9.6.22 - JR SportBrief Hour 3

You're listening to the J.R. Sportbrief on CBS Sports Radio. You're listening to the J.R. Sportbrief on CBS Sports Radio. That's right, this is CBS Sports Radio and you are locked in to the J.R. Sportbrief show. Coming to you live from the Rocket Mortgage Studios.

If you need to know what it takes for a home to fit your budget and your family, Rocket can. It's halftime of the show. Two hours down, two more to go. I'm here hanging with super producer and host Dave Shepherd and it's nice to be back after the holiday.

I guess that was four complete days that I had off and where did the time go? I have no idea but I'm glad to be here with you. Whether you happen to be listening in Honolulu, Miami, San Diego, Seattle, Vancouver, Calgary, Montreal, Toronto, Dallas, Houston, here in Atlanta, New York, Boston. Shout out to everybody from WEEI. My friends in Detroit, my friends in Chicago, my friends in Seattle, Minneapolis and Wisconsin. We got people listening all over the country.

You make the show go round and so thank you very much. I'm pretty sure I'm the only person today here on CBS Sports Radio that said thank you to you, the listeners. 855-212-4 CBS is how you reach me. That's 855-212-4 CBS. You can also contact me. I am on social media.

That is at JR Sportbrief. In trying to recap everything that has taken place over the holiday weekend, things that have taken place throughout the course of today, we've looked at everything from Tom Brady and talking about why he's returning. It's because of his competitive fire. I guess that fire is a little bit deeper than staying at home with his wife and kids. What do I know? I'm not married to... What's her name, Shep? You know his wife's name? Giselle Bunchin. Yeah, yeah, yeah. The Brazilian model. Yeah, sure.

It's 2006, by the way. What's her blood type? Oh, no, that I don't know. I mean, she ain't Ciara. Oh, okay.

You know Ciara's blood type? Well, that was a joke. Oh, I don't know. Listen.

JR, can I give you a very honest position right now? Oh, no. Do I really want to... Go ahead. No, probably not. No. No, no, go ahead. Okay.

You love Ciara. What, do you have pictures up on the wall or what? No, that was not my honest take. Oh, okay.

Fuck you. No, that was not my honest take. Oh, okay.

From my perspective, from David Shepherd's vantage point, and that's it, I would have stuck it out with Bridget. Okay. Now, I know that's Tom Brady's... That's the first wife. Correct. They were married? They were married. They were companions and together. I don't know if they were married. They had a kid together, obviously. Yes.

I've read that his son now plays football, Tom Brady, the oldest son. Yeah. Good for him.

He has no problem letting the public know that either. Yeah, maybe. Well, no, that's not going to happen. Hell no. That'd be cool, but it ain't going to happen.

No chance in hell. Well, he has hinted at staying around for 50. What are we going to get, the LeBron here?

You know what's amazing? Listen, you've talked about this multiple times on your show. What? It's not just that he wants to play with Bronny now. It's that he wants to play with his second son.

Listen, let LeBron... Look, I'm an advocate. There's nothing better than a father being around his kids, right? Let these guys play with all their kids.

That takes to a whole new meaning, right? Yeah, let them, let them. Listen, it's one thing.

I will find it... Hilarious isn't the word. I will just go, well, damn, what a hell of a career. The minute and the second that LeBron James is on the court with his son, I don't care what's going on. I'm going to have a beer in my hand, or maybe not a beer. I'll probably have some Jack in my hand and I'll be watching and I'm going to say, damn, what a career this is. What a career. What a life. What has this guy done? And that's one thing. Now, if there is any chance in hell, and I guess there's a slight one, maybe a little bit more than slight, but still small. If LeBron James plays with both of his kids, forget having a glass of Jack.

I'm just going to have to shake my head for two and a half hours or three hours, however long the game is. I'm just going, what is this? What's the oldest kid? Bryce? No, Bronny. Bronny is the oldest, yes. Yeah, Bronny is, I guess he'd be a second round pick typically, maybe. And LeBron is like, hey, I want to play with my kids. So his kid will be drafted. And God knows what happens with Bryce. I don't think Bryce is, I think he's a sophomore going into... He's the better one. It's like, I loved your tweet about, and I'll leave it at this because I'll let you say it if you want to say it.

