During the NBA Summer League, all eyes were on Bronny James, both on and off the court.
It started earlier this month at the California Classic in San Francisco, which drew a large crowd of Los Angeles Lakers and LeBron James fans. Chants of “We want Bronny!” were heard throughout the game against the Warriors on July 7, the only game the No. 55 pick missed. The attention continued to Las Vegas, where signs at the Las Vegas airport and even rugs in the concourse at UNLV's Thomas & Mack Center touted Bronny's stardom.
Whenever the 19-year-old walks through a hotel lobby, he's surrounded by multiple security guards and a dozen fans asking for photos and autographs. He's a regular topic of conversation among league insiders when they talk about the Lakers. And every time he touches the ball, let alone scores, Lakers fans go wild as if he's going for a game-winning shot.
Bronny signed a four-year, $7.9 million contract to earn a spot on the official roster, but with the spotlight came the inevitable hype and increased scrutiny. Prior to his brisk performance Wednesday night against the Atlanta Hawks, Bronny had underperformed in five summer games with San Francisco and Las Vegas.
But his 3-point and defensive performance in the Lakers' 87-86 win over the Hawks (12 points on 5-of-11 shooting, two 3-pointers, one steal and one charge) was the Lakers' vision for Bronny in the Summer League and G League.
Of course, one good game doesn't erase the performances of the four games before it. In five Summer League games, Bronny is averaging 5.8 points, 3.2 rebounds, 1.2 assists and 1.2 steals, which are roughly in line with his mediocre averages at USC. He's shooting just 28.6% from the field, 10% from three-point range and 50% from the free throw line. Combined, those numbers give him a true shooting percentage of 32.5%, by far the lowest of any player in the regular rotation during Summer League.
James' game has been rough. He's often looked out of sorts in an environment that's much less competitive than the G League and much less competitive than the NBA. He was much less likely to contribute as a rookie, but he's performed below even modest expectations.
The Lakers have maintained publicly and privately that they will be patient with his development, no matter how much noise there is from outside.
“He's trying to find his groove,” South Bay Lakers and summer league coach Dane Johnson said earlier this week. “He's trying to find his way offensively. Again, he's trying to work with the guys more and get comfortable with it. But I'm not worried about it. I've seen his shots, I've seen him play.”
The offensive end is a work in progress. Bronny plays shooting guard, often on the opposing corner or wing. The upside of that role is that he can use his superhuman cutting instincts to find openings against unsuspecting defenses. The downside is that he is forced to run out the shot clock, testing his limited isolation and shot-creation abilities. He has whiffed multiple shots, been out of bounds on the sideline multiple times, and has more turnovers than assists. Not surprisingly, his confidence has seemed to waver at various points.
“I'm just watching video and going over what I do all the time,” Bronny said last week. “There are certain things I need to focus on and make sure I do. So yeah, I'm just focused on always playing my hardest on defense and when I have an opportunity on offense, I take advantage of it.”
Bronny especially performed well defensively in the California Classic, including a three-block, two-steal performance against Miami, pressuring the ball, running through screens and battling for position with bigger players. His defense is his strength and a skill most NBA evaluators praise.
New Lakers head coach JJ Redick has cited Lou Dort and Jrue Holiday as examples of the game-changing perimeter defender the team believes Bronny can become, and has encouraged the rookie to play more aggressively.
“I want him to pressure the ball,” Redick told ESPN during the Lakers-Rockets broadcast. “I told him yesterday, 'If you blow it, if you get 10 fouls, that's on me. I want you to pressure the ball.'”
By all accounts, Bronny is a calm, coachable rookie who responds well to instruction and constructive criticism, with Redick frequently calling him “Test Case No. 1” for the Lakers' new development program.
But the Lakers are still working out the kinks of a developmental transition, given that Redick joined the team just days before the draft and weeks before summer league, and Johnson said he's still learning Redick's terminology, which is different from that of his predecessor, Darvin Ham.
The Lakers' summer league team has struggled mightily on the offensive end, with far more finishers than connectors and initiators. Wednesday's one-point win was the Lakers' first in six games and came against a Hawks summer league team that was missing four starters, including No. 1 overall pick Zachary Lisacher. All of these factors have contributed to Bronny's struggles to some degree.
