Ranking the Top 10 fits for Bronny James ahead of the 2024 NBA Draft | CBS Sports

Ranking the Top 10 fits for Bronny James ahead of the 2024 NBA Draft | CBS Sports

let’s bring in Colin Ward hanar who’s got his 10 best landing spots for bronny James as we talk about the prospect heading into the league or couldn’t go back to school we’ll see how it goes there Colin let’s first start with pops’s Team the Lakers here would they be a good fit or not so much yeah Tommy uh I know this is the hot thing that everyone wants to talk about is brony and LeBron playing together LeBron has mentioned it so many times we’ve lost count uh bronnie has actually said you know hey that’s not really something that I think about and I think there’s a good reason why I do not think the Lakers would be a good fit for Brony and it always goes back to me to something that he said at the combine he said you know I want to be my own man I want to make a name for myself uh basically saying he wants to get out of his father’s Shadow and there could be no worst place to go than the Los Angeles Lakers where he would literally be in his father’s Shadow all the social media hits would be about him and his son uh they would have all the pregame shows about them hanging out at the house and doing Taco Tuesday um all that stuff would happen if bronnie went to the Lakers I really just think that if he does want to be his own man and his own player uh going to his father’s team doesn’t make much sense and then if you look at it from a basketball’s perspective uh the Lakers are going to be in win now mode the most win now mode you can possibly be in the NBA with LeBron James turning 40 years old next year still at an all NBA level so uh they need players who are going to help them win right now Ronnie is going to be 20 when the season starts by all accounts he’s going to need some seasoning maybe some g-league time uh it just doesn’t make sense to me as a fit for the Lakers or for Brony for him to go to the Lakers and play with his father if we stick with LeBron there’s always talk of corus about leverage when you’re talking about whether where he wants to go how long he’s going to play what his current deal is going to be and there’s a lot of talking it’s not just the Lakers about having bronnie as sort of capital that either keep or get LeBron what do you make of all that stuff that’s kind of floating out there yeah I think at this point teams aren’t really going to make decisions based on a hypothetical that could happen in a few years now if we were talking about LeBron coming off a season where we saw a clear decline uh where maybe the injuries were catching up to him or his performance and statistics weren’t up to his usual level uh then I might think teams might think they have a realistic shot at getting LeBron at a discount at some point uh but at this point I really think all the Intel is that LeBron wants to stay in Los Angeles that’s where his family is that’s where he wants to be uh so if you know maybe at the tail end of his career which could be when he’s 46 47 at this point who knows he might want to go somewhere else but I doubt that teams are thinking about Brony in those terms I think they’re looking him at him as a pure Prospect and whether he can help their team if LeBron comes later that’s just a bonus where does heat culture fit into the conversation with bronnie James oh I love heat culture man yeah if they could snag bronia this is the perfect team for him for me I think that uh you know if you look at the Heat’s history taking players who were not heralded prospects Duncan Robinson Caleb Martin Gabe Vincent guys like that uh they come in and they get roles with Eric spoler because he values guys that play hard guys that make winning plays guys that play defense those are all traits that bronnie clearly will have and the athleticism obviously the pedigree there’s a lot of room for growth for bronny but I think if Hae Hawkin is a great example of a guy who you know wasn’t necessarily the top top prospect in his class but as soon as the heat drafted him everybody in the league was like oh boy this is going to be bad because they knew haime hakz was the perfect type of player for the Heat and I think bronnie could be very similar how about the Utah Jazz yeah the Jazz that’s a good spot for me because they’re in that sweet spot where you know you know bronnie can’t go to a team that’s in a complete rebuild and they need him to come in and be the savior of their franchise and he also can’t go to a championship contending team where he just has no path to minute so I think Utah is kind of a good you know in the-middle team where they could be competitive next year if they choose to be so uh and they have a lot of young players where bronnie could you know go in and immediately gets a smaller role not have to be that big time scorer