All right, let's talk about Bronnie James lastly. He's still in high school and we've talked about him multiple times before, but he's lighting the basketball world on fire and his play is getting better.
But I'm not really talking about that. I'm talking about.
All of the where is Bronnie James going to school rhetoric? And now he has narrowed his choices down to three schools, Ohio State, Oregon, and USC probably now just Oregon in Ohio State. But the Athletic just dropped a massive think piece I think it's their third one this year on Bronnie James. So they know where their bread is buttered. They know that Bronnie James moves the needle, but they are detailing the dilemma that he faces in picking a college.
The problem, as the article points out, is that if you get Brownie, you probably get the whole circus. There's no like you just don't get Bronny and then nothing else. You're not getting him as a player. You're getting every game on national TV, all of the media in the world, all of the scrutiny on Earth. It's catch twenty two. As for me, as an Oregon fan, I have zero interest in Bronnie James. We are not ready for that level of smoke. We are not ready for every single
game on national TV. What if he doesn't perform well? What if your team doesn't perform well? What if his season is a train wreck? What if you're not playing him and your losing? And how many games is Lebron James going to go to? How many is he going to show up to? How is that going to impact the fans that go to that game? Probably a lot? Is Lebron James Junior worth the headache? The Athletic surveyed eight anonymous college coaches, and one of them had some
real things to say. The expectation doesn't match the talent level, or at least not yet, and that is where it gets messy.
Hmm.
The expectation doesn't match the talent level, and that is where it gets messy. One coach said he couldn't even get on the phone with Bronnie James because it was going to take an incredibly long time in order for him to be able to even reach out to his mom or his PR team in Bronnie James, let's be honest, is a top forty player.
He's improving, but there are probably.
Ten players at his position in his own class rated higher than him. All eight coaches said, as it stands, the ones that were pulled, he would not start on their teams or any likely twenty five top twenty five program in the country. He can ball, but he is not a starter, according to those eight coaches, and it's probably too much to ask an all American play style from a freshman. Right, You're probably going to sit him at least a little bit, But he's not going to
be a four year player. So what are we really talking about with Bronnie James. We're not getting Kad Cunningham out of Bronnie James. Another coach said this, Bronnie is, in essence, a four star player with a five star name. If it were a no brainer, he'd be signed by Duke by now. It would be done or Kentucky. There's a reason he's not going to Kentucky. I don't know if that's true. Honestly, I don't know if that's I
actually think that's one hundred percent wrong. I think if Bronnie wanted to be at Kentucky, he would be at Kentucky. I think Bronnie is trying to find the best branding place for him where they trust the coach and that the coach will prioritize him being on the court. They will allow him to make mistakes early and play through them, rather than being like Dan Hurley and benching his players every time they do something wrong. There programs that would
concede something like that. Yes, we just said, there's three programs that are on his list. Now that he's narrowed it down, USC, Ohio State, and Oregon, which happens to be my alma mater. I can feel that. Or he will be an Oregon Duck. In my bones, I can feel it. He's already a Nike athlete. It makes already so much sense. And Bron said he's already spoken to Dana Altman and he knows that there is mutual interest. And I believe two things. One, Bronnie James is won
and done. He's not going to sit around and wait for Lebron James to collect dust while he's seasoning in the college realm. I think he's going to be in and out. And Lebron James is set a timetable right. The most important thing of all for Lebron is to play with Bronni. Bron's contract with the Lakers is up the same year that Bronni is eligible for the draft. Do you think Lebron James is going to extend with the Lakers and Bronn is just gonna hang out at Ohio State for.
A second year. No, absolutely not. The athletic thinks.
No one thinks Bronni is actually a one and done player, nor does his current recruiting rank. Only one college freshman selected in last year's NBA Draft ranked below twenty third as a high school prospect, Baylor's Jeremy Sohan, who played high school ball in Europe because of COVID, and as stephen A said, always says, and I get all that, but that also brings me to my second point. It doesn't really matter what his ranking is. It doesn't matter
one bit. He's a first rounder because his dad is included in this first round package.
That's it.
If he was not connected to Lebron James in any way, yeah, he'd probably be Josh Hart. But if he gets drafted by the Rockets, call Lebron the next Kakim Eliju one, the next Rocket. Great, the circus will come to town and it will be big dump trucks full of cash. We've never seen a duo like this in NBA history before, especially one really revolving around Lebron James, the greatest player of his generation, most popular NBA player on the planet.
And I don't even think we can probably predict the ra Meeks right.
Could you imagine a sponsored prop bet for Lebron and Bronni James.
That'd be chaos. Could you imagine the ratings?
Can you imagine the features that they're going to do. He's not the ordinary recruit because we've never seen a situation quite like this before. I cannot end the show without talking about Lebron James Senior. I can't if I talk about Junior. I have to talk about Senior because that's how he wants it.
Well.
On Tuesday night, Lebron pulled a malice in the Palace in Los Angeles. He was ready to scrap against a pedestrian, a random civilian sitting in the stands. Things could have gotten ugly.
What happened.
So he's walking off the court at halftime and Crypto dot Com arena and a guy heckles Lebron. What does he say to Lebron James. He says this, Hey Bron, Hey Bron. He says it from a floor seat, by the way, which is crazy. You better get your shit together, and then he hits him with that, with that receding ass hairline. You better get your shit together, with that receding ass.
Hairline of yours. Oh my god, Oh no, Bron stopped. You could see it.
He lets it sink in, and then he rushes the heckler with blackness in his eyes like the kind that my dog gets when she's ready to attack me in the middle of the night because I pet her the wrong way, like Bron had to get held back from coming after a pedestrian. And then the as this heckler is ushered out, he goes, yeah, look him, he mad you sick right now. There's there's only one thing that one can gather from this.
One. Barkley has a good idea. He said this.
He said that every player should get a hall pass and beat one fans ass. And that's probably one of the best ideas that I've ever heard.
But what we know is also the Lebron has a sensitive area.
He has a touchy spot, something that gets him riled up. And unfortunately that sensitive area just keeps moving back and back and back every every year, just a couple more inches.
That's all the time that we have for the eat check.
Come back Monday, which means Tuesday for you for an all new episode episode. Trade deadline is less than three weeks away. Do not forget to follow us on Twitter at Trista Crik and at this heat check on TikTok.
Please tell your friends, find me on
Instagram Trista Underscore Crik as well, and we'll see you next time.