Jason and Travis Kelce added more Northeast Ohio flavor to the latest episode of their New Heights podcast: LeBron James joined the show, dishing on the NFL, his 2016 championship with the Cavs and a special pickup game he played in as a 16-year-old.
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Jason Kelce revved up the show with a rousing introduction of James, complete with the Akron native’s patented pregame resin clap. That started the show, where the three Northeast Ohio guys covered a variety of topics. What followed was a mashup of ego, laughter and serious moments in the entertaining episode.
“Has it ever actually crossed your mind what you can possibly do in the NFL?” asked Travis, who said he remembered as a middle-schooler seeing James play basketball.
“The only time I ever took it super-duper serious – I think it was 2011, when we had the NBA lockout. I didn’t know when we were going to make a deal with the owners and get our league back going. I actually thought about it back then. I was still young enough to get out there with y’all.”
James said he has “serious dreams” where he sees himself in warmups on a football field but wakes up before action on the field starts. To him, that is a sign he is in the right sport.
Travis then asked which NFL player would be the most comparable to him.
“Probably like a mix between Gronk (former tight end Rob Gronkowski) or (former wide receiver) Randy Moss, maybe. He was smaller than me, but he runs faster than me,” said James, who also mentioned former tight end Tony Gonzalez.
Jason then threw out a thought-provoking question: What is the easier transition – NFL going to NBA, or NBA going to NFL?
“I think it’s easier for a basketball player to try NFL. … Football to basketball is so much more coordination and running and jumping, and it’s consistent,” James said. “With football you say hike, whatever your cadence is, boom, it’s quick, quick twitch, then settle back, reset, quick twitch, six seconds at a time. But in basketball you can go on for four or five straight minutes with no timeouts, no breaks. You’ve got to keep your mind fresh.”
Jason joked: “I could have definitely played in the NBA, no question about it.” Jason Kelce was a 6-foot, 3-inch, 295-pound center who played 13 seasons for the Philadelphia Eagles. Both Kelce brothers, from Cleveland Heights, played college football at the University of Cincinnati.
James, who ran a 4.4-second 40-yard dash for St. Vincent-St. Mary High School, said among players who he thinks could have made the leap from the NBA to the NFL are Russell Westbrook as maybe a strong safety or Anthony Edwards.
The Lakers star – who said he frequently watches high school, college and NFL games – also was asked if former Ohio State coach Jim Tressel heavily recruited him.
“Tressel knocked on the door plenty of times,” he said. “They wanted me to come up there and be a two-sport player.” He said he could have roomed with Sian Cotton, a close high school pal who played football briefly at Ohio State.
The brothers also brought out a few other topics with James:
• When asked who guarded him when, as a 16-year-old high school sophomore, he played in a famed pickup game with Michael Jordan, Antoine Walker, Penny Hardaway and Ron Artest, among others, James was quick to reply: “Nobody. I was unguardable.” Travis said what most sports fans were thinking: “Man, I wish I was in the gym that day.”
• On commercials he has made with comedian Kevin Hart touting DraftKings: “One of my best friends. When we come on set we have a script, but it gets to a point, ‘Man, let’s just riff and see what comes out of it.’ ”
• On playing in then Gund Arena while he was in high school: “My game my senior year had more fans than Cleveland (Cavs) had.”
• On the NBA and NFL competing for viewership on Christmas Day: “Listen, I saw the (expletive) numbers after the fact. You guys kicked our ass.”
• On his multiple championships, he said his first in 2016 with Cleveland remains the most special. “There’s nothing better than that Cleveland one. … that’s one year I will never forget, 2016. It was an unbelievable time.”
• On being part of the first father-son duo to play in an NBA game together: “To work with your son, I’ve heard from a lot of people – not only sports. …. It’s the greatest thing you can ever, ever have. To see him every day grinding and going through the process of trying to become who he wants to become. … being able to take it all in. It helps me get some of the minutes and hours and years back that I did not have with him because I was playing so much and traveling. To be able to get some of this time back, it’s pretty special.”
I cover restaurants, drinks, sports-related and other topics on our life and culture team. For my recent stories, here’s a cleveland.com directory. WTAM-1100’s Bill Wills and I talk food and drink at 8:35 a.m. Tuesdays. Twitter and IG: @mbona30. To check out my books, go to marcbona.net.
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