Are KD’s Rockets are the BIGGEST threat to OKC in the West ⁉️ ‘ABSOLUTELY’ – Bobby Marks 🚀 | Get Up

Are KD’s Rockets are the BIGGEST threat to OKC in the West ⁉️ ‘ABSOLUTELY’ – Bobby Marks 🚀 | Get Up

uh to the NBA we go with a game we’ve decided to call Bobby’s marks get it anyway Bobby what uh what grade are you giving the Houston Rockets for their off season so far
well Dan it’s one grade I never got at Maris College it’s an A right when you look at what Houston was able to do here certainly the Kevin Durant trade last week they extend Jabari Smith Jr dorian Finny Smith on Monday night they sign agree to a contract they get Clink Capella in a in a signin trade here uh they extended Emeoka a lot to like as far as what Atlanta has uh Houston has been able to do so far tim you think they’re the biggest threat to Oklahoma City in the West
i do the addition of Kevin Durant I think gives them a massive upgrade offensively that was their big issue last season replacing him with Jaylen Green gives them the kind of score they did not have they also by moving on from Dylan Brooks open up a lot of time for guys like Jabari Smith Jr Tari E and even Amen Thompson to play even more than he did last year dorian Finny Smith will be a nice addition for them off the bench as another shooter they even get Clint Capella to give them some additional rim protection inside give Stephen Adams some extra time off during the season i would love to see a Thunder Rockets conference finals kevin Durant back in OKC would be something and I think the Rockets are looking pretty nice in the Western Conference right now wendy what do you make of what Houston’s doing
yeah in addition to their frontline talent one of the things that they prioritize is getting size is and look if you’re going to win the Western Conference you need depth look at Oklahoma City and you need size you got to deal with Nicola Joic so you look at Houston getting uh Stephen Adams under contract getting Clint Capella look what the Clippers did they have a Vitza Zubat he’s one of the best centers in the league that they still go out and get a starter quality backup in Brook Lopez yesterday they prioritize that that was their most important thing to do so I think I really like the way Houston is looking at their competition and the Clippers to a lesser extent and trying to plan for the long season ahead all right Bobby over in the East what grade are you giving the Atlanta Hawks for their off seasonason so far
i’m going to give him a B+ i don’t want to give him an A quite yet here but I do like what Atlanta’s been able to do yesterday Nquille Alexander Walker they’re going to acquire him in a signing trade they also signed agreed to Luke Canard the shooter from Memphis uh last year here they have strengthened their back court uh keep an eye on extensions certainly for Dyson Daniels we’ll see what happens with Trey Young but I do like what Atlanta did and that’s a carryover effect from last week with that Kristoff Porzingis trade
yeah look I tell you who else is paying attention is the uh the betting markets the Hawks uh their odds have really improved yesterday uh ESPN bet had Atlanta with 100 to1 odds to win the title that is down to 25 to1 today and their odds to win the Eastern Conference have dropped from 25 to1 down to 9 to1 so a lot of folks really impressed Tim with what the Hawks have been doing yeah they’ve really had a solid plan throughout this off seasonason to get shooting length and defensive versatility around Trey Young obviously getting the potential number one pick in next year’s draft from the New Orleans Pelicans last week in that draft night trade to move up to move back 10 spots obviously a bit of an overplay overpay to put it mildly by the Pelicans but you look at where this Atlanta Hawks team is right now i like where I I mean I agree with those odds i think they are a team that’s going to be top four in the East and the crazy thing looking at that is you don’t see the Boston Celtics mentioned anywhere obviously they lost Luke Cornet good chance they’re going to lose Al Horford they are probably going to fall pretty far down the Eastern Conference standings with Jason Hayden out for the year with this Achilles tear but the Atlanta Hawks are a team that has taken advantage of that is moving back up in the East and looks awfully good right now
yeah a lot of transition going on in Boston maybe a reset uh in the Eastern Conference so Bobby what grade are you giving the Los Angeles Lake well a great I’m familiar with and incomplete here and I think certainly with the with the Lakers here the big question is center dan we’ve been talking about this since February now we’re in early July and the center position still has not been addressed i do like Jake Larabia the wing they got in in free agency on Monday here but there is certainly some some work to do in Los Angeles if there’s one thing Wendy that I know from being told over and over again by you highly intelligent and plugged in NBA people that I work with is that the Lakers need a center last night they didn’t get one i personally was shocked what does that tell us about where the Lakers are right now