I loved your tweet about Marcus Jordan. Let's just put it that way. Well, TMZ now reports that, well, what's Larsa Pippen? That sounds right. Yes. Yeah, Larsa Pippen. Yeah, I know these things because I know these things.

I keep up. But Larsa Pippen is the ex-wife of Scottie Pippen, if you couldn't tell. Larsa Pippen, is she also the mother of the Pippen that is on the Lakers now? I'm not sure about that, but I know she's around Scottie's age, so I want to say yes. She looks very young, but she's not young.

Well, yeah, I mean, doctors can do that for you. Correct. But anyway, well, I'm not sure that that's Scottie's kid, so let's not put that on her. But anyway, Larsa Pippen used to be with Scottie, and she has also been with musicians and other famous people of note. And she was spotted with Michael Jordan's son, Jeffrey, over the weekend. And I just said, whoa, this is going to turn Scottie into a super villain. Scottie already mad that he wasn't making a big bucks in paper in the 90s when, oh, it's Marcus.

What's the other one? Is it Jeffrey? He got a kid named Jeff, right? Yeah, Jeffrey's the oldest, but it was Marcus, who was actually the better player, by the way.

They both sucked. No, Marcus wasn't bad at Central Florida. When you're Michael Jordan's kid, you grow up with a sense of entitlement that is beyond anyone's wildest imagination, yes. Well, and relatively speaking.

Okay, relatively speaking, yes. For Michael Jordan's son, playing at Central Florida is just like, come on, you know? And it's not his fault. I mean, you're only good at what you're good at. Like, I ain't no type of good at basketball in comparison to Michael Jordan, his son, or anybody. I quit. My legs hurt.

And so, yeah, relatively speaking, yeah, you're good. You played in college. But man, when you're Michael Jordan's son, how you play ball, which is why everything with Bronny right now is kind of crazy. And so, by the way, Bronny and LeBron, they were at Ohio State over the weekend, and you had a fan, or not a fan, you had fans, a lot of fans in Columbus, chanting for Bronny to come to Ohio State. And it's just like, sure, why not? Why not bring the circus to town?

Ohio State beat Notre Dame, by the way, 21 to 10. And so, we have to see what takes place with Bronny as he gets ready to go into college and what college he chooses and who wants the circus. And it's tricky business. Is it worth it? And I guess it is, even for a short amount of time, to bring Bronny into your program. If you are Oregon, if you are Ohio, if you're Michigan, I mean, if you are UCLA or whatever the case might be, do you want Bronny James on campus? Do you want LeBron James on campus? And the answer is, is yes. And even though you only know it's going to be a one-year thing, even though Bronny is likely going to be one and done, you want the attention for your recruiting class.

You want to be able to up your exposure. Let's keep in mind, as one of our callers said last hour, at college football and college sports, from a coaching perspective, from a player perspective with NIL, it's about money. It really is. Anyone who's telling you, oh man, I'm doing this for the love of the game in college, they probably suck. You know, if you're running around, I'm just playing because I love it. Well, you probably ain't going to make no money anyway. Everybody's trying to make a buck.

If you could play athletics, if you could play sports and make money as a living, why not? And so it's going to be real interesting to see what happens with Bronny James over the next two years. And Shep, you say Bryce is better than Bronny? Reportedly, yes. Wow. So you got the height for sure. Well yeah, he's already taller than the brother, right? Yes.

What is, what would you say? One is 6'3", 6'4", the other one might be what? 6'5", 6'6", 6'7"? Bryce is more 6'2". Oh wow.

Excuse me, excuse me. Bronny is more 6'2", yeah. And so the other one's what, like 6'4"? 6'4", yeah. 6'5". And then he has another- And counting. Yeah, and he has another five, six years to grow. Right. Yeah, LeBron James- He's kept in Japan and grows until he's in the NBA.

Say again? He's Kevin Durant, he grows until he's in the NBA. Well, well Durant is what, 6'11", 7 flat? He was, there's guys like Durant who grew in the NBA, like Giannis. Giannis was growing in the NBA. Yeah, well Giannis is just, he's like Stretch Armstrong out there. And there is opportunity for him to do so. I can't speak or say, I saw Bronny play when he was 16?

