Bronny James Proves That People Are Terrible At Judging Potential
So why let those same people set expectations for you?
Less than 2 years ago, in July 2023, LeBron James Jr. collapsed during basketball practice.
The 18-year-old suddenly went into cardiac arrest, which meant he stopped breathing, his blood flow was halted, and his body was unable to take in oxygen.
The death rate for cardiac arrest is 90%, so less than 2 years ago, this kid could have died. Thankfully, he was able to survive the ordeal, but it would take some time before he felt like himself again.
One year later, in October 2024…
He shared a few insights into his recovery with Men's Health magazine. “My days aren’t normal anymore,” he said. “I still feel like I’m getting back; I’m getting back to where I was.”
This was October 2024, just 5 months ago. The cardiac arrest happened before Bronny ever played a college game. And if he still didn’t feel normal 5 months ago, it’s pretty easy to understand that he never got a chance to play a single college game as his full self.
I was always taught that there’s a difference between hurt and injured. There’s an even bigger difference between injured and damn near dying. If you’ve ever had a real injury, you know that when you come back, it takes months or sometimes years before you truly feel 100% again.
Every time you plant, cut, or try to shift into 2nd gear, you have to think about it: “Can my body handle this?” You lose the freedom of movement you had before, and now you have to 2nd guess everything, which affects rhythm and timing.
Remember those old racing games where you’d do the time trials? Then you’d race against your the best run you’d ever had. You're literally racing a ghost trying to keep up with yourself; that’s what it feels like coming off an injury.
Now, if that’s the case with a regular injury, how long would it take to feel 100% after your heart stops on the court?
Everybody knows what Bronny went through because he’s LeBron James's son, but that doesn’t stop them from holding his college stats against him. They also don't allot any level of grace for him to get back 100% while essentially jumping straight from high school due to the fact that he had such an abbreviated college experience after nearly dying before the season started.
To the guy that’s typing, “Well, he should have went back to college.” You're missing the point, bro. Look at the title.
It's not a matter of what he should have or shouldn’t have done; it’s a matter of HOW WE INTERPRET WHAT ACTUALLY HAPPENED!
Ja'Marr Chase sat out his final year at LSU, not due to injury or a life-threating medical emergency, but because it was that weird COVID year.
After sitting out for a whole season while fully healthy, training, and practicing every single day, when Chase came back to live action after being drafted by the Bengals, it took him a little while to get his rhythm back. Reasonable people understood, give it time, he missed a full year of football and is jumping up a level; unreasonable people claimed he was a bust who just couldn’t catch, prior evidence be damned.
Obviously, we know how that turned out, but Chase is a great example of how bad people are at judging potential. He dominated college just months after turning 18, and after a year off and a bad pre-season, lots of people had completely written him off.
Bronny James is nowhere near a Chase-level prospect, so if they missed it with Chase, you know they'll miss it with Bronny. If you actually watched just a couple of full Bronny James high school games, it was obvious then that he’d make a good pro not in a superstar role, just a solid rotation player.
Here's what I was saying about Bronny in June 2024.
That felt like, and still feels like, a solid comp. And there’s no real NBA fan who would say Josh Hart is not a good player or doesn’t belong in the league just because he doesn’t average 20+.
If you don’t like the comp, just give it a couple of years. Josh Hart was drafted at 22 years old. Bronny James was drafted at 19 years old. My prediction is that, barring serious injury or another medical emergency, Bronny will be contributing good minutes to an NBA team.
In real life, we often experience the same thing. If we’re not a child phenom who’s singing and dancing at 8 years old or starting our first successful business by the time we’re 17, then people write us off, and we lose confidence.
But in this video, I'm gonna use the Bronny James situation to give you 3 reasons why you shouldn't put much stock into whether or not people recognize your gifts.
Sports provide parallels that illustrate why people are often terrible at judging true potential.
Reason #1:
Unchecked emotions cloud their judgment.
As people, we often don't pursue mastery over our emotions; therefore, we allow them to cloud our judgment.
Most people were never gonna be able to judge Bronny fairly because of their feelings towards his dad. In order to feel like their hate is justified, they have to find fault in every move Lebron Sr. makes.
So when his son gets drafted at the very tail end of the draft, they need him to fail to prove to themselves that they aren't just blindly hating, even though most are. So they start by saying Bronny wasn’t an NBA player because what else could you be mad about when it comes to the NBA equivalent of a 7th-round pick?
In life, sometimes people might refuse to give you any credit or see your potential due to a grudge they hold against someone in your family. It could be because of a prejudice or a disdain for someone who looks like you or someone of the same race or gender.
Maybe your energy or your appearance doesn’t fit the preconceived notions that they have in their head. Instead of changing their opinion, they’ll persecute you and chactise you for not fitting this imaginary character they created.
This is why you have to believe in yourself, but it’s super important to assess yourself accurately.
You should be your own worst (legitimate) critic and your own biggest fan all at the same time.
Reason #2:
People have become too reliant on highlights and box score.
People judge off “cool factor” of highlights and box score-counting stats a little too much. They forget to project based on the actual roles that need to be filled.