well the Lakers have have really dedicated themselves to having Luca Donuch and Austin Reeves as their two perimeter leading players those guys are are really talented offensively they are not talented defensively and LeBron James has slipped defensively in recent years he’s 40 years old it’s not supposed to be an insult so to deal with that if you’re going to that’s what your alignment is going to be and that’s where you’re going to have all of your resources dedicated you have to have protection on your back line it’s just basic basketball strategy and the Lakers have not been able to accomplish that they didn’t get it done at the trade deadline when they rescended the trade for Mark Williams and into the draft they didn’t get it done and now into free agency at least you know 12 to 14 hours in which is when you see a lot of the moves
they didn’t get it done now they don’t play a game tonight they have time to address it they have expiring contracts they have some draft assets rob Pelinka can address it but he hasn’t addressed it yet okay and so until that happens it’s very hard to evaluate what the Lakers are going to do this is a position that is vital to the strategy for the way they play night in and night out and they’re going to have to do something about it at some point regardless of what their other other challenges that they’ve got with their roster if you look at that list of players on the lefth hand side if you’re a Laker fan first of all the fact that one of them is is Jackson Hayes a guy that we spent all last season saying the Lakers need to improve on is a problem miles Turner would be a guy they’d love to have not really an option for them to get he’s almost certainly going back to the Indiana Pacers al Horford is a big free agent would be an interesting fit there also seems unlikely to go to the Lakers so you’re talking about maybe bringing back Larry N Jr who’s a nice player but probably more of a backup and has had some injury issues or DeAndre Aton a guy who just got bought out by the Portland Trailblazers that is not exactly what you want to see if you’re a Laker fan thinking this team can actually be a factor in the Western Conference maybe they make a trade but again after months of talking about the Lakers needing a center it is rather remarkable that we’re sitting here after the first night of free agency having all these centers come off the board and say the Lakers still need a center and it’s not clear how they’re going to get
remarkable too because it tells me I’m on the right track and paying close attention to everything you say uh Bobby we’ve talked about Luca being the future and they got to build around him for the future but in terms of this year which could well be LeBron’s final season in LA correct uh are they are they in trouble well they’re they’re operating on these two timelines Dan that we’ve been talking about here you have the LeBron James timeline on an expiring contract and then you have the Luca Donic timeline that he is the face of your organization moving forward and and what you’re trying to do is you’re trying to win now but you’re trying to protect flexibility in the summer of 2026 where you potentially could have two max slots to go out and really reshape shape your roster and that’s an interesting dilemma that Rob Pelinka is is faced with right now and I think we’re going to learn a lot about the Lakers over the next you know 48 hours here as far as if there’s a trade how they address the center position Dan is going to be in a trade market i’m telling you cuz what I I see on that free agent list is really not going to cut it so we’ll see how that they do there but we know LeBron is paying attention Wendy because we heard from his agent after he opted into his contract uh two days ago do you do you see this being the beginning of the end for LeBron in LA especially it it doesn’t feel like the Lakers are doing what Rich Paul was indicating you know trying to load up for a championship this year
yes lebron’s time in Los Angeles is coming to an end i that is become clear in the last couple of days however he he is 40 years old so it’s not like he was ever going to be a long-term solution here the Luca Donuch trade and the ownership change that have happened to the Lakers have given a a a moment to look into the future and LeBron is looking into the present you know but the Lakers are positioned to be a competitive team in the Western Conference this year and the way that happens is with LeBron fully brought bought in and so while I would suspect that the Lakers feel like the fully bought in came when he opted into his contract less than 48 hours ago it seems like he needs a little bit more to be fully bought in so I think what needs to happen is everybody needs to sort of get on the same page because right now they clearly don’t seem to be working together and that is worrisome no matter who’s on your roster no matter who you sign in free agency