16 years old. You were impressed by him. He wasn't looking to show up anybody, he was just there to be a part of the larger process. He wasn't there to be Bronny. He played like LeBron's son, and not out of a space of athleticism, but his decision-making was advanced past what you would typically see from any quote-on-quote 16-year-old playing ball. Like his efficiency, where to go, how to set his teammates up. He didn't go too fast. And this isn't, this is a poor example.

This is not going to be fair. You know, you watch an NBA game, you look at Russell Westbrook and you say to yourself, why doesn't this damn guy slow down? Like, why is he going a hundred miles per hour like his hair's on fire? You saw, and then even in the NBA level, you see guys who are efficient, they know what they want to do, they set guys up.

That's what Bronny was. Even, even at 16 years old, I'm like, yo, this, he's not jumping through the gym. He's not 6'9", he's not dunking over folks. He's not crossing people up and putting them on posters and, and over time mixed tapes on Instagram. He's just, he's slowly but surely commanding and controlling the game just with his brain. But how has that evolved over the past several years as he gets ready to, you know, choose a college?

I don't know. But from all indications, ain't nobody yelling about him being LeBron's son and he's going to take the next step. You could make the argument that, is it going to be fair that Bronny occupies a, a roster spot? You know, what happens when Bronny does choose a school? If Bronny stinks, what is he going to get forced onto the roster? Is he going to get pushed into playing time? Are they going to choose a school where he's just going to be the guy out there playing? And all things considered, if Bronny doesn't have the, the best showing in college, what are teams now supposed to bend over backwards to bring in LeBron?

Are teams just going to skip over him and say, hey, we don't want the trouble? Think about the Cleveland Cavaliers right now. They've been able to put together a young roster, plenty of assets, plenty of depth, they just brought in Donovan Mitchell. They have Darius Garland, man, they have, they have so much. What happens?

I don't know. In two years from now, when the team is even more advanced, and then you have a LeBron James, who's willing to come in on a, a minimum contract. Oh yeah. But then you got to bring the kid too. You got to have Bronny. Well, if I'm the Cleveland Cavaliers, this isn't a few years ago, like, why would I want to do that?

And so it's a catch 22. When you think about LeBron and Bronny and, and all it's a package deal, it gets dangerous. Because on one hand, if you're a contending basketball team, do you want the circus?

And that's what it might be. This is going to be LeBron, Bronny, and Bronny. LeBron, Bronny, and whoever the hell else. And then if you're a rebuilding team, do you have a chance? And why would LeBron go to a team that's just rebuilding to play with his son?

It's a, it's a catch 22. And so we don't know in the long run, if this is going to work for Bronny, if this is going to be damaging, if this is going to help him, if he's good, he'll get burned. If he sucks, he won't. And if he's really good, it's, it's not going to matter.

And so I don't think this is a damaging situation. It's just going to be real peculiar over the next two years when Bronny is draft eligible. And LeBron is like, well, just damn it. Can we just draft him to the Lakers? I think that might be the best case scenario. I don't know, Bronny collecting dust on the bench while LeBron is still scratching for a championship, but moving on to another organization. I don't, I don't know if I'd want that.

It's kind of tricky. It's the JR sport re-show here with you on CBS Sports Radio. Matter of fact, I'm going to, I'm going to open up the phone lines. It's 855-212-4CBS.

That's 855-212-4CBS. At Ohio State over the weekend, LeBron James popped up. He had his son Bronny there. Bronny is waiting to select his college.

The Ohio State fans chanted for Bronny to come to Ohio State. But is Bronny and LeBron, whether at college and the NBA, as amazing as it will be, if you're a team, is it worth the trouble? Is it worth the trouble if you're competing for a championship?

Is it worth the trouble if you're rebuilding? I think the only place that this might work without me looking too deep into my crystal ball is for the Lakers. I think any place else, it's, it's kind of tricky. The phone lines are open. That's 855-212-4CBS.

That's 855-212-4CBS. You're listening to the J.R. Sportbrief on CBS Sports Radio. You're listening to the J.R. Sportbrief on CBS Sports Radio. This is the first day that I've heard your show. And what a fine, great show. You have a smooth delivery and the way that you handle talk radio.

Call in now at 855-212-4CBS. Yeah, I'm, I'm just talking. That's it. I'm not trying to be somebody I'm not.

