After being eliminated in round 1 of the 2023-24 playoffs by the Denver Nuggets, the Los Angeles Lakers made some significant changes. They started by firing head coach Darvin Ham and hiring JJ Reddick as the new head coach. They also strengthened the roster by selecting LeBron James’ son, Bronny James, as the 55th pick in the second round of the 2024 NBA draft. However, their strategy did not work well initially, as Bronny struggled in the summer league games, and the team suffered multiple losses. Nevertheless, Reddick continued to support Bronny and revealed key details about Bronny’s potential role on the Lakers.
“Yeah, Bronny and I have had a number of conversations. I actually had a conversation with him yesterday after practice, and he is a development player. That’s how we’re looking at Bronny. He’s certainly going to spend time with the Lakers. He will spend time in the G League as well. You know, as we sort of build out our player development program, he’s going to be an important part of that. And what I’ve communicated to him right now is that what we’re looking for is defensive ball pressure. I told him this yesterday. I said, I don’t care if you have ten fouls; I don’t care if you get blown by.” Reddick said during a recent interview with SiriusXM NBA Radio.
JJ Redick Confident in Bronny James’ Potential Despite Summer League Struggles
Redick has made his feelings about Bronny James very clear. Despite the 19-year-old player’s poor performance in the NBA Summer League, the Lakers head coach has emphasized the team’s belief in his future. Redick believes that Bronny will eventually become a player similar to Lu Dort, especially on defense.
“What I do care about is if you’re on the ball and you’re three feet off the ball. You have to be a guy that’s a ball hawk at all times. We’re going to develop his shot; we’ll develop his ball skills. He’s already got a great feel. He has a really good instinctive nature on the defensive end. I thought the third game in the Cali Classic, he made eight or nine really good defensive plays. We used the example yesterday. We were at the Canada-USA basketball exhibition game, and I turned to one of our assistant coaches during the game, and I said, I think Lou Dort just single-handedly broke up the eighth possession of the game. Like his impact, you can’t get into your offense sometimes, the shot clock winds down because of his ball pressure, and he literally blows up entire plays because of that pressure, and I really believe this. Bronny will eventually be that guy.” Reddick added.
In addition to Redick’s statement, former NBA player Gilbert Arenas also defended Bronny in the latest episode of his show, Gil’s Arenas Show.