Bronny's critics are ahead on the scoreboard right now, but that won't last forever. Wednesday's performance was probably a step in the right direction. Maybe he'll figure things out in the next season or two. Summer League performance doesn't predict success or failure in the NBA. It's still too early to make any definitive statements about Bronny's career or potential, especially considering his age and the cardiac arrest he experienced less than a year ago.
According to a team source, the Lakers have not yet determined Bronny's plans for next season. He will play part of the season in the G League with the South Bay Lakers, but how much time he spends there will depend on how the Lakers' season goes and how Bronny develops. He is willing to play in the G League for as long as the Lakers want him to.
“I'm excited for whatever basketball I play, regardless of what level I play at,” James said last week when asked about the possibility of playing in the G League.
Bronny's development will be a long and patient process, and the Lakers are steadfast in their belief that he will be patient until the end. In the meantime, their main focus will be to get Bronny in as many NBA-level practices as possible to help him regain his confidence after a difficult year.
“He's going to have a long career,” Johnson said. “This is just the beginning. He's got a long way to go.”
Dalton Knecht out-hits fellow rookie Baylor Scheierman. (Lucas Pelletier/USA Today)
In contrast to Bronny, Lakers first-round pick Dalton Knecht's transition to the NBA was much smoother.
The 23-year-old wing was the Lakers' best player in Summer League. That was expected. He was the No. 17 pick and the team's most promising player. But it wasn't a given. Knecht's move to the Lakers already seemed like a mistake for some teams. He showed impressive improvement game by game, but he didn't play in the Lakers' loss to Atlanta on Wednesday.
Knecht's offensive skills are as advertised and NBA-ready as ever. He's scored double figures in all five games he's played and has three straight games with 19 or more points. While his jump shot hasn't been as successful as he and the Lakers would have liked, he's performed reasonably well by scaling up to a higher-usage role and playing with the ball in his hands more on a summer roster that was short on ball-handling and playmaking. Knecht has shown the ability to run the pick-and-roll and find rollers, cutters and shooters on the other side.
Still, Knecht is at his best when moving off the ball, coming off a screen or dribble handoff, or shooting for a corner 3-pointer. He uses a quick and effective first step to get past defenders and then uses his athleticism and strength to finish at the rim and draw shooting fouls. He's averaging 5.2 free throw attempts per game, and this is becoming a reliable source of offense for him.
Redick, one of the best screen shooters in the NBA during his playing days, chats with Knecht daily, and the new Lakers coach imparts wisdom on how to use his body to create space for defenders, how to avoid screens and how to make plays in space.
The Lakers are trying to strike the right balance with Knecht, who will primarily play without the ball on the main roster.
“I think he's getting good touches on the ball right now, and that's what teams need,” Johnson said, “but we're trying to get him to come off screens, and that's what you're going to do in the NBA. So if we can get him to make a few more plays off the ball, double-aways, that will translate to the next level for him.”
Through five games, Knecht is averaging 17.6 points, 4.4 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 1.4 steals per game while shooting 34.9% from the field, 34.4% from three-point range and 73.1% from the free throw line for a true shooting percentage of 46.6% (well below the NBA league average).
But the shooter isn't fazed. He's overcome his slump and continues to believe in his shot.
“Whatever happens, I'm going to leave it alone,” Knecht said this week.
The concern with Knecht at this point is whether his poor defense (for now) will limit his role, at least temporarily. Opposing ball-handlers often get past him with ease. He gets pushed around in the paint when fighting for rebounds. Whatever the reason, his athleticism, strength and physicality are more evident on the offensive end than on the offensive end. In Summer League, this isn't a big deal, but in the NBA, it could be an issue depending on how often and how well teams target him in pick-and-rolls, off-ball screens and isolations.
“He's trying to get better defensively, be more physical, use his body, see what he can do,” Johnson said. “I think he still has to learn how to run screens, get off screens and things like that.”
Barring a notable trade or signing, Knecht is projected to be in the top nine of the Lakers' starting rotation next season. That could be his floor, especially if the defense improves. He has a chance to develop into a disruptive weapon off the ball around LeBron James and Anthony Davis.
(Top photo by Bronny James: Candice Ward/Getty Images