I'm not trying to be a screaming or shouting head. I'm just talking. That's it.

We just relax and chillin'. Hey, Shep, who's that guy that we talked about from the cartoon last week, Boomhauer? King of the Hill?

That sounds about right to me, yes. Yeah, I'm just, I'm just like King of the Hill. What's his name and his friends? I should know their names by now. Pop quiz, Shep. What's the main character's name?

It's not Henry Hill, because that's Goodfellas. Oh my God. Uh, but the listeners- I don't know, but it wasn't mainstream, J.R. You can't expect me to know that. The listeners are mad at me once again. That I don't know the King of the Hill.

I don't know the- It took us 20 minutes. Well, no, everybody and their mother on Twitter let me know who Boomhauer was. I mean, millions of people are like, hey, Boomhauer. His name's Boomhauer. I get it. You know what?

I mean, I did cheat. It's Hank. Hank Hill. There we go. Yeah.

What the hell we talking about this for? Oh, anyway. Yeah. I do talk radio like I'm- He says his name's Hank? Hank Hill, right? Main character or Boomhauer? No, no, the main character. Main character's Hank, yes.

Yeah. I just do talk radio like it's Hank and his friends. Don't forget Peggy. Nah, nobody cared about Peggy.

Fair enough. Peggy wasn't hanging out with the guys. She was with the stupid kid. I think they had two kids.

They were both stupid. Anyway, we're like the guys. Not to exclude women. I love women. I love women. Not to exclude them, but it was the guys hanging out.

That's what we do here. Plus all the women that listen. And shout outs to the woman who called last week asking me to talk about more women's sports. She also said that, I guess sooner than later, I don't know, the Yankees should hire a woman as a pitcher.

But anyway, we're going in a lot of directions. Right before we went to break, we talked about Bronny James. The son of LeBron James.

Why? Because LeBron and Bronny, they happen to be at Ohio State's football game over the weekend where they beat Notre Dame. The fans at Ohio State, smack dab or not far, southwest of Akron, they were pretty much chanting for Bronny James to pick Ohio State. And he's going to have options, Bronny.

Is it USC, UCLA, is it Duke, is it Oregon? I mean, he's going to have options. He's LeBron's kid. If Bronny James woke up tomorrow and said, I want to go to Temple, Temple would say, come on down. If Bronny James woke up tomorrow and said, I want to go anywhere, they'd be like, yeah, come on through.

And we already know what LeBron said. Like, I want to play with my kids. Like, I want to play with my son.

Like, I want to do that and then I'll be okay. And now he's even taken a step further recently. I guess he sees how good Bryce is, his younger son. He's like, damn it, I want to play with both of them. Like, whoa, LeBron, whoa. Yeah, what do we, if I see LeBron on the court with his two sons, I'm going to think I'm in the Twilight Zone.

What is this? But the fact is, let's stick to Bronny. LeBron James just signed a two-year contract extension with the Los Angeles Lakers. He's going to be eligible to go where he wants by the time that Bronny gets out of college after that one season. Bronny is going into his senior year and then he's going to probably play one year in college and that will also finish up LeBron's time with the Los Angeles Lakers. Now, whether you happen to be in college, or more importantly, whether you happen to be in the NBA, isn't worth the trouble. LeBron James, two more seasons from now, will probably, if he's healthy, still be a reasonable asset on a team where he is not the primary option. LeBron James could be your six foot nine point guard who can play, I don't know, 25 minutes a game and still drop 25 and six rebounds, five assists.

He can revert back to his numbers as a rookie and still be damaging, 25 and five. Ridiculous. Is he worth it to also have his son there?

Is it worth the circus? If you're a championship contending team, do you want this type of attention? And if you're a loser-ass team, why do you want the circus and why would LeBron and Bronny be there anyway? The best case scenario is for Bronny to just get picked up by the Lakers and for LeBron to take a minimum contract and stick around in LA. I think that's the simple option.

Anything else gets very, very complicated. 855-212-4CBS, that's 855-212-4CBS. What do you think about this combo of LeBron James and Bronny James, who, by the way, as of right now, for the 2023 class and whenever he graduates, he's pretty much in the 30 to 40 range of prospects. Tim is calling from Charlotte. You're on CBS Sports Radio.