yes the opt-in should have spoken for itself but it didn’t because the agent came out with a statement indicating that maybe he wasn’t fully bought in with the plan so how do you see this playing out
i mean how I see it playing out is LeBron James being on the Lakers and the Lakers not being all that good because at the end of the day while the Lakers were the team that finished with 50 wins and the third seed in the Western Conference standings they also were the team that was pretty soundly defeated by the Minnesota Timberwolves in the first round of the playoffs minnesota Timber rolls team that went on to get soundly defeated by the Oklahoma City Thunder in the Western Conference Finals that shows the gap the Lakers had to clear to get into real contention and they’ve gotten worse and there’s not a clear path getting better
today we’re going to start with Brian Windhorst uh the Nuggets trading Michael Porter Jr should Nicola Joic be happy that they did that he’s not unhappy but I’m not sure how this dramatically changes their position michael Porter Jr is a good player cam Johnson is a comparable player he’s uh slightly he’s a little bit better defensively um but the reason that the Nuggets made this trade was to save money they It really is a good deal from the fact that Cam Johnson makes a $17 million less over the next two seasons each season by the way each season $17 million less and so what are the Nuggets going to do with that money if they use it to reinvest in the team then I think Jokic should be thrilled because this is adept has been an issue if they use it to just save on luxury tax which is something that the team has been concerned about in the past then I would not be as excited if I was Jokic the Denver Never Nuggets have very limited abilities to improve their team one of the one of the few things they had was their 2032 unprotected first round pick they just used it to trade Michael Porter Jr for the same player just costing less money to get out of the luxury tax if I’m Nicole Joic and I lost to the Oklahoma City Thunder because my team didn’t have enough depth I’m pretty frustrated that my team is not going to have more depth at least as it stands right now and the only outcome of this trade is that the ownership group is going to save a lot of money
interesting because interesting times in Denver not too far removed from a title now they’ve fired the coach and and seem to be uh in some level of tradition burning uh transition burning question for Bobby Marks are the Dallas Mavericks legitimate title contenders they are but only when Kyrie Irving comes back and and if he is healthy here their their roster Dan is similar to what Indiana has been able to do you have Kyrie Irving and Anthony Davis and then you have significant depth certainly starting with Cooper Flag and PJ Washington they’ve picked up D’Angelo Russell they’ve got 12 guys that you can roll on the court right now and I like what Dallas has been able to do but Kyrie’s got to get back healthy and we’ll see when that happens and we’ll see how they do uh in a stacked Western Conference which brings me to D wood our resident Laker fan uh with everything going on and not going on around the Lakers right now uh is this the beginning of the end for LeBron and the Lakers
feels that way it really does i mean you know you look at the Lakers we all know everyone has talked about Adnauseium they need a center uh they can use a wing i think you know you look at the Lakers we need more depth and it and it looks like as you look at the landscape in the Western Conference everyone has gotten better you know you talk about the Houston Rockets have gotten better okc is OKC the you know the Dallas Mavericks look like they’re better the Los Angeles Clippers look like they’re better and and here we are the Los Angeles Lakers we’re we’re kind of standing pat we’re gotten worse and so for me I’m just you know as a Lakers fan I’m scratching my head seeing okay where do we go from here what who are the guys that we’re going to try to bring in whether it’s center you know wing that’s going to get us any closer to where the Oklahoma City Thunder are right now it’s just I don’t I don’t I just don’t see it right now
yeah it’s hard to see the answer i mean that the Thunder are very far ahead of the Lakers and it’s going to be hard for the Lakers to close that gap when they don’t have a lot of assets to really use to improve their team that much and one of the things we thought they might do is sign a center as Bobby said earlier in the show there’s not a path to signing a center that’s going to materially change the Lakers future so now you have to think about using some of those assets to make a trade for a center we’ll see what they can do