uh but a guy who can come in and play a few minutes here and there they’ve also kind of treated their first round picks Taylor Hendricks Bryce sensah uh with kind of kid gloves over the past year where they let them get some g-league time and then kind of ease them in so I think uh you know a young coach and will hardy I think Utah will be a good spot for bronny so the next couple of teams that we’re going to bring up their team specific but also player specific so let’s first start with Orlando and Jaylen Suggs how how do they both sort of fit into a bronnie James puzzle yeah if you look at Jaylen Suggs that’s kind of the mold for bronnie Suggs is a little bit taller but remember bronnie he measured under 6-2 at the combine but he’s got a 67 Wings span so that goes a long way uh defensively and I think most teams are probably looking at Brony as a defensive prospect at this point in his development uh and you look at Suggs a guy who you know for a couple Seasons people were saying yeah kind of a bust maybe not going to work out uh kind of a one-way player in terms of his defense but he developed into a 40% three-point shooter over the past year and you’ve seen what he’s been able to do with that Orlando Magic team so I think uh you know not only are the magic a great fit for him that’s a one of the best defensive teams in the NBA uh Brony I think is a much better shooter than he displayed at USC I think he’s going to be able to knock down threes at the NBA level so to create floor spacing and play defense kind of get in that jayen Suggs mold I think uh Orlando would be a good spot for him next example Memphis and Marcus Smart yeah uh you know bronnie talked about Drew holiday uh Derek white Davon Mitchell LeBron himself mentioned Marcus Smart as a comp for bronnie as well uh you know kind of a smaller guard but with grit with length uh with that ability to guard multiple positions I think you know Memphis uh they they are have been a contender in recent years obviously not last year with all the injuries uh but they are also very young most of their guys you know their stars are 25 or younger so I think he kind of fits memphis’s timeline and then to be there to be able to be mentored by a guy like Marcus who’s one defensive player of the year uh and has developed into a better shooter over the course of his career uh I think that would be an ideal spot for bronnie as well just because he won’t be asked to play minutes right away he can kind of you know learn get the tutelage from Marcus Smart and then develop into a bigger role later on so we’ve established Lakers bad we’ve got Jazz heat what Grizzlies magic pretty good but none of them are number one which one is your number one team and why Colin yeah think the the absolute best fit I can think of for bronnie James is the San Antonio Spurs uh Not only would he be under Greg papovich you know bronnie said hey I think I’m going to be a coach’s player I’m going to be a coach’s dream uh that’s exactly what Greg papic is looking for someone who’s going to do what he says uh can get into the system learn how to play basketball from all those years of coaching uh and then he’s going to a team that already has a no doubt franchise superstar in Victor wanyama so nobody is going to be looking at bronnie and saying hey you really need to help us get wind you need to be our guy because they already have that guy from a basketball perspective I think bronnie fits in very well next to wanyama as a guy who can defend at the point guard position or the offu position uh he can space the floor with his shooting as I said I think will be better at the NBA level um and ultimately the Spurs have the patience to be able to develop Brony they are going to be better next season no doubt uh but depending on what they do this off season in terms of bringing in veterans uh they’re not going to be expected to win a championship right away and I think that’s a place that bronnie really needs to go in order to develop so I think the San Antonio Spurs given their coach given their Superstar giving their their timeline right now would be the ideal spot for bronnie James good talk Colin check out his right up on CBS sports.com Colin W Hender talking to us here on HQ spotlight

Colin Ward-Heninnger joins CBS Sports HQ Spotlight with the TOP NBA TEAMS for Bronny James.

https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/ranking-bronny-james-10-best-nba-draft-landing-spots-and-why-lebrons-lakers-arent-one-of-them/

SUBSCRIBE TO OUR CHANNEL:
https://www.youtube.com/user/CBSSports

WATCH
CBS Sports HQ: https://www.cbssports.com/live/
Paramount Plus: https://www.paramountplus.com

FOLLOW US ON:
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/CBSSports/
Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/cbssports/
Twitter – https://twitter.com/CBSSports

#nba #bronnyjames #lebronjames