill. LeBron and Bronny being the first father son duo in NBA history to play at the same time. And for that to happen, Bronny needed to be in the draft this year, at least since LeBron doesn’t know exactly when his last season would be and that this goal has seemingly been the driving force.

And that’s what has me a bit angry. Because what should have happened was Bronny staying an additional year at USC. Working his way up through the draft rankings through his play.

It’s not like he had no shot. In fact, I think some of the stuff we’ve seen from Bronny look incredible.

His on-ball defense was suffocating. Essentially, he played winning basketball, made the right plays. Despite the not crazy 14.2 points, 5.5 rebounds, 2.4 assists, 1.8 steals, no advanced stats in high school so this looks alright, he was 20th in his class, seemed like a late first round pick by several scouts. They liked everything he was bringing to the game.

In fact, in high school, he was actually ahead of Reed Sheppard, close to Rob Dillingham, both of which would be drafted in the lottery this year.

And in some key matchups Bronny outperformed some of the top guys in this year’s draft, like at the Nike Hoop Summit when he played for the Team USA select team vs world, going at Risearcher, the eventual number one overall pick, a game filled with eventual first round picks, Ron Holland, Jared McCain, Isaiah Collier. **and Bronny looked like he belonged. Playing great perimeter defense

That doesn’t make him the better prospect but it shows his capabilities.

If you watch the USC games, you can see that Bronny just wasn’t well incorporated in the offense, probably due to the late start. USC’s top recruit that year was another guard Isaiah Collier, so Bronny was going to be the focal point. And as USC coach Andy Enfield would say aftergames, “We just went with our veterans down the stretch, but he has continued to improve as a player.”

But also, he was playing more off-ball, as a combo guard. His handles were good, but not great. His shot looked good, but fluky. Soft touch around the rim but not consistent. His defense, yeah that was there.

But Bronny, even when he had a start for USC was unable to really create too much offense.

Yes he made the right plays, passes off mismatches, but it wasn’t him creating problems for the defense.

Now in the NBA, he’ll be able to develop behind the scenes, but will he get enough reps in? Will he be able to improve in game? It hurts him at the stage he’s in.

Maybe I’m in the minority but I think Bronny could’ve made it in the NBA if he had just gotten a chance to improve. ****But now it’s always gonna be LeBron got his son drafted. He’s living in his dad’s shadow. He doesn’t deserve that. He seems like a great person and has handled the pressure so well. Let him make his own name because he’s capable of it.