Bronny James Ran Drills at The NBA Combine Yesterday and Shockingly Enough.... He Kinda Crushed It
Yesterday the news dropped that Bronny James officially plans on entering the 2024 NBA Draft, as opposed to returning to college for another season. Regardless of what you think about Bronny James as a basketball player, or what you think of LeBron James as a human, you have to admit that the case of Bronny entering the NBA draft this season is one of the more interesting NBA draft storylines we've had in a while. At least it is to me.
Everyone knows that by all accounts he's not even close to ready for the league. On talent alone, he has zero business entering the draft this year. The kid averaged less than 5 points on a dog shit USC team this season. He's 1000% not ready. But then of course, the several million dollar question is whether or not drafting not-very-good basketball player Bronny James is worth the chance of luring a 40+ year old LeBron to your city to play out his remaining years.
Everyone knows that's the situation. Even though yesterday, noted LeBron James propogandist Brian Windhorst tried his darndest to fan the flames of that idea.
Yeah right Brian. Nobody is buying that shit. LeBron James has said his entire life that it's his dream to play with his son. LeBron James has as much influence on the NBA as Adam Silver. If he didn't care about playing with his son, there's zero chance Bronny would be entering the draft right now.
Either way, the Bronny James draft process is officially underway. Yesterday, after he was medically cleared to play, Bronny James participated in drills at the NBA combine. And in a shocking turn of events... he sort of crushed it.
2nd place in the 3-point shooting/conditioning drill is pretty damn good Bronny. When it comes to lightly jogging around the court and throwing up shots with nobody guarding you whatsoever, Bronny James is as good as any prospect in the draft. Bronny's 19-25 (76%) shooting performance at the combine almost makes you forget about his 16-60 (26.6%) shooting performance in actual basketball games this season.
But that wasn't all. Turns out, the offspring of one of the greatest physical specimens the world has ever seen can jump pretty damn high as well.
2nd best three point shooter at the combine. 4th highest jumper. Last I checked, shooting and jumping are important skills to have in the league. That's not a bad combination. Couple that with the fact that Bronny James is a physical, defensive minded, 6'4" guard. On paper that's a pretty solid prospect.
Oh wait… never mind. There is one more little thing that came out of Bronny's day at the combine yesterday…
That's not ideal, Bronny. I'm sure he's been waiting for the shoe to drop on this. Playing a whole college season at USC under the guise of a 6'4" guard, while knowing damn well he's coming in at the same height as John Rich of Barstool Sports. If only Bronny could have opted out of the measurement portion of the combine the same way people opt out of certain drills. He really should have tried that. All it would have taken was a single phone call from dad.
"Hey Adam. Bronny James actually won't be participating in the height measuring drill at the combine this year. I'll just tell you right now he's 6'4". You can take my word for it."
But aside from blatantly lying about his height (which to be fair everyone does), Bronny had a pretty solid showing yesterday. He's got some of the raw skills that make for a passable NBA player. But does any of that even matter when it comes to Bronny's draft stock? Probably not. Honestly the NBA draft is such a crap shoot nowadays, and this class is so weak that it may not be a bad idea to draft him somewhere in the first round regardless of skill/ability. Draft Bronny James, blow half your salary cap on paying a washed up LeBron to come to your team, sell a bunch of jerseys, raise your ticket prices for a year or two. Why not? What does a team like Detroit have to lose? Their pride? Please. Somebody is going to draft the 19-year old, 6'1", 26% 3pt shooting player with a heart condition. I can't wait to see who it is.