USC guard Bronny James understandably had a rocky freshman campaign following his cardiac arrest in a preseason practice. His father, LeBron James, has openly expressed his desire to play with him in the NBA, but that doesn't seem like a realistic option anytime soon.
UCLA basketball head coach Mick Cronin hopped on FS1 talk show Speak Live on Tuesday and openly said that Bronny isn't ready for the big time yet. As the leader of the Trojans' rival team, this speaks volumes.
It's not often that an opposing head coach goes to the media and says that his rival team should keep its high-profile player. What would move Cronin to say this publicly?
Should Bronny listen to Cronin and stay at USC?
Bronny averaged just 4.8 points, 2.8 rebounds and 2.1 assists across 19.4 minutes per game this season. The 6-foot-4, 210-pound depth piece struggled mightily from deep, shooting just 26.7 percent from distance. To make matters worse, he shot just 67.6 percent from the charity stripe.
Cronin certainly noticed Bronny's struggles, and the long-tenured Bruins head honcho doesn't want to see the young athlete rush his journey.
“Well, I would tell any young player that in his situation he's got to improve, right?” Cronin said. “I mean, he didn't play well enough this year to show he was ready. Now you can say well he didn't have that much opportunity because he was behind Isaiah Collier and Boogie Ellis, you know so, and those are great players.”
Cronin has a point about the starting guards on USC. Ellis enjoyed a productive senior season, averaging 16.5 points on 42.7-percent shooting. Perhaps even more impressively, Collier averaged 16.3 points on 49-percent shooting as a freshman, clearly asserting himself over Bronny.
While Ellis used his final year of eligibility, Bronny will still have to fight for playing time with fellow guards Kobe Johnson and Oziyah Sellers, who each averaged 31 and 14.3 minutes, respectively.
USC has also signed Trent Perry and Liam Campbell to their Letters of Intent. Perry is a four-star prospect who ranks fifth amongst shooting guards nationwide, via 247Sports. Meanwhile, Campbell is a three-star player and the 27th-ranked two guard.
However, Cronin acknowledged that Bronny is in a unique position as the son of the NBA's biggest star.
“And I know Bronny from his time at Sierra Canyon. You know, I actually recruited his father. I was the only guy that drove through snowstorms. (Coach Bob) Huggins used to make me do that to go up to Akron,” Cronin continued.
“His situation's just not like anybody else, you know. So if your father's going to have influence, do you go now so you can play with your father? So it's just so different.”
His personal dreams aside, LeBron is one of the most sound basketball minds of all-time. He should be able to see more than anybody that his son isn't quite ready to play with the world's best quite yet.
It may be better for Bronny to continue developing his skills at the collegiate level first, to the point where Cronin no longer openly invites him to keep using his eligibility. Then perhaps the basketball world can finally witness this highly anticipated father-son duo potentially take the court together.
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