Bronny James on NBA Draft: 'I just want to hear my name called'
Bronny James is cutting out the fluff when it comes to his pre-NBA Draft approach.
When asked by Klutch Sports Agent Rich Paul what he wanted for himself, James' response was simple: "I just want to hear my name called."
For James, who averaged 4.8 points, 2.8 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game as a freshman at USC, a Hollywood script is not the goal. The goal for now is just a chance to start his pro career.
"In life, all you want is just a starting point," Paul told Gilbert Arenas on "Gil's Arena." "There's a lot of people out here that do not have a starting point, and there's no Waze App to life. And any time a young man or woman can get a starting point in life, it's our duty to embrace that and push them as far as we possibly can."
Paul, who represents James' father LeBron, has made it a point to separate Bronny from his father's free agency decision. The elder James has yet to opt in to his player option with the Lakers, and Paul has made it clear that teams interested in drafting Bronny shouldn't do so in efforts to lure his father away from Los Angeles.
For Paul, "it's about fit", and he wants Bronny to go where he can be used to the best of his abilities.
"In the NBA," he said, "for all young kids out there, whether you're ranked No. 1 or 1,001, in order to be successful in the NBA, you have to find a role. … Most guys that play in the NBA play a role. Most actors or actresses that play in a movie play a role. There's very few stars. Focus on a role that allows you to gain value and that value allows you to have consistency amongst a number of years, and then it starts over as your contracts expire."
Paul was also adamant that Bronny should not be above any criticism that comes from naysayers.
"Bronny can't be above the criticism and the opinions of others because this is the world that he's in, so he shouldn't get any preferential treatment," Paul emphasized. "He's gotta go through the journey. He's gotta go through the barber shop talk. Because this is the life he chose, he chose to aspire to be a professional athlete, so that smoke, you have to embrace that. That's just part of it. I don't want anything different from that perspective."
Paul also believes playing in the pros will help Bronny develop better than being at USC did.
"As we know, some people's game and some people's development is not for the collegiate game," he said. "I personally think you develop better at a pro level. Why? Because there's more intention on your development. At the collegiate level, every game is the championship game. There's a necessity to win a conference championship, there's a necessity to get to the 64 pool.
" … A lot of kids have their confidence taken away from them at the collegiate level. You can't decide how a coach's substitution patterns go. … If I'm a highly-touted kid, yeah I believe in myself, but there's some things that's out of my control. … Every time that I have a bad game or a bad possession, the one thing that's on my mind is ‘this is hurting my stock.’"
So where does Bronny go? Find out on in the draft, which begins on Wednesday at 8 p.m. ET.
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