Luka Doncic RECRUITED Marcus Smart to come to the Lakers! 👀 – Windy | The Hoop Collective

Luka Doncic RECRUITED Marcus Smart to come to the Lakers! 👀 – Windy | The Hoop Collective

Lakers made a signing over the weekend landing Marcus Smart after he got a buyout from the Washington Wizards. Um Lakers with two buyout signings, one of DeAndre Aton and now one of Marcus Smart. Um and again I think just like with the Clippers where you look at Bradley Beal bringing Bradley Beal in at $5 million, you look at value. Marcus Smart here is a value addition at uh um they’re using their by annual exception of about like was it 4.7 bond temps 4.7 million 5 well it’s it’s 5.1 million 5.1 million so they’re paying him 5.1 million so you look at the Lakers the Lakers use their um mid-level exception the they signed Jake Laravia they gave him a chunk of it they gave DeAndre Aiden the rest of it was about 8.8 8 million I believe. Um and then they give their bianual to Marcus Smart. So you’re looking again an expenditure in the neighborhood of $19 million. And you add three players who in theory at least should be rotation players. Eightton being their starting center. Um Bontemps, you’ve talked for months about the Lakers need for perimeter defense. Um Marcus Smart three years ago was the defensive player of the year. Jake Laravia um plays wing. Pontemps, are you satis I don’t Yeah, I don’t know what we’re doing there. I mean, look, I here’s the thing. Marcus Smart got salary dumped last year by Memphis and just took a buyout from the Wizards. So, and this isn’t like a Bradley Beal buyout where Bradley Beal, everybody could agree, is still a good player. Um, I just don’t genuinely know what player Marcus Smart is at this point because he basically hasn’t played in two years, right? Played a combined 54 games the last two years. Played 20 games. Two years ago, his first season in Memphis after the trade from Boston. He’s had a crazy series of hand injuries in his care. I mean, he’s been hurt ever since he punched the mirror in when he was with me. And that was 10 years ago. But I mean, no, but he’s had a lot of hand injuries. Yeah. I mean, the way Marcus plays, he tends to miss games anyway. I mean, look, this is very simple. If Marcus is healthy and motivated and is anywhere near the player he was during his time in Boston, the signing will be fine. Like, it’ll be a good signing for the Lakers. If he’s like he was the last couple years and he’s not that effective and hurt, it’s not going to be very good. And you could maybe argue Jordan Goodwin will be a better fit for the Lakers who they wave to make him sign to be able to sign. Let’s talk let’s talk about that in a minute, but just just put Goodwin aside for a second. Go ahead. That’s the whole question. Like is Marcus going to be able to stay on the court and can he be effective? He’s not a great shooter. He’s always been a willing shooter who’s very streaky. It tends to be in the low 30s. Um, but he is a guy that when he’s locked in and and healthy and playing well can be a guy who’s obviously an impact perimeter defender, but you know, it’s been a while since we’ve seen that guy. And even the last year he was in Boston, it wasn’t the same as the year he won defensive player of the year. So, you know, I I would say I get why the the Lakers did it, but I think we need to see whether Mark the the Marcus Smart from the Boston days can make it to LA. If Marcus Smart reports to training camp in shape and ready to roll, which really hasn’t been the case the last couple of years, then he answers one of the most glaring questions about the Lakers roster, and that’s who’s going to guard the other team’s best perimeter score. Obviously, Marcus Smart, if he’s right, is the answer to that. He’s certainly capable of that. Um, you know, it’s hard to judge Memphis even like forgetting about the health. It’s it’s Well, it’s not hurt. The Memphis thing was a disaster. Like, you know, they they gave up they gave up a ton to get him and they salary dumped him. Yeah. They gave him to get him, hoping he was going to be one of the final pieces, bringing him in for leadership and performance and got neither of those things and salary dumped him after a second round rookie took his starting job this last year. I think Marcus Smart was dealing with um you know, professional heartbreak the last couple years in Memphis. I don’t believe he ever wanted to be there. Uh, you know, this is a guy who envisioned himself being a Celtic his entire career and then just boom, he’s gone. Then watches the Celtics win a championship the very next season. Um, you know, Jackson says he Jackson was out at a at a bar in Boston, which Jackson loves going to those bars and uh when people got the Shams notification and he says there was an audible groan there. Marcus Smart, that purple and gold is gonna be tough for a lot of Celtics fans to stomach, but it is an opportunity for him to get back in a uh, you know, in in a situation where there’s going to be spotlight. You know, he’s going to be in a in a uh, you know, high pressure kind of situation and maybe that’s what he needs to get his career back on track because it certainly went off track the last couple of years. Yeah. And Marcus is still only 30. He’ll be 31 in March. And I I do think he’ll be motivated and ready to go. The bigger question I have, he’s got a player option. He can