Yahoo Sports NBA draft analyst Krysten Peek and CBS Sports’ Kyle Boone evaluate Bronny James’ performance at the combine and discuss his potential draft status. Listen to the full conversation on “On The Clock” — part of the “Ball Don’t Lie” podcast — and subscribe at Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen.
Video transcript
Kyle, we have to talk about the player who caught the most attention this week.
And this is Ronnie James, the oldest son of Lebron James, who, he and his wife, Savannah, were here in Chicago for the second day of the fight supporting their son and were just like any other proud father.
Savannah had her cell phone in her hand when he was being interviewed at the end of the game, you know, with big smiles on her face.
But how big was this week for Ronnie?
And, and what did you see from him only in his maturity and in being able to rise again in such a great moment?
I thought he had a really big week and I didn’t have high expectations of Ronnie James coming in this week and maybe that has something to do with it.
But then again, going back to the guys who maybe didn’t look like they belonged on the court this week during scrimmages, there was a pretty long list of them.
Ronnie was not among them.
Yes, he had some struggles and maybe it seemed like he just blended in on the first day, but in the second game.
Um, on the second day of scrimmages, I thought he really did well.
He was, he was more assertive.
He had a break, Jay.
That was very good.
I was sitting in line in front of Lebron.
Um, and he made a nice one-handed pocket pass and you could hear Lebron say good pass.
Everyone heard that, the whole academy heard that.
Yes, like mine, it made my bones creak because Lebron has such a distinct buzz.
Um, but it was fantastic.
Like me, I wish I could repress that moment, but he played really well this week and I think he handled himself well.
Most importantly, there are obviously questions about his game and how that’s going to fit into the NBA because he wasn’t, you know, a big star at US C and I think he answered some questions on that topic this week by talking about you. You know, just like I want to be like Drew Holiday, I want to be someone who can embrace my role.
I don’t expect to be a superstar in the NBA, but I do expect to compete and I feel like his appearance in the media earlier this week was, in particular, a really impressive kind of dealing with himself in a way that, you know, I don’t know if he’s media trained or, you know, if that’s how he feels, but it felt genuine when he was like, you know, I, I didn’t really think about playing in the NBA with my dad.
Like, I’m just trying to make a name for myself.
I don’t want to be known as Lebron’s oldest son.
I want to be known as Ronnie James.
And I thought he showed a lot of maturity as well in the way he handled that situation because, uh, you were there in the, in the, in the KP ballroom.
It was as if there was a large media group.
Um, people are literally tripping over themselves to ask Ronnie James questions and, um, you know, given the scrutiny that he’s obviously going to face because of his situation, because he’s Lebron’s son.
I thought he handled it, he behaved very well in the media environment.
Hum did very well in the filming.
In terms of testing, I found it very good.
Maybe the weight and height we talked about earlier might not be exactly what you expected.
But, you know, I think this week has kind of helped him in a way that people are taking him seriously.
Um, as a person, um, which I think was probably the case anyway, but I think being able to step out of that shadow and say, like I was Ronnie James, I think was really interesting.
And so as a prospect as well, I think he can be seriously drafted and I’ve thought about that for a long time, but having the performance that he had this week in Chicago, I think maybe it’s crystallized that in a way where people can say like, yes, he had a solid week in Chicago.
Um, if someone wants to take him with a draft pick, whether it’s, you know, No. 15 overall or No. 55 overall, I think that’s absolutely validated and warranted.
Here’s what I want to say and will probably say over and over by the draft.
I understand he didn’t have a good year with us.
C no one had a good year with us.
C Isaiah Collier didn’t have a good year for us.
We just need to forget that it happened.
I think people are forgetting that Ronnie James had open heart surgery in August and returned to the court in December to make this comeback incredibly incredible.
As if it were, it is unprecedented, it is by far unprecedented.
OK.
So he’s back on the court.
He’s been a shell of himself all season.
He’s trying to adjust to a new offense, trying to adjust to the pace of the college game.
So to say that he should have come back, that his game doesn’t translate is completely unjustified because he understands the NBA game.
He knows the space he can play in defense.
Ronnie James is an NBA player and will be drafted, probably, you know, on his own merit.
But is it also attractive for his father to join him?
Yes, that’s the first thing I want to say.
The second thing I want to say is that I think coming out of this week, the Los Angeles Lakers are going to have to have some conversations and their goal is to move up the table.
We’ve already seen this with the Utah Jazz saying they are interested in bringing Ronnie in for a workout and they are considering him with the 32nd pick.
So if the Lakers wanted to move up, they would have to at least move up to 31, you know, and I think we’re going to start seeing those conversations, but it’s very early.
We are getting a lot ahead of ourselves.
But yeah, Ronnie James did enough this week to get drafted and I think he stays in this draft and he gets drafted, you know, on the second night of the NBA draft.
