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I heard about this during the game last night. Really cool - until now I did not realize Kevin Love's father played in the NBA. I certainly remember (well) Mychal Thompson and Del Curry in college and the NBA.
Bloodlines certainly matter. Not sure how my kids rose above it. Or maybe I was just an under-achiever....or married well. Yup, that must be it. 
I saw the picture on Twitter, pretty cool.
It makes a lot of sense when you think about it. Over 48% of NBA players are related to an at least one time professional athlete. How many people in terms of percentages are over 6'5" tall??
Both of their Dads played ball and they lived in affluent areas for sure, because of their income and many young kids start out their athletic careers playing baseball or soccer.....
Guess whose kid was on Klay Thompson's team? (And of course his brother Trayce, who now plays for the Dodgers.) Yup, my kid. Klay and/or Trayce were on Jeff's baseball, basketball and football teams from kindergarten through the 8th grade when the Thompsons moved back to LA so Mychal could take a radio job with the Lakers there.
Quite a family. We were constantly picking each other's kids up and shuttling them home, since we lived close to each other. Spent countless games of all sports on the sidelines with Mychal. In the article, the picture of Klay on the mound - he's throwing to my son.
Mychal was always one to exaggerate, however. To say Klay would have been a first round draft pick is wildly speculative. He was a good little league baseball player, but not at all dominant like Kevin Love, or like his brother Trayce. But Klay's makeup was way better for basketball.
The picture below is from last year, when Golden State was in Portland to play the Blazers. Klay had Jeff and me down after the game for the post-game meetup. Jeff has the hat on, and the other young man is another youth baseball teammate. This was the day after he signed his $65 million contract extension.
It is very fun to see Klay and Kevin face off. I can confirm: Kevin Love was a formidable little leaguer!
Oh, and to JustBaseball's point about bloodlines: I always told my son that he was genetically inferior, and just had to play and work harder.
On that little league team of 11 kids, besides Klay, Trayce and Jeff, there was another kid who pitched D2, and one who set career receiving records at Portland State, signed with the Jax Jaguars in 2015. (Didn't make the roster, though.)
Quite a collection of athletes for a rec ball team!
Clearly the fact that of these players only Trayce Thompson made it to MLB proves what some people around my neighborhood have told me - you have to play the best to be the best, so kids should quit wasting their time playing Little League and play full time travel ball by age 10 or 11. Too bad the Loves and Thompsons et al did not know better. Maybe those kids would also be in The Show.
JCG posted:Clearly the fact that of these players only Trayce Thompson made it to MLB proves what some people around my neighborhood have told me - you have to play the best to be the best, so kids should quit wasting their time playing Little League and play full time travel ball by age 10 or 11. Too bad the Loves and Thompsons et al did not know better. Maybe those kids would also be in The Show.
Incoming!!!
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