Inside Access with Jason LaCanfora and Ken Weinman
Moke Hamilton: Why would you not take a chance on Bronny James in the 2nd round?
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With all trails, you can discover trails nearby and explore confidently. With offline maps and on-trail navigation. Download the free app today and make the most of your summer with all trails. We are affording to get our buddy, Mo Kamelton, on the show. Of course, he covers the NBA for the sporting news. The NBA draft just finished yesterday. I still don't understand the idea of the two-day draft, but they did it two days. The second round was yesterday, the first round was Wednesday. It seems like the wizards are getting good reviews. We'll see if that turned into something in the future. I mean, with how mismanaged they've been for so long, I guess there's nowhere to go. But up eventually. Events on top of the world. And in terms of the format, I mean, the proof will be in the pudding. Like, did they get ratings? Did they get buzz? Did they generate as much social media? Interest, as you know, they expected. Otherwise, I guess they could always go back to just making it one night like it was forever. Yeah. I do find the outrage about this Brony James situation to be mind-numbing. Like, I find it to be ridiculous and like crazy. Like, from another universe. We're talking about the 55th pick. We're talking about the second round. The end of the second round of the NBA draft. And people are upset that he ended up with his dad. Let's go out now to our buddy, Moc Hamilton, covers the NBA for the sport news. And Moc, let's start you with that. I didn't think we'd start here. But we were talking about your, what did you think of the two-day draft? And your thoughts on Brony James going to the Lakers? Uh, you know, I think the draft was definitely interesting. I understand the, uh, I'm not covered in many drafts in my day. So I know what it feels like to leave Barclays at 1.15 a.m. You know what I mean? So having it broken up across two days, I think it was, I think it was worth a try. Um, having round two Thursday afternoon seemed a little weird. Um, you know, watching it happen in TV studios and all that. But, uh, overall, I'm not mad at it. And I, I think that the league made a wise choice and just tried something a little different and seeing, seeing how it went, you know, that's wrong with that. Um, and as far as Brony, uh, you know, I caught a tail end of the exchange there. And I mean, I kind of feel the same way, you know, like over the course of NBA history, there's been probably somewhere around 50 sons of former NBAers that have been selected. Um, you can call it nepotism if you want, but some other people just look at it and think about it from a pedigree standpoint. Like if you're, if your dad succeeded in the NBA or if he was a good enough player to make it as a pro, then you probably have the genetic makeup to do so as well. Right? And then in some cases, you actually have the ability to be better than your dad. Um, you know, some people would look at Steph Curry as an example of that. You could cite Clay Thompson as someone who was probably at least as good as if not better than his dad. You know what I mean? Yeah, I don't really understand all the outrage about Brony. If he were selected with the 17th pick, then maybe, but at the tail end of the draft. I mean, if I were a GM, I probably would have thought about picking him as well because at a minimum, you know that he's going to have a support system around him at home. That's going to help him become a better player and potentially succeed in the NBA. So I had no problem about, I had no problem with any of this and I wish him all the best as a pro. Moke, the other part that I think people either just are not giving enough credence to or they just don't know how the world works. Like if you're running the LA Lakers and you've got, I know he's at the end of his career, but I don't know, and I don't know what the second stage of LeBron James life is going to be like. But he's one of the truly recognizable people on the planet. Yep. And he continues to bust his ass for your team at the end of his career and he doesn't treat these games that don't matter. Like they don't matter. He brought it down the stretch to try to get them the best position they could be in. Why wouldn't you want to keep him happy and bring his son there? Any of his son is the last guy off the bench. If you sell a few jerseys and you, you know, they play a little bit together, that's a great story. Like, and it's the 55th pick. Like, am I the crazy one here? Like, why the hell wouldn't you do that? No, I mean, I think it's all very valid. I think all of that's very valid. I agree with all of it. I will say if there's one misstep that LeBron made throughout this entire process was, you know, years ago when he said that he would want to play with his son. And I think most people would feel that way, and I don't think there's anything wrong with him feeling that way. But the combination of him saying that publicly and his contract situation with the Lakers, you can look at it. And if you're one of the people that wants to find something wrong with what LeBron does and with what he says, you would look at it and say, oh, well, he basically blackmailed them into drafting his son. You know