Bronny James has already been one of the most highly critiqued rookies to ever enter the league and sports presenter Rachel Nichols thinks the criticisms are unfounded.
“I think people are looking at him as if he’s a top-10 pick. He is not a top-10 pick, he’s a No. 55 pick,” Nichols said on Undisputed. “The expectations for a No. 55 pick should be that you are largely headed to the G-League and may get some games up in the NBA.”
Nichols went on to speak about last year’s number 55 pick, Isaiah Wong, who was drafted by the Pacers.
“He didn’t average four minutes a game in the NBA, [he played] four total minutes and that came in one game,” Nichols said of Wong.
“To evaluate Bronny next to top-ten picks versus what other guys at No. 55 have done is totally unfair. And obviously it’s going to happen, we’re all watching him more because of who he is and the fact that he’s playing on the Lakers, don’t forget that, too, in addition to being LeBron’s son. But he is not playing at a level that’s so much below where other players who have been in his position and have played in the past.”
Nichols then talked about Alex Sarr, the number two overall pick by the Wizards.
He’s shot 1-21 from the field over two Summer League games and went a whole 30 minites without scoring. But the NBA media doesn’t want to talk about that.
Bronny should be using Summer League games as a learning tool and not much more, Nichols says.
“Bronny James is a No. 55 pick. JJ Redick has come out and said he is a developmental player, we all knew this going in, so to sit there and criticize him for Summer League numbers that, as I have said several times, stats do not matter in summer league. We have seen guys have bad Summer Leagues and go on to have good NBA careers,” Nichols said.
“What Bronny needs to get used to in the Summer League is the speed of the game, he needs to get used to new coaches and teammates and new schemes and he has to get used to the attention he’s getting, because that is one of the other things I saw sitting courtside at that game on Monday night between the Celtics and the Lakers, every time he touched the ball, the crowd perked up. And when he finally scored in the fourth quarter, there was just this wave and we’ve seen some of his other games, that fans actually criticizing the coach from the stands saying,’ Give Bronny the ball, give Bronny the ball.’ No one wants that as a player.”