You guys got me? Can you hear me okay? You are loud and clear, Tim. You're live. Go ahead. Hey, love the show.

You guys are awesome. And I agree that the fact is, if you pick one, you're picking two, you can see LeBron on the sidelines, on outside the court, at the high school games, doing whatever. And I don't believe, given his ability to be there, that he's not going to be a factor in wherever that Bronny goes, he's going to be there, and you're going to have to deal with him giving Bronny whatever other coaching process that he wants to go through. And I think it's going to be tough for any college that takes him.

It's going to be tough. Yeah, no doubt about that. And it's not like Coach K is running around, where it's just like, hey, we're going to leave Bronny here. And yeah, sure, you can show up, LeBron, but you ain't going to be the star. I mean, how many programs could he realistically join where LeBron would not just loom or shadow everything that takes place? And I guess the other aspect is, man, the season kind of operates in parallel.

LeBron is not going to be there for every game, but let's be real, he ain't going to parachute in on, when I say parachute, he's not going to show up on his private jet. Come on now. I got an off day. I'm going to go see my kid real quick.

It's a different atmosphere. Will is calling from Maryland. You're on CBS Sports Radio. Hey, man, how's it going? Very well, Will. Thank you.

Good, good. Hey, I think from first of all, on the college level, I think that if they play that smart, they could make it worthwhile for both parties. I think trying to go to a marquee college like Michigan or Duke or something is going to be a huge mistake. I don't think Duke or some of those colleges would be stupid enough to take him because if they can get somebody better, it's better to not have a headache and have a better team. But if you're a smaller college, even like an HBCU, to have him there would benefit both parties because he's going to make television no matter where you put him. Well, is it to his advantage?

It would certainly be a boon for HBCUs, but if you have to think about his development and being able to compete at a high or top level, I mean, realistically, as of right now, some of the schools that are pretty much wide open for him to attend should he want, he has offers from Kentucky, Memphis, the Tigers, Michigan, obviously Ohio State, Oregon, Nike is based, USC, and they're more likely to come. So, yeah, it might be attention, but does Bronny James need attention? I think he has enough. Do they need money? We know the last thing his family needs is money. If there's anything, it's basketball development.

Agreed, agreed. I was just saying that, you know, if he goes, he's not going to go to me, you can't put him, I would not put him in a Duke, a Michigan, or any of the top level colleges like that because I just think it becomes just a, like you said, a circus, but I think you put him in a decent college that he can get with a good coach and learn some better basketball. I think that's good, but to put him in the top tier, I just don't think that's a good idea. I just don't think that that works because it takes away from the program because it's going to be all about him and these other kids have got to deal with that. And I don't like that idea as far as his pro career.

Yeah, the Lakers, but then it just becomes a clown show to me. You know, maybe he's right at the Lakers. At least he's better than probably all the guards that they have, but maybe not defensively, maybe defensively, not Patrick Beverly, but everybody else.

Well, let's slow down. Well, I mean, he's still in high school. Okay, so to say that he's better than, you know, a couple of the Lakers guards is kind of a little bit of a slap, but I do want to respond to what you just said and thank you for calling for Maryland. The Lakers are the best option and that's if the Lakers are still a competitive team for a championship at that point. It's more so, hey, LeBron's kid is joining the squad and there he is at the end of the bench versus LeBron is now joining a team. At least a few of the ground rules are set for him to join the Lakers as opposed to, hey, we are a package deal.

We're going to go somewhere. And this is the reality. It does not matter. It doesn't matter what team it is. It's going to be a circus. It is. They're going to have to set ground rules, but wherever it happens, it's going to be a circus.

And here's the other situation. Is LeBron James, and I think the answer is yes, but we can't predict this. Come on, who can predict, who would have predicted 45 years old at Tom Brady that he's still throwing 5,300 yards and throwing for 43 touchdowns?

Who was going to predict that? Who's to say that anybody will care in two years for LeBron? Who's to say that, oh my God, we need LeBron on our team.

So we have to bring in Bronny. Maybe teams won't see it worth the trouble. Let's see how it develops. I don't think LeBron James is going to fall off the side of a cliff. I still think he's going to be an asset to any team two years from now. It's pending health. He's certainly being a freak of nature up until this point.