what I mean? Like, he put himself with his contract and with his declaration of, hey, I want to play with him. At that point, it won't matter about the money. Like, when you say those things publicly, it does put a lot of pressure on the Lakers organization to draft him, whether or not they would have done so organically themselves anyway. So that, to me, I think is sort of like the counterpoint. In hindsight, I think LeBron realizes it would have been best for him to just ignore the fact that his son was trying to come out. But I mean, who can do that, right? Like, that's a lot to ask of a father that has put so much of his life into persevering as an NBA player and then raising up his boys being as dedicated of a father as he has been helping to train them. Like, it would have been difficult for him to ignore it when people would be asking about it every single day. So, again, I mean, I have no issue with the way that any of this played out and I actually think it would be kind of awesome to see if two of them share an NBA court, even if only for a few minutes. So, I think Griffey Jr. Ken Griffey Sr. was a pretty amazing moment in time. And Ken Griffey Sr. was at the end of his career, and I'm not in any way comparing Brony James to the kind of prospect that Junior Griffey was. But this is a cool thing. I agree 100%. I wrote about it years ago. Years ago, I would say maybe as far as eight, ten years ago, I started doing the math and I realized that to that point in his career LeBron had played 97% of his eligible games or whatever that number was. And I realized that he was a far past Kobe's pace. Tim check. What kind of summer are we having this year? A family road trip summer, a beach bum summer, or a wake me when the sun sets summer. With Instacart, choose your own adventure and skip the shopping side quests. Where available, you can get ice cream delivered to your hotel, sunscreen to the pool, or cold brew to your bed. Well, door. In as fast as 30 minutes. Wherever you find yourself this summer, you can get the goods. Download Instacart for free delivery on your first three orders. Offer valid for a limited time, minimum $10 per order, excludes restaurants, additional terms and fees apply. We all belong outside. We're drawn to nature. Whether it's the recorded sounds of the ocean we doze off to, or the succulents that adorn our homes, nature makes all of our lives well better. Despite all this, we often go about our busy lives removed from it. But the outdoors is closer than we realize. With all trails, you can discover trails nearby and explore confidently with offline maps and on trail navigation. Download the free app today and make the most of your summer with all trails. We're just behind Coreen's pace in terms of percentage of games played relative to how many points they scored. And at that point, I was like, you know what, he's coming for Coreen's record. And then shortly after that, I was like, you know, if he gets Coreen's record and if he's still good at that eighth, he's got a chance to play with his son. So both of those things are in my dossier, you know, so I'll give myself a little shameless plug there and say that I did. And I don't have any problem with any of this. Well, Moak, did you see the trade compensation with Michael Bridge is coming? That took me by surprise. And I think that everybody else in New York City kind of felt the same way. And if there's one thing I have to credit Leon Rose and his front office for with the next, is nobody really seems to know what these guys are doing. You know, like, there's not, they have a tight ship over there. And it's kind of crazy considering they're in the middle of New York City. But it's a tight, tight-lipped organization, a tight-lipped front office. We don't really see many of the moves that they have come before before they do. I think that one of the things that we as a public need to sort of get a better understanding of is that, you know, one man's trash is another man's treasure, for lack of a better euphemism at the moment. And what I mean by that is to the New York Knicks at this point in time right now, I think it's very easy to rationalize the trade. And you can make the argument that to New York specifically that steep cause that they paid for. I think how bridges wasn't worth it to them. Would it have been worth it for a team like the Houston Rockets or a team like the Oklahoma City Thunder? Probably not. Right. You know, you're talking about for unprotected future first-round picks, you know, a pick swap, another first-round pick. It's a lot. It is a lot for the Knicks to pay. But when you think about it from a chemistry standpoint, and when you think about it from, you know, when you think about bridges, gifts specific in the way that he's able to excel without the ball, he's one of the more proficient corner catch and shot makers in the entire league, you know, when you look at it analytically, you can understand why the Knicks made this move. So, you know, me personally, I'm looking forward to seeing what they all look like together healthy on an NBA court. And I think they can fairly dream of challenging the Boston Celtics for the Eastern Conference Crown next year. And that's the reason why they made this deal, and had they waited a year or two, you know, at that point, you're just hoping that Joel and Bead or