Bronny James made his long-awaited NBA debut on Saturday when the Los Angeles Lakers confronted off in opposition to the Sacramento Kings within the California Basic, a pre-cursor to the league’s annual Vegas Summer time League, and all issues thought-about, it was a considerably underwhelming efficiency. James shot 2-of-9 from the sphere and missed each of his free throws in a 108-94 loss to the Kings. He completed the sport with 4 factors, two assists, two rebounds and a steal.
James, the eldest son of NBA legend LeBron James, struggled for pretty predictable causes. The most important query mark about his recreation because the No. 55 total decide in final month’s draft was his bounce shot. His path to success within the NBA, given his limitations as a shot-creator, was all the time going to come back by way of the 3-and-D position participant route. However on Saturday, he tried 5 photographs exterior of the paint and made solely one in every of them. His solely conversion within the paint got here on a layup. His bounce shot regarded shaky all through the sport.
That does not imply there weren’t positives. James has an excellent really feel for the sport and is aware of find out how to play inside an offense. He was decisive as a ball-handler, turning this handoff into a fast drive for a layup that gave him his first skilled factors.
Within the third quarter, he shook off a defender with a pleasant behind-the-back dribble and sank a mid-range look.
“I used to be simply making an attempt to concentrate on being aggressive, going downhill and get a layup out of it,” James mentioned of his shot choice after the sport. “However that wasn’t open on a regular basis, so I needed to accept the mid-range. My coach all the time advised me to get downhill, particularly as a result of I am an even bigger guard, and use my physique to create open lanes for myself, and possibly open up for Colin [Castleton] generally, however he was simply telling me to be aggressive downhill due to my athleticism as nicely.”
Protection has been Bronny’s greatest trait as a prospect since highschool, and he was a bit extra profitable on that finish of the ground. He was energetic, developing with a number of deflections and notching a steal within the field rating. Nevertheless, his measurement did show to be a little bit of a problem in sure matchups. James is not even 6-foot-2, which provides him a fairly uncommon physique for 3-and-D requirements, as that archetype sometimes depends on longer wings versus small guards.
There have been glimpses of what’s going to give James a path to achievement within the NBA this recreation, however lots of the issues that made him a late-second-round prospect have been additionally on show. His defensive exercise, particularly on the level of assault, goes to serve him nicely early on. However he is too small to defend a number of positions at a excessive degree, so if he would not develop a bounce shot, he is simply not going to have the ability to justify any kind of constant position. That jumper regarded prefer it wanted work on Saturday simply because it has all through his whole novice profession.
Summer time League struggles in no way counsel disappointing careers. James has an extended solution to go, and one recreation that wasn’t even performed in Vegas will not imply a lot within the grand scheme of issues. He regarded kind of just like the prospect that the broader basketball world believed him to be on Saturday: a flawed but promising position participant who wants to enhance if he will stick within the NBA.
