The Underrated

The Bronny James SAGA IS GETTING REAL

Caught on tape - Bronny James has not played well in Summer League so far, but things just got worse. Jaylen Brown was caught admitting what everyone already knows while watching the Lakers and Celtics in Las Vegas.

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Duration:: 12m
Broadcast on:: 18 Jul 2024
Audio Format:: mp3

What's up North America, I'm Dave Dabaugh, and thanks so much for tuning into the underrated pod. On today's show, we are going to talk about the Bronny James saga and what a saga this is actually turning into, that is today's topic on the underrated. Alright, so it has been very interesting to watch Bronny James play in Summer League basketball. I think what we've experienced watching Bronny James play in Summer League basketball is exactly what we should have expected. After four games of playing time for Bronny James at this point, he's averaging 4.3 points a game. Basically he averaged a little bit more at USC in the one year he played there. He has 7 for 31 from the field and over 15 from the three point arc. Now, there is a game coming up tonight and so hopefully Bronny will have a slightly better offensive output. Now, if you listen to any of the other podcasts or any of the other people in the media, they certainly would tell you, especially after Bronny James was drafted, that Bronny James is primarily going to work on his defense this particular summer, that there wasn't going to be much of an emphasis on his offensive side of the court, so to speak. And if you watch any of these Summer League games, you know exactly what those people were saying was accurate. Look, Bronny James is like a person running away from a beehive when the ball comes near him. He is doing everything he can possibly do to not have to shoot unless it's a layup or a wide open shot. For the most part, Bronny James is doing what I've seen hundreds and hundreds of basketball players do at all sorts of different levels, which is ghosting himself out of the play. You know, he's the guy that runs from the basketball, he doesn't run to the basketball, he's actually running from the basketball. Now, this isn't a knock on Bronny James. This isn't a knock on LeBron James, I totally get it. LeBron James used his cloud, which of course he has earned, to help his son actually end up getting a job. That happens every day throughout the entire world. There is nothing wrong with Bronny James actually having a shot at playing in the NBA as a result of his father's influence. It's just that if you were expecting Bronny James to have put up any sort of big statistical offensive numbers, you were certainly barking up the wrong tree at this point. Now, Jalen Brown got caught on tape when he was hanging out at a game a couple of days ago with his girlfriend and his girlfriend's former teammate, Angel Reese, and he got caught basically saying or mouthing that Bronny James is not a pro. Jalen Brown then followed that up with the following statement. It's a flex to have your son alongside you in the NBA. It reflects greatness and longevity. Bronny has all the tools around him to be successful. I look forward to watching his growth. Now, look, this was an absolutely fantastic statement written by Jalen Brown and it certainly points out what a lot of people out there already know, but what a lot of people aren't willing to actually say publicly. It's one of the things I actually love about Jalen Brown. Jalen Brown's not actually taking this, not playing on the USA basketball team lightly. He is upset that he's not on the USA basketball team. I mean, seriously, there are three other players on that team right now that shouldn't be on that team. In fact, I could probably say there's even more when you look at what Jalen Brown has accomplished, especially over the last 12 months in the NBA. Jalen Brown certainly deserved to be on that team. This was also another strong reflection of the kind of person that Jalen Brown is, at least in his statement that he made about Bronny James. It is clear to me after watching Bronny James play in four-summerly games so far that Bronny James clearly can play basketball. Bronny James can run up and down the court. Bronny James can occasionally make a lamb. Bronny James can make some good passes. He plays some pretty decent defense. I'm not saying he's the best defender I've ever seen play in the summer league, but the summer league is not what real basketball is actually going to look like when we get to the NBA regular season. And even for that matter, the G League regular season where I'm sure Bronny James will end up drinking several cups of coffee. It's the only way that Bronny James is actually going to be able to work out his kinks and figure out exactly who he is as a basketball player related to making a difference on an NBA roster. Yeah, sure, the Lakers can just go ahead and carry him and have him sit on the bench throughout the entire regular season, but I'm not sure that's actually really going to do him any good. I mean, he'll get to play in garbage time, but does garbage time in the NBA mean as much to a young player like Bronny James than real time in the G League? So I think it's a question of what do the Lakers really want to try to get out of Bronny James? Are they in this simply to appease LeBron who after Bronny signed his $8 million contract, signed his own $100 million contract to stay with the Los Angeles Lakers? Like everything was totally executed to the point where LeBron wasn't going to sign and tell his son had gotten his contract. I get it. He simply was just trying to ensure that his kid was taken care of. Nothing wrong with Papa Bear looking out for baby bear, so to speak. It's not like Bronny James can play basketball. It's not like I haven't seen him actually get hot shooting the ball in the past. It's just that in the summer league, he hasn't shown us any of that. And it's also just that in college basketball last year he didn't really show us a lot either. So I think there's certainly a lot of work to be done here for Bronny James. And the only way he's actually going to get better is really to spend a significant amount of time in the G League. Now for those people out there that are screaming nepotism, nepotism, nepotism, those people do not understand how the world works. You know, last night I was catching bits and pieces of the Republican National Convention. And Donald Trump's daughter-in-law is a co-chair of the RNC. Look, I'm not making any political statements on the show one way or the other. I just want to point out the nepotism there. There is nepotism throughout the entire world, and quite frankly, as far as I'm concerned, it doesn't really matter. What really matters is when that person actually gets into a job, are they actually able to deliver? Now, in the co-chair of the RNC's case, she absolutely delivered. She gave a 15-minute speech and was fantastic. Look, I'm not saying I agreed with her policies, but in terms of her ability to actually deliver a great speech, as well as her ability to actually co-chair the RNC, she appears to have hit a home run. You know, she didn't just get put into that spot to fail. So I believe that LeBron James, as much as he talked up his kid over the years, believes that Bronnie James certainly has enough skills to actually be a role player for the Los Angeles Lakers at some point. I don't think him and his agency, so to speak, would have gone out of the way they did to help make Bronnie James's dreams come true if they didn't believe he was going to get better. Alright, that is it for today's underrated pod. I'd love to know what you think North America, how long do you think it will take for Bronnie James to actually get to that point where he is a reasonably good role player in the National Basketball Association. I think the over-under on this is 24 to 36 months, which is probably 12 months too long considering that there will be a new team announced in Las Vegas at some point by Adam Silver. I'm sure LeBron will want to retire and go acquire that rights to that team in Vegas or at least be part of the group that actually does that. So I think LeBron has got two years left, tops. And I think we'll see Bronnie James play a little bit with the Los Angeles Lakers play a little bit with his dad at some point during the season. I seriously doubt though it will happen before Bronnie has a chance to actually really spend some time getting a big cup of coffee in the G League. Alright North America, that is it for today's underrated. Please go and drop in your comments and tell me what you think. Hey, if you haven't had a chance to subscribe yet, please go ahead and do so and of course like this video, we are 1 million views in on this channel. So thanks for all of your support to this point. For the underrated, I am Dave DeBaugh wishing you all a tremendous rest of your sports viewing day two, the guitar riffs, we go. You've been listening to the underrated podcast with Dave DeBaugh, presented by underrated.media. [Music]