{"id":78216,"date":"2024-05-20T23:20:26","date_gmt":"2024-05-21T03:20:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=78216"},"modified":"2024-05-21T11:29:33","modified_gmt":"2024-05-21T15:29:33","slug":"bronny-james-lays-bear-realities-being-lebrons-son","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/05\/20\/bronny-james-lays-bear-realities-being-lebrons-son\/","title":{"rendered":"Bronny James Lays Bare Realities of Being LeBron\u2019s Son"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Most people would figure that being the son of an NBA superstar is an amazing experience. When that player is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/j\/jamesle01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">LeBron James<\/a>, sure the vitriol is coming from all directions, blotting the otherwise idyllic image. Nonetheless, with LeBron\u2019s stature, success, and stateliness, there\u2019s a certain prestige that comes with his hoops heritage.<\/p>\n<p>That said, while people can imagine what it\u2019s like being in that position, only few know. Fewer still understand the pressure of following in their footsteps.<\/p>\n<h2>Bronny James Lays Bear Realities of Being LeBron\u2019s Son<\/h2>\n<p>In a one-on-one with Big Ten basketball analyst Robbie Hummel on SiriusXM NBA Radio, Bronny James opens up about what it\u2019s really like being LeBron\u2019s son.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s tough,\u201d he admits. \u201cA lot of criticism gets thrown my way but I gotta deal with it. They don\u2019t know what I\u2019ve been through but I just try to make the best out of (the) opportunities that\u2019s been given to me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">&#8220;It&#8217;s tough. A lot of criticism gets thrown my way&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>\ud83d\udd0aBronny James explains what it&#8217;s like being the son of an all-time great<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/RobbieHummel?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@RobbieHummel<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/BronnyJamesJr?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@BronnyJamesJr<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/DOsUpLSaIa\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/DOsUpLSaIa<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 SiriusXM NBA Radio (@SiriusXMNBA) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SiriusXMNBA\/status\/1792654026246685063?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">May 20, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h3>Bronny Isn\u2019t LeBron<\/h3>\n<p>James\u2019 feelings are warranted. By the time he was old enough to start growing facial hair, NBA scouts were trying to see if James would be anything like dad.<\/p>\n<p>Early on, this playmaking flashes quelled their thirst for a sign of a first class prospect. His comfort beyond the arc was particularly notable considering that 3-point shooting is his father\u2019s greatest weakness in the halfcourt. However, by the time he was in high school, it became apparent that defense was his calling card.<\/p>\n<p>Yet, the smallish guard wasn\u2019t lighting up the scoreboard. By no means was he required to. Nonetheless, the vast majority of future All-Stars demonstrated an ability to consistently take over the game as scorers. James didn\u2019t. As a senior, he averaged a career-high 14.2 points per game, more than 17 fewer points than LeBron averaged as a senior (31.6).<\/p>\n<p>But alas, there go those pesky comparisons again.<\/p>\n<p>Bronny isn\u2019t LeBron. Though he may be following in his father\u2019s footsteps, he\u2019s not trying to be like him either. Not that it would make sense to, as he\u2019s more than half a foot shorter and 40 pounds lighter than his dad.<\/p>\n<p>This leads to the heart of the problem: Bronny isn\u2019t respected for the prospect that he is because of the player that people want him to be.<\/p>\n<h3>Paging Mountain Mike<\/h3>\n<p>The need to categorize \u2014to put things into neat boxes for perspective \u2014is a very human one. Still, there are always anomalies and outliers. You can always count on <em>something<\/em> that transcend taxonomy.<\/p>\n<p>As it turns out, James doesn\u2019t fit an archetype.<\/p>\n<p>He\u2019s not necessarily a defensive specialist because of his upside on offense. Yet, despite early projections, he\u2019s not a reliable enough 3-point threat to be a 3-and-D wing. Because his best offensive skill is his passing ability and overall feel for the game, he could play a similar role at point guard. Yet, he lacks the ball-handling ability to handle those duties full-time.<\/p>\n<p>Among active players, James could play a role similar to Minnesota Timberwolves point guard <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/c\/conlemi01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Mike Conley<\/a>. Though just 6-foot-0, he\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/03\/26\/timberwolves-mike-conley-passes-legends-all-time-leaderboard\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">long been a valued starter<\/a> because of his savvy, defense, and efficiency. Able to play off the ball, create shots for others, or get his own, he averaged just 11.4 points per game in the 2023-24 regular season.<\/p>\n<p>While James has named a couple of players <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/05\/14\/2024-nba-draft-bronny-james-names-3-pros-he-wants-to-be-like\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">whose impact he admires<\/a>, Mountain Mike may need to be the one he studies the most.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Most people would figure that being the son of an NBA superstar is an amazing experience. When that player is LeBron James, sure the vitriol is coming from all directions, blotting the otherwise idyllic image. Nonetheless, with LeBron\u2019s stature, success, and stateliness, there\u2019s a certain prestige that comes with his hoops heritage. That said, while [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5008,"featured_media":78221,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[556,1608,26,62,3],"tags":[4572,38,98],"class_list":["post-78216","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nba-draft","category-basketball","category-lakers","category-nba","category-news","tag-bronny-james","tag-lebron-james","tag-nba-draft"],"modified_by":"Quenton S Albertie","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78216","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5008"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=78216"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78216\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/78221"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=78216"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=78216"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=78216"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}