But as you get older, as you can see with LeBron, whether somebody's falling into his legs or whether he's spraining something on his own, he doesn't heal as fast. I'm going to take more of your calls. It's 855-212-4CBS.

It's 855-212-4CBS. Would a package of Bronny James and LeBron be worth the trouble, whether it be at the college level, whether it be at the professional level? I'm going to get some more of your calls. And speaking of young emerging stars, we've had a few show themselves here in the tennis world, especially as Serena has stepped away. We'll talk about that on the other side. I'll get some more of your calls. We're going to get into some more NFL action. And then, speaking of the Lakers, Patrick Bevly and Russell Westbrook, they're best friends now, right?

Maybe they're acting like it. We'll discuss. You're listening to the JR Sport Brief on CBS Sports Radio. JR, I'm a first-time caller, long-time listener. I love your freaking show, man. I listen every night. I make my 14-year-old listen to your show, and he's an addict, too. Keep doing what you're doing. I'm out.

Call in now at 855-212-4CBS. That sounds great. That also sounds a little troubling. You make him listen, and now he's an addict? Part of it sounds like abuse, and then the other part is like, oh, yeah, that's great. I'm glad he loves the show. And by the way, shout-outs to all the students who are back in school.

College, university, high school, middle school. I see no reason why. Well, that's not true. Let me correct my own words.

Let me correct myself. Shout-outs to the elementary school students who are listening to me as well, because they were out there. I mean, I had no choice when I was in elementary school to turn on the radio, but I mean, I would assume that someone in elementary school should be asleep right now or preparing to sleep.

Should be. And anyway, more importantly, shout-outs to all the educators. Shout-outs to everybody, you know, looking out for our next and future generations, because people in the school system, people in after school, and you don't have to be a teacher. You don't have to be an educator per se.

There are plenty of people watching our children, our kids, just all over the country. I don't care if you're driving a bus, and if you're driving a bus, you need to take your ass to sleep. You know, drive our kids safely to school in the morning, please.

You could be a bus driver, you could be a para, you can be the school nurse, you could help out with the lunch, you could be a part of the PTA. If you are helping out with some kids that do not belong to you, thank you very much. That includes you coaches. Yeah, the coaches out there, and I hope you're a good coach. I've seen some of the jackass coaches on social media, don't be one of those.

Much love to everybody out there doing an amazing job helping out our children. Now I digress, now I could go back to being a jerk, okay? Right before we went to break, we talked about LeBron James, Bronnie James. They were at Ohio State, the fans were chanting for Bronnie James to come join Ohio State, and I gotta remind you, Michigan has already presented an offer to Bronnie James. At the same time, you may forget this, Juwan Howard is now the coach of Michigan, and there was a point in time where Juwan Howard, he was on the Miami Heat with LeBron James, when they had Bosh and Wade and LeBron there at the same time.

So there is a history. It would be a little blasphemous, I guess, for someone from Ohio to go ahead and join Michigan, but this is the LeBron James family, they can do whatever the hell they want. And I talked about whether or not this was going to be a distraction, both at the college level and also at the pros. The situation that would make the most sense is if Bronnie James were to just be picked up by the Los Angeles Lakers and LeBron finishes his career there, and the world goes on. If you go to a rebuilding team, why would LeBron go there? Why would a rebuilding team want the attention outside of just, hey, we want the money?

And then if you're a contending team, doesn't it become a distraction? Really does. 855-212-4CBS, that's 855-212-4CBS. Michael is calling from Houston, Texas. You're on the JR Sport Brief Show. How you doing, JR? Hey, man, I love your show, man.

Man, you're a great person. This is the second time I've called in on the situation. And the thing of it is, is I just want to let you know, man, down here in Texas, man, we roll a little bit different. And I'm just going to say, you know, my dad, my dad had me in Little League and everything, and he was my coach and everything. And he was like, I didn't get no favoritism, no nothing. And I just feel like, hey, man, because just because just because you're LeBron James, son, which I don't know how y'all name him, Bronny, because that's I mean, I don't know where that came from.

He's LeBron James Jr. Yeah, well, anyway, Bronny, I just don't get that. But anyway, the thing of it is, is I just feel like the thing of it is, is, is, you know, you shouldn't, you know, you shouldn't be getting no favoritism nowhere, man. You should be able to make it on merit.

