Post#45 » by Pelly24 » Sun May 7, 2023 9:22 am
Bronny is a fascinating player to me. I've watched him since he was in 5th or 6th grade. When he was about 6 feet or so at the end of 8th grade, I'd imagined that he would be a legit 6'4" shooting guard who could blow by defenders with decent quickness, good handle and a lot of strength and power. I kind of expected him to be the type of guy who averages 20/5/5 in high school before eventually doing a lesser version of that. I basically imagined him being like a fringe all-star Dwade.
But he's actually a 6'2" small forward with a strong jumper and great off-ball instincts and great defense with a good amount of power, strength, open court speed and incredible bounce. But basically he has no ability to create shots for himself or others in the half court. Lacks an explosive first step and he also doesn't have a lot of twitch to his movements east to wes, lacks the flexibility, too robotic. Because of this, he wasn't able to take advantage of his amazing bounce and strength in the paint. He's also a pretty mediocre midrange shooter. That's why he couldn't really average 20 points per game — no easy shots for him in the open court.
But overall, he always plays great with other elite players. That's his real talent, that's why he played a lot in both the McDonald's All American and Hoop Summit games despite not starting. He finished both games and looked like one of the most impactful players on the court. There are a lot of guys with better positional size and better jumpers and scoring abilities, but in the NBA, if you're not smart, you can't be on the court in a meaningful capacity most of the time. I think Bronny's athletics and feel (knowing when to pass, when to cut, when to shoot, where to relocate when trying to get open for jumpers, getting into shooting form quickly, all that) will get him a spot in the league for a long time. I think he would be a really great second round pick for a team next year, if he were in a vacuum. His inability to create at all is very damning, but he's a very good player and I see him in the NBA in the not too distant future. But because of LeBron and the attachment and this idea of his potential will make him go first. I also could see him taking a creation leap and outplaying expectations by a lot last year.
We'll see. 6'2" small forwards don't have a track record of great success. But maybe he can truly go the De ’Anthony Melton role if everything works out.
. Also is a team really going to draft him in the lottery?
