In his first week of official practice, Bronny James has impressed the Lakers coaching staff, including JJ Redick.
When Bronny James entered the game in the second quarter of Friday’s preseason game against the Wolves, it was likely earlier than fans expected him to take the court. Given the comments about him being a development player from head coach JJ Redick this summer and the Lakers having a pretty solidified rotation, Bronny getting rotational minutes came as a surprise.
While the absence of LeBron James and Anthony Davis and injuries to Jarred Vanderbilt and Christian Wood played a role in Bronny seeing the court, so did his week of practice. Redick noted postgame that the staff had been impressed with his work over the summer and the first three days of training camp and rewarded him with early minutes.
Bronny showed equal parts of his potential and how far he has to go in those minutes. He tallied a trio of blocks in 16 minutes, but he just one of his six shots attempts as well.
Still, he’s taken steps forward this preseason, something Redick pointed out postgame in a lengthy quote about Bronny.
“We’re really happy with his progress,” he said. “The kid, he can do some things defensively at his size that are really unique and can, I think, turn into a really disruptive defender and that manifested itself On the offensive end, he’s, he’s still kind of figuring out who he is. That’s our job as a player development program to build him up.
“But, I like what I saw from Bronny. Truthfully, he’s so easy to coach. He’s got a great soul and, and just a great energy about him. I like being around him and I’m rooting for him. He’s a good player that we’re happy to have in our program.”
The shouts of nepotism aren’t going away anytime soon and were prevalent even in this contest. However, the preseason is literally for finding out about players and seeing them in game action for the first time, especially rookies.
Bronny will get more playing time, particularly alongside LeBron at least once this preseason. And we’re going to continue to learn about him and where his game is during that span before the regular season comes and the results really matter.
This is how the preseason works. And Bronny is showing fans and the coaching staff what he can and can’t do during it.
His defense continues to be as advertised and the area of the court he is much further along in. When/if he ever gets rotation minutes on an NBA team, it’ll almost certainly be as a result of his defense.
The counter to that is the need to find himself offensively. More often than not, Bronny looks lost offensively. Helping him learn places and ways he can be comfortable on the floor and contribute on that end will be the focus for the Lakers, whether with the actual team or in the G League.
But given the plaudits he’s receiving for his work during the preseason, Bronny’s going to do all the work he can to make it all a reality.
You can follow Jacob on Twitter at @JacobRude.
