For as quiet as Klay Thompson is, it's amazing how completely, 100 percent opposite of that his father is.
Mychal Thompson -- did you know that Klay's dad was a former No. 1 NBA draft pick? -- joined Kevin Calabro on 710 ESPN in Seattle today, and had some interesting things to say about all that NBA speculation surrounding his son earlier this year:
"Yeah, he was never thinking about that. Klay was just thinking about winning a Pac-10 championship. I never even talked to him about the NBA because that would place too much pressure on him and get him too distracted from what he has to do, which is go to class, get good grades and help the Cougs win basketball games."
And then, the money line.
"We never even talk about the NBA, he's not thinking about it, and, hey -- the way he played the last couple of weeks, who would want him anyway?"He's not even worrying about the NBA. He's going to be stuck there in Pullman for quite a while yet."
It's definitely an entertaining interview. Two other things he talked about that I found interesting, so you'll definitely want to listen to the interview yourself (Mychal Thompson starts at the 21:15 mark or so):
- He sees the exact same things we see in terms of what teams are trying to do to Klay -- they're crowding him and sending extra defenders at every turn.
- Our sense that Klay's getting frustrated and it's showing is absolutely true. Mychal says he's talked to Klay about not letting his frustrations get to him, and not let it show out on the court.
Interesting stuff, for sure. Sometimes, it's hard to remember that these guys are so freaking young.