Janice or, you know, Luca Donchich, but it looks like that ship itself. You know, if you're the Knicks, you would have sort of been in that situation where you're winning 45 to 48 to 50 games a year, and you're, you're, you're getting these middle of the road draft picks, and you're not really able to break that glass ceiling. And then guess what, you got to pay Jalen, Jalen Brunson, you know what I mean, and your cap space and the flexibility that you'd have as an organization. It dries up before your very eyes. So, I understand why they made this move. They may have paid a very, very steep price for it. And I guess the in the near future will see if it's able to get them to where they hope it will. Talking about Hamilton, it's inside access here on the family. It seems like we're waiting with free agency opening this weekend to see what Paul George does. Does he does he stay with the Clippers? Does he just sign with Philly? Does he do a sign in trade to Golden State? Like, what do you think happens with Paul George? Yeah, I, you know, I, I, up until now, I would say that I did predict that he would remain with the Clippers. I may have even said it with you guys a few weeks ago. I think one of the things that not a lot of people are talking about is the fact that the Clippers just spent, I don't know if it was old $2 billion or there's just some insane amount of money that's been spent over the past couple of years and building a brand new building for the Clippers, right? Trying to come out of the shadows of, of crypto dot, almost at Staples Center, crypto dot com arena under the Lakers. So you're a team trying to establish yourself with a new identity going into a new building. If you're Steve bomber, you know, you kind of have these two guys that I think we regard as superstars in the NBA and I mean, sure they've had their challenges. But going into a new building and before you even open the place up, you lose one of your two guys. It's just not a good look. You know, I think from the Clippers' standpoint, I can certainly understand them being hesitant to give Paul George a four, much less a five year max deal. He is a guy who does have a checkered injury history over the course of his career. And, you know, you want to be fiscally responsible. So, so I get all of that. I did think the Clippers were just playing hardball and they kind of figure, well, we have his bird rights. If he opts out and we do find that somebody's willing to give him a four year match, we can match those terms if not beat them. So let's wait and see if somebody out there is able to give him that kind of deal. So I think they're kind of playing a game of chicken. The only thing for me that I can't help but to remember is before Paul George got traded from Indiana to Oklahoma City. He wanted to be a Laker. He and his camp will tell you differently, but the Lakers are the team that Paul George wanted to go to. And what happened with him was he felt taken for granted and he felt disrespected because the Lakers had an opportunity to execute a trade and land him. And they said, you know what? It's a bit too expensive. We'll just wait for him to become a free agent. Paul George is the first player that taught me that these guys can be sensitive to things like that. They're competitive nature. They can look at it very fairly and say, well, you know what? If you loved me that much and if you thought I was that good, you could have made that deal for me instead of making me waste another year of my career in Indy. When everybody in the world knows I want to come play for you. Paul George showed me already that he can be sensitive about those kinds of things. So in the back of my mind, if there is something that will come to play and have him ending up in Philly or in Oakland or somewhere else next season, I think it would be that. I think at this point, he might feel a little disrespected by the Clippers organization. I think he might feel that they're taking him for granted, especially because so often he's been the one holding the bag while Kawhi Leonard has been on the shelf trying to get himself right. So I think that he's the biggest domino in NBA free agency. What he decides to do, I think, will have sweeping ramifications across the entire league. Right now, if I'm asked to make a prediction, I still would give the Clippers the benefit of the doubt to bring him back because they have the home court advantage. They can offer him the fifth year. They can offer him the biggest raises. So that would be my prediction. If I were him, I would be thinking long and hard about going to go into Kenny Sixers, though. The opportunity to play with Tyrese Maxie and MB. If I'm him, if I want to win a championship, I think that's probably the right move for me right now. Mo Kamelton, always great. You can find his work in the sporting news. Thanks as always, buddy. We appreciate your time. My pleasure. You guys take care. Trying to figure out what to eat for dinner yet again. With North Sides and Bullion as you're not so secret ingredient, you can skip the drive-through and do dinner at home. Nor Taste Combos provide a menu of delicious, affordable, and well-balanced meals that you can prepare in 30 minutes or less. Visit nor.com to get quick and easy recipe ideas for your home-cooked weeknight dinners. It's not fast food, but it's so good.