wendy we’re only a few months removed from the the Mavericks being absolutely shredded for trading Luca uh to the Lakers and it feels like Dallas is in better shape right now than the Lakers last hour I asked if the Mavericks won the Luca trade and everybody laughed at me so I’m not going to ask that again but how did we get here like is Dallas better off going forward even though LA has Luca well the Mavericks do not have the same star power at the top i mean unless Cooper Flag turns into an instantaneous AllNBA player which I wouldn’t expect from a 19-year-old but the the the Lakers have more star power at the top the the Mavericks have more builtout roster underneath and part of that’s because of the the of what the Lakers have traded for they traded two of their core players to get Luca Donuch so um I to me the harder thing to do is get stars luca Donuch is one of the five or six best players in the league if you ask would you to to the average NBA executive would you rather have Luca Donuch and then go from there or Anthony Davis and go from there the answer is you’d rather have Luka Donuch so I no I cannot say that they want it um of course the difference between building a championship team and building a team that is topheavy and underachieves is management and good drafting and smart transactions good signings good trades this is what is going to make the difference between the the Mavericks and the Lakers going forward but Luca is the prime asset here and the big thing for the Lakers re ask me this again at the start of the season Dan when I know whether Luca has extended his contract or not because Luca getting into a contact extension after August 2nd is the defining action of this summer for the Lakers
well here’s the thing the to ask this question about the trade right it goes back to the fact that it was 18 months ago or actually I guess at this point two years ago that the Dallas Mavericks were in the NBA finals right the Dallas Mavericks had a much better team than the Los Angeles Lakers before the trade which is why trading way Luca Donuch was such an insane thing to do by the general manager of the Mavericks Nico Harrison it didn’t make any sense at the time it still doesn’t now so yes because Dallas got very lucky and got Cooper flag they do have a deeper roster they have Anthony Davis they got Derrick Lively they have Cooper Flag they’ll get Kyrie Irving back like they have a deeper team than the Lakers do the Lakers had a flawed roster that they just dramatically increased their star power even going from Anthony Davis to Luka Donich they still have all the fundamental problems they had before and they haven’t done a lot to solve them and as you just as Brian just laid out there let’s see if Luca extends in a few weeks when he could extend and then let’s see if he doesn’t extend or either way what this Laker team does next summer because it clearly seems like the Lakers at this point have recognized and acknowledged they’re not good enough to win now and so let’s see what they can do when they have cap space and flexibility a year from now to actually build out this team around Lupatic i I would say Dallas Dan just because I like their depth better here i think there’s such the unknown as far as as we we’ve talked about the center position for the last two two hours here where Dallas has Derek uh Derek Lively and Daniel Gaffin and you’re probably going to have PJ Washington come off the bench with Naji Marshall their their depth they go 12 deep and we talked about Cooper Flag and how much of a generational player he could be but it does come back to the health of Kyrie Irving right I know we talked about that also but I I like what where Dallas is right now I mean I understand where with Luca but where Dallas is right now i think they’re in a better spot than they were a year ago and and listen they were going to be sitting on a $80 million contract with Luca that was going to hamper them moving forward here so I’m not absolving them from making that trade i’m just saying that their depth is better because they were able to move off that that potential contract [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause]

On Get Up, Bobby Marks, Brian Windhorst, Damien Woody and Tim Bontemps join Dan Graziano to discuss the latest storylines in the NBA, including:

0:00 Bobby’s Marks
0:45 Are the Rockets the biggest threat to the Thunder in the West?
3:13 Who is the best team in the East right now?
6:32 What should we expect from the Lakers going forward?
9:31 Should Nikola Jokic be happy about the Michael Porter Jr. trade?
10:50 Are the Mavericks title contenders?
13:50 Will the Mavericks have more short-term success than the Lakers?

☑️ Subscribe to ESPN+: https://plus.espn.com/
📱 Get the ESPN App: http://www.espn.com/espn/apps/espn
🏀 Subscribe to NBA on ESPN on YouTube: http://bit.ly/2yxs3Og
☑️ Subscribe to ESPN on YouTube: http://es.pn/SUBSCRIBEtoYOUTUBE
☑️ Watch ESPN on YouTube TV: http://es.pn/YouTubeTV

#ESPN #NBA