I follow UCLA basketball pretty closely and have subscription to BRO (Bruin Report Online):
1st- the UCLA vs USC debate This is a non-debate, UCLA didn't offer nor recruit Bronny. The reason being UCLA head coach Mick Cronin is a hard nose old school coach who believes playing time should be earned and not given didn't want to deal with the circus that comes with Bronny (not Bronny himself, but LeBron). This is the also why UCLA lost #1 PG of this class Isaiah Collier to USC. There were many people whispering and telling Collier that UCLA will play Dylan Andrews (who came from a UCLA pipeline AAU team) more. Collier wanted assurance with PT, Cronin didn't promise, USC offered a huge NIL, and Collier committed to SC along with #46 ranked
Arrinten Page as a package deal.
As for the UCLA demise recently, Cronin recruited and missed many recruits this cycle - due to many reasons, his insistence on not promising PT (this is guaranteed to lose some prospects in the new NIL world), absolutely drill his players (in a good way), grades, and of course NIL mishaps. As a result, UCLA changed its approach to focus on international recruiting instead - Ilane Fibleuil recently committed. He is better than his composite ranking suggested (
https://247sports.com/player/ilane-fibleuil-46139121/), many other websites simply hasn't seen him to give him a valuation. The 247 ranking (38) is a better evaluation on how he is as a player. I think he's a future NBA player. Aday Mara from Spain, will most likely join next year's UCLA team. He is currently listed as the #1 prospect in the 2024 class (
https://nbadraftroom.com/p/2024-nba-mock-draft/). I do wish UCLA made an effort to try and recruit Bronny though, because i feel like the exposure and 1 year of sacrifice is worth it for the future NIL deals alone.
2nd - the Bronny recruitment Bronny has been a silent USC commit for a while, that's why you haven't heard too much about his recruitment. USC head coach Andy Enfield, while not a great X&O coach, is an excellent recruiter. For example, he recruited the Mobley brothers to USC by hiring their dad as an assistant coach at USC. Now in the NIL world, USC as a rich private institution, can provide more to Enfield to recruit. USC, however, is still a way bigger football school than basketball. Anyway, Enfield has promised Bronny (and his family) a starting position, along with Isaiah Collier (rightfully so). The return of Boogie Ellis to USC for his 5th year did complicate things, because he keeps the starting spot that was promised to Bronny, that's why USC eventually drove out Tre White (potential NBA pick) to Louisville, to open another starting position. Bronny did not choose USC because of money, he can make that through NIL easy. He has 7.1 million followers on IG. Staying in LA will do wonders for his NIL value.
Here is an estimate of his NIL value:
https://www.on3.com/nil/rankings/player/nil-100/ 3rd - Bronny's fit at USC.
Bronny is an excellent fit at USC. Their next year's lead guards are projected to be Isaiah Collier and Boogie Ellis. Collier is a lead pass first guard while Boogie (Pac-12 1st team) is more of a combo scoring guard. Bronny can fill the 3rd role has a 3 and D prospect. His value won't be hurt too much even if he sucked, because all scouts know he's not a lead guard. If anything, playing the 3 and D aspect well will definitely boost his draft stock. The only issue is that USC will now play 3 short guards starting together. However, that probably doesn't matter because USC fanbase does not care about basketball, so the exposure is worth the risk and will absolutely help future USC recruiting. USC basketball, similar to UCLA football, just needs to be "good enough" for the fanbase to accept it.
4th - Bronny as a prospect. A lot of people addressed on this already, Bronny is not a lead guard but more of a 3 and D guard. Scouts are impressed with how hard he plays as a privileged 2nd generation NBA player, let alone LBJ's son. He is nowhere near Lonzo Ball, Jrue Holiday, nor Marcus Smart in terms of talent level. De'Anthony Melton (another USC alum), like what many others mentioned, is an excellent comparison. There is a chance that Bronny ends up better than Melton, as Bronny has much much higher basketball IQ than Melton. However, Melton is also a lot smoother athletically and better defensively. Melton did carve out a role in the NBA as a 6th man and spot starter, and I feel like that's Bronny does have that potential as well. The worry is that compare to others at the same age, Bronny does seem physically filled out already, which is not surprising given he probably has the same access to LeBron's nutrition team, and that does possibly mean his potential is a little less than his peers. While ESPN's Jonathan Givony did LeBron a favor by ranking Bronny higher than expected in his 2024 mock draft, i do feel like Bronny is a legit NBA prospect. A lot of people argue that if his last name isn't James, he won't be any different than any other 6"2 small forward 3 and D guard. While that's absolutely 100% true, but his last name is JAMES and he does have 7.1 million followers and we will keep talking about him, that does put him on the map and help him as a draft prospect. After all, does anyone care whether if a random DeAnthony Melton clone gets drafted or not? But people will care and notice where Bronny gets drafted. And part of being drafted is also how much exposure you have. Bronny is absolutely a one and done regardless of what happens, he is only going to college because NBA rules dictates it.