be a, you know, he’s kind of got, if he’s ever going to get paid again, he’s got to have a good year. This this is a setup for him to get paid going to the Lakers on a huge stage. Can he can he bounce back and have a really good year? My question is more, does he still have the same ability defensively? And especially, can he stay on the court? Like he played 61 games three years ago and he’s played a combined 54 the last two. So, if he can stay out there, yeah, he’s got a chance to be an impact signing for them. And like I said, I get I get why the Lakers did it. But it’s, you know, that there’s a lot less uh certainty about this one, I would say, than you know, like for example, all the guys the Clippers landed this summer all are coming off better past years or two. Sure. On the court-wise than Marcus has shown. So, I thought one other one thing about this that I thought was interesting. Um I know this was reported elsewhere. I checked on it too that Luca Donuch did some you know cuz I heard like oh Luca recruited him and I said I want to know what sometimes you hear like oh he recruited him and then you peel back the layers and he sent him a text like you know I don’t mean Luca I mean just you hear about players as far as recruiting and then you hear like you know he sent a text like hey bro you know come to come to where I would love to have you or whatever. Yeah. Right. You know, it’s like uh it’s like, you know, when you recruit Bonds to pickup, you know, you just you let them know the game’s going on, but you tell them the wrong time. You know, you can say, “No, I tell them and I’d tell them, I want you guard me.” Yeah. You bring those elbows. Um, so I checked this out and it turns out that Luca called him a couple of times, you know. Um, and you know, Luca’s over in Europe right now. And regardless of whether Marcus Smart works out, regardless of what the context was, I think the key here is is that Luca is acting in concert with the Lakers front office. The Lakers front office obviously targeted Marcus Smart. They knew he was going to get bought out. Several teams were interested in him. The uh Phoenix Suns, I know, were one of them. And um you know, Luca got the message from the Lakers and followed up on it apparently several times. And and that is not Luca’s natural state. That like the first several years of his career, he basically said, “Hey, I play front office puts the team together. I I don’t want anything to do with it.” um you know and he didn’t grow up in like the AEU culture where like you know you’re constantly recruiting guys and and matter of fact it was news that Luca was pushing for roster upgrades uh the year after when was that oh yeah it was the year after Brunson’s departure right before they got Kyrie the news wasn’t that the roster needed to be upgraded and Luke couldn’t let that be known the news was that he is actually involving himself in front office discussions, but this has taken it a a step further than he has in the past where he is being a pitch man for the organization. And I believe he also had some contact uh with DeAndre Aton. And I I think that’s actually the most significant part of all this, Wendy, because it does show that he’s not only on the same page um with the Lakers front office, but he is an active participant when, you know, his his natural preference has been just like, hey, not not my job. I don’t want to have to bother myself with that. I want to go hang out during the summer and play for Slovenia. Well, and listen, if this helps if this helps get him to sign an extension next summer, then I don’t care if Marcus Smart plays three games, right? He’s like, get Marcus Smart on the Well, right. Sorry. This summer. This next month is what I meant to say, not next summer. Well, that’s the thing. Like, um I I would just say that you we can talk about the Lakers need for a perimeter defense. We can question how DeAndre Aiden is going to do with the way he’s played the last couple years. We can question about how Marcus Smart’s going to do the way he’s played the last couple of years. All of that is relevant. The most important things for the Lakers are Luca related. One, does he get into that contract extension again sometime before the season? It doesn’t have to be in August. They can offer to him in August. I’m sure they will. [Music] He may not get into that business until later. McMahon, you have described that, you know, he typically doesn’t want to do business when he’s doing the national team. And two, what does he look like when he gets to the to the season? Because Luca was not Luca last year. You have a number three. Well, I do have a number three. Number three, if he’s recruiting this aggressively for the bianual exception and a slice of the mid level, what’s he going to do when they have max cap space? I would say that’s a pretty, you know, if he’s willing to, you know, put forth this kind of effort at the lower price, who’s going to be to sign? Well, well, well, listen, listen. It all starts aggregated, but it all starts with number one. It and it and the rest of it’s irrelevant what Luca looks like in October. It’s does Luca Donuch sign up for the Lakers long-term this off season or not. If he does, he signs up for the Lakers short shorter term. Well, that doesn’t matter. I mean I mean that he’s not going to be a free agent. I don’t care if it’s a two-year extension