You should be able to make it on your game. You should be able to lie just because just because that's your dad's name. And that's I mean, you're going to run you're going to run, you know, and everybody wants that for. No, I don't agree with that. Well, well, let me let me respond, Mike. And thank you for calling from Houston.

It's it's very simple. LeBron James is likely to own an NBA team one day, by all indications, it might be in Las Vegas whenever that team comes to fruition. LeBron James is likely to own a team. As of right now, LeBron James does not own a team. He's not a governor. He's not an owner. He doesn't have a majority share.

He doesn't have a share of a damn thing in the NBA. Nobody is forcing. Nobody is being forced to select or draft. Bronny James. LeBron James is not sticking anybody up. LeBron James, for all of his power and influence, he's not forcing anybody to hire Bronny.

And so I can't look at it as the same situation. He's not he's not drafting his son and playing with him. He's not giving or tendering his son a contract.

He's not drafting him. He's using his influence as LeBron to do so. I don't think that's the same as, oh, my God, he owns the team.

He's wielding his power. And that's what most people do. And sure, nepotism exists in all levels of society and the world.

People hire their kids, people hire their family members. And yeah, there could be matters of of ethics here. You know, I can't sit here at CBS Sports Radio and say, oh, my God, I hate Shep, let me bring in my brother. You know, I can't I can't I can't do that. It doesn't work that way.

That would be me being a whole you know what? It doesn't work that way. Program director can't say, hey, let's get J.R. the hell up on out of here and just let me get my brother to job.

It doesn't work that way. But this is basketball. And to say that Bronny, quote unquote, is without merit is is not accurate. Is he the top, top prospect two years from now? No, no, he's not. But he's still a prospect.

And so I understand what you're saying. He should be able to go out there and make it on his own bones. But the fact is, he would still get a look, even if LeBron James did not open up his mouth.

You want to know why? Because he's the son of LeBron. Because he's the son of LeBron and he actually does have some game that does help him have and carry some type of cachet. John is calling from Akron, home of Bronny and LeBron. You're on CBS Sports Radio, John.

Yes, sir. One of the greatest men to ever live is LeBron James. And we've done for Akron, sir.

I've watched that kid play since high school. And yeah, bring the sideshow back to Akron, bring him back to Cleveland. We'll take him back on the Cavs after we just signed Donovan Mitchell. And we're a contender now. Wait, a contender for what? The Cavs all of a sudden become a contender for the Eastern Conference this year by signing that Donovan Mitchell from the Cavs. Dude, come on, man.

They move up or wrong. The Cavs are going to be a contender for the Eastern Conference this year, guaranteed. If the Lakers speak it up again, LeBron will want to come back to Akron. He loves Akron, dude. He loves Akron, dude. OK, I'm sure. Yes, it's home. I think most people like home unless you absolutely hate it.

But John, I just want to let you know. The Cavs, the Cavaliers have improved, OK? Yes. The Cavs will be exciting. The Cavs have as a brighter future of anybody in the NBA right now.

Amen. I would not go as far to say that they are contenders in the East. When I think about a contender, I'm thinking about a team that can go, yes, that can go to the NBA Finals.

No, any experience goes a long way. And you're right, the Cavs are a young team. They're still young.

They're very young. Yeah, give it give it a few years. Are they are they becoming one of the best teams in the East? Yes.

Would I be very afraid in the future? Yes, but am I going to go ahead and say contenders in the East or a contender to go to the Finals? Whoa, let's slow down. No, let me see what Mobley can go out there and do. How is Garland going to continue? Everybody has room to improve their game.

Let them grow. They're going to beat some teams. They're going to blow them out and they'll go to the playoffs. God bless the Cleveland Cavaliers. They're going to go to the playoffs without LeBron James.

What are they going to do when they get there? They run up against the team with experience. They might beat a team in the first round, but typically you got to get put on your ass before you can get up and come back. It's just how it goes. It's the JR Sport Reshow here with you on CBS Sports Radio. Speaking of being put on your ass, we've had quite a few individuals who've had to taste defeat over the weekend and they might bounce back. I'll tell you who it is after the break. We'll talk some NFL and more NBA here on CBS Sports Radio.