The surprising grade JJ Redick gave Bronny James for his rookie season
The surprising grade JJ Redick gave Bronny James for his rookie season
Bronny James, the son of LeBron James, has come a long way in just a handful of months. When this season started, many dismissed him as a "nepo baby" who had a spot on the Los Angeles Lakers' roster only because of his father and didn't even deserve to be in the NBA at all.
The 20-year-old has been subject to tons of attention and scrutiny, but he has kept his head on straight. He has shuffled between the NBA and G league, a move many have criticized, but he still made great strides once the G League regular season began. He ended up averaging 21.9 points, 5.5 assists, 5.1 rebounds and 1.9 steals a game and shot 44.3% from the field and 38% from 3-point range in 11 regular-season games with the South Bay Lakers.
JJ Redick, the head coach of the big-league Lakers, has watched the younger James traverse his rookie season, and Redick likes what he sees. Before the University of Southern California product got a rare start in L.A.'s final regular-season game on Sunday, Redick gave him an extremely high grade for the season, not necessarily for how he played but for how he has handled the whole strange situation.
"I give him and A+. How he has personally handled a lot of attention, good and bad, he doesn't even break character," Redick said, via Khobi Price of the SoCal News Group. "He's the same guy every day and he doesn't allow the good attention to get to him. He doesn't allow the bad attention to get to him and he just continues to work.
"I thought [coach] Zach [Guthrie] and his staff did a phenomenal job with him when he was down with the South Bay Lakers. He's improved and we saw this particularly, I went to some early games and seeing his confidence grow from October, November, to really that second part of the G League season, post Showcase, was phenomenal. And I think every time he's been on the court for us in the second half of the season, you can see that level of confidence and level of comfort. He's a guy you can tell things to and they don't let it affect their work or their attitude. I told him, I'm very high on him longterm being a part of our rotation."
Sunday's game was a reminder that the younger James still isn't ready for the NBA. He shot 2-of-10 from the field and scored just four points, although he did have six assists, four steals and three rebounds in L.A.'s 109-81 loss to the Portland Trail Blazers.
But the narrative surrounding him is slowly changing and becoming more positive and hopeful. If he puts in lots of work this offseason, and if he is allowed to continue to develop at his own pace moving forward, perhaps he can someday become an NBA rotation player after all.
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