In basketball, the term bag is heavily used. Bag refers to how many moves a player has in their arsenal. I have no problem with the term, and I appreciate a good bag; my only issue is that many people can’t distinguish between having a bigger “bag” versus being a better basketball player.
Just because there's a whole lot of tools in your "bag”, doesn't mean that you really know how to fix shit. It could mean you just went to Home Depot and bought the latest tools, but it doesn’t mean you know how or when to use them.
Watching highlights shows you the few times a move works, but watching the game shows you just how often they needlessly overdribble and spam stepback 3s after getting clamped up.
The same goes for football. Some people judge quarterbacks on a couple of highlight throws. But when you watch the game, you notice:
how many easy throws they miss
how they bail out of the pocket prematurely because they can’t read the defense and need to lean on physical tools
how bad they are at knowing which tool to use for each circumstance and often make the wrong decision
and how ineffective they actually are at using the tools they have, save for the occasional highlight play
I value a more read-and-react approach. A player who develops a set of tools that complement each other and are primarily designed to create efficient scoring opportunities rather than to farm for viral clips. Call me old fashioned, just don’t call me no fool.
Bronny's game isn't the flashiest for highlight junkies. It isn't always the best for the box score watchers. So, because most people have gotten into the habit of not watching many, if any, full games, they judge a player based on how cool their crossovers look, how pretty their jump shot looks, and other superficial criteria, which generally lead to the pursuit of clips over the pursuit of actual Chips.
Watching Bronny play, even back in high school, it was already clear that he understood how to actually play basketball—not highlight basketball, not box-scoring basketball, but filling a role other than trying to be the primary scorer.
But oftentimes:
People don’t value court vision unless it results in a flashy pass.
They don’t value defense unless it results in a steal or a blocked shot.
They don't value hustle until you pull up in a crazy whip.
They don’t value your Game Plan until after you WIN. But you draw up your Game Plan before the game even starts.
They dont value these things until they’ve been validated with a certain result, this means that truthfully they dont value the thing at all; They only value the result, the process be damned.
So, in real life, if you have championship traits that just aren’t flashy, superstar traits, many times you’ll be doubted or looked down upon.
If you’re a writer who doesn’t lean heavily on sensationalism, it might take a while for you to get your due.
If you’re a great handyman while in grade school, you might be looked down upon by the pseudo-intellectuals who are just good at school itself. But when you get into the real world, you’ll be established in your career, while many of those who made better grades struggle to find a job.
If you’re the type of person who “truly” thinks for him or herself, you’ll struggle socially early on in life. But when you carve out a way of living based on your own passions, you’ll be the envy of all those people living to please others.
Basically, not all traits are appreciated early on, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t extremely valuable. Learn to recognize your own strengths because others might not, and see how that takes you further than other people think you should go.
They don’t think you deserve it, not because you don’t, but because they can’t recognize the non-flashy value that you bring. That’s not a you problem; let them make excuses about why you make it and they don’t.
Reason #3:
People undervalue deep motivations.
This one isn’t people’s fault; it's just humanly impossible to see inside someone’s heart and understand their true motivation.
Many players have all the physical tools and statistical resumes and still flop in the league (like a Ben Simmons). Bronny’s dad is a billionaire. His life is set. He’s been famous since the first time he stepped outside. His Instagram following is most likely already substantial. He doesn’t have to subject himself to all this scrutiny.
Still, he persists.
He works hard, doesn’t say much, and always seems to genuinely enjoy being on the court or the bench.
When judging potential, we don’t often consider the purity of motivation, which is a major factor. Many players’ deepest motivation is money; by the way, that’s cool. But it becomes predictable that once the money comes, the motivation will decrease.
However, a player whose motivation is deeper than money, fame, status, or things outside the actual game itself is more likely to remain hungry because the origin of his hunger comes from a different place.
Someone whose motivation is things off the court is likely to see a decrease in motivation once they receive those things. Someone whose motivation comes from a deeper place will still strive to reach their potential even after money and fame because, in Bronny’s case, he’s already got that.
You may not notice the difference in the first few years of their careers, but as time goes on, the separation will grow. Since this video is about judging potential, that separation over time is the crux of my point.
It’s the same in real life. People don’t know your heart. They don't know how much you truly put into your craft. There may be those who are more talented, those who catch breaks early, and those who fit into a mold or archetype that aligns with people’s preconceived notions. But in the long run, someone whose motivation goes deeper than money or fame will be able to endure more hardship. They’ll display more resilience in the face of ridicule, while others will fold far more easily.
If you know that you were meant to do what you’re doing, your motivation is strong and pure. However, like a straight (neat) glass of whiskey, it won’t be appreciated by most people; they’ll prefer a more watered-down cocktail that doesn’t require an understanding of any nuances or provide a mindful experience.
Many people lack appreciation for something that’s real, so don’t rely on their opinion to tell you who you are.
Make your own way in this world, and chart out your own path. Track your journey with my Game Plan guided journal.
Discover how to set and achieve meaningful long-term goals that put you on a path to your true potential.
Don’t rely on others to identify your gifts; chances are they’ll miss what’s right in their faces.