or whatever. That doesn’t matter. If he signs an extension with the Lakers this off season and commits to the Lakers, that’s the only thing that matters because then he’s with the Lakers. They can go forward and bill with him because look, yes, the the moves the Lakers made this summer were fine. Aiden was a good signing for the situation they were in. Marcus Smart is a good buy low. We’ll see if it works out. Jake Laravia, same thing. He’s an interesting younger player. He can maybe grow with them a little bit. This team is not good. Again, I know Laker fans are going to think I’m a hater for saying this. The Lakers are not that good. They weren’t that good last year. There was not a realistic path for them to be a championship contender this year to go toe-to-toe with the with the Thunder in the West with the limited resources they had. So, the moves they’ve made have been solid, but it’s not about like, well, what can they do to catch the Thunder? What can they do to get in the top three teams in the championship chase in the West? I don’t think any of that is realistic. It’s all about getting Luca Donic on board with the future and on board with the plan. And if that’s the case, the rest of its gravy. Quite frankly, the Lakers goal should be a top 16. Yes, that should that should be sure. If they could do that, they should be very happy. I hear all that and if if I want to borrow M 10’s uh Lakers girl uniform and put that on, what I would tell you is, hey, they were the third seed last season with Luca a shell of himself, right? Like Luca was not Luca was out of shape, right? And coming off of the worst injury of his career. And look, just judging based on what you see on social media, this is as lean as Luca has been since probably his second season in the league. If if Luca if this kind of commitment carries over, I mean, Luca’s damn sure capable of an MVP type of season. She’s one of the three best players in the league. But look, the Lakers the spread from second to eighth in the West was four games and the spread from third to eighth in the West was two games. So it doesn’t saying one team was third, one team was eighth is sort of My third with their best player not at his best. Right. I think I think I can summarize this. The Lakers off season will be defined about whether Luca extends. The Lakers season will be defined about whether Luca’s back to being an MVP candidate. Correct. Before we go, I mentioned Jordan Goodwin. It would not surprise me if by the time this pod posts on Tuesday that or sometime on Tuesday that we find out that Jordan Goodwin has been claimed on waiverss by somebody because um I don’t think he’ll get through waivers. In fact, it would not surprise me if multiple teams put in claims and it comes down to the order. And the reason I think that is because Goodwin had a pretty good run with the Lakers last year. And I think their preference was not to have to release him. The reason they had to release him is to get enough money under the apron to to because they can’t um sign um they can’t use the benal exception and then go over the apron. They have to get under the apron to use the 5 million. So to do that, they had to wave Jordan Goodwin who had a non-g guaranteed contract. They also waved Shake Milton, who they got last year in the um uh in the Fitty Smith deal, wasn’t it? Didn’t they get him in that deal? Sure. I don’t remember. Anyway, the question will become and MC and Bontemps, I’ll put you in charge of the arbiter being the arbiter of this for the next nine months. Who will have a better year next? J Jordan Goodwin with the team he goes to or Marcus Smart on the Lakers. But it could be Jordan Goodwin. I mean that’s you know I mean look like again let’s see let’s see what version of Marcus Smart shows up. But to me I like I I’m with McMahon. I think the most important thing of all this stuff that’s gone on. These Lakers moves are fairly irrelevant in the grand scheme. What matters is that Lucas seems to be on board with all of them. That’s what really that I’m just I mean listen they’re they’re good moves like for what the situation they’re in they’re fine but if they’re working in lock step with Luca Donuch and he’s recruiting DeAndre Aton and recruiting Marcus Smart and trying to go get guys and working with Rob Pelinka they could be trying to sign meu and Brian and it would Hey Austin Reed recruited Jake Laravia. Okay great that’s good. I’m glad I know he’s your golf buddy. I’m happy. No, seriously. Like Jake Laravia was do Jake Laravia was doing a an interview like on a podcast or some on some streaming show and he was in a car for like the whole interview. This is like a week before he signed with the Lakers and he did the interview was like like 25 or 30 I don’t even know some period of time. It wasn’t for 90 seconds and and he turned he turned the camera and Austin Reeves is sitting there driving the the whole time.

Brian Windhorst is joined by Tim Bontemps and Tim MacMahon to react to the Los Angeles Lakers bringing in Marcus Smart and debate if this will aid in LA’s defense.

0:00 Windy gives the details
1:39 Bontemps questions Smart
3:40 MacMahon chimes in
6:26 Did Luka Doncic recruit him?
11:30 Bontemps doesn’t believe in the Lakers
13:00 Luka capable of another MVP?
14:30 Will Jordan Goodwin or Marcus Smart fare better?

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