Whereas new Los Angeles Lakers guard Bronny James struggled to attain within the Las Vegas Summer season League, he did present flashes of being a lockdown defender.
The latter skillset might assist the son of LeBron James carve out an extended and profitable profession within the NBA. Retired Warmth ahead Udonis Haslem likes listening to Bronny comparing himself to Celtics guard Jrue Vacation as a consequence of his bodily attributes and defensive instincts.
On “The OGs Show” podcast, Haslem mentioned what he is noticed from Bronny thus far.
“He is achieved an incredible job of simply quieting the noise and specializing in the issues he can management,” Haslem stated of Bronny. “When he does communicate, he makes particular factors that allows you to know he is mature sufficient to know his place. As a result of when he speaks, he he talks about being a Jrue Vacation kind man. These kind of men — they don’t seem to be essentially the highest scorers on the staff however they’re guys you’ll be able to’t win with out. They’re Swiss military knife guys…If he can are available an influence like that, he simply builds [his career] with that.”
Throughout his dialog with Shaquille O’Neal, Haslem added that he is trying ahead to “seeing good issues” from Bronny in his rookie marketing campaign.
New Lakers head coach JJ Redick additionally in contrast Bronny to different defensive-minded guards within the NBA. Throughout the Summer season League, Redick stated he has conveyed to Bronny that he is searching for fixed “defensive ball stress” from the rookie — a process sometimes not given to star gamers who expend lots of power on offense.
Redick used the instance of OKC’s All-Defensive ace Luguentz Dort, who tried solely 8.3 pictures per recreation for the Thunder final season however was an indispensable member of the first-seeded staff.
Bronny will get an opportunity to justify Haslem and Redick’s reward when the Lakers face the Timberwolves of their preseason opener on Oct. 4. Whereas it is unknown if Bronny will go well with up for the beginning of the common season, one insider recently guaranteed that he might be within the Lakers rotation for opening night time on Oct. 22.