Rob Pelinka already secured EXECUTIVE OF THE YEAR? 🏆 Bobby Marks hypes the Lakers 👏 | NBA Today

Rob Pelinka already secured EXECUTIVE OF THE YEAR? 🏆 Bobby Marks hypes the Lakers 👏 | NBA Today

Miles Turner made his return to Indianapolis. Giannis attentable game. Giannis having some fun. Turner with some sarcastic waves to the fans, but Giannis went to work. And got his teammates back. Here’s the throw down on Jarus Walker. Get out of the way. Yeah, exactly. We’ll take another look. And he signed this poster for Jarus. That’s the signature. Yeah, more thumbs down too from Giannis. Giannis full heel here like a wrestling heel. We jump to the fourth. 20 seconds left. Pacers down two. Aaron Nesmith. He gets the drive and the finish. Game now tied at 115. Here’s Doc on the next huddle. But we told everybody we’re taking the last shot. [Applause] Now, Giannis has struggled in his career in these spots, only going three for 10 in game tying or go ahead field goals with under a second left. He’d missed seven straight entering Monday. But, of course, to last night, he’s going to get the ball with 10 seconds left against Indiana. He gets the switch on knee, backs him down at the elbow. Turnaround jumper here over two players. Got it to go at the buzzer. Giannis gets mobbed by his teammates. Silences the crowd. Little shush action there and more thumbs down from Giannis to the Pacer fans. He also be sorry he also became the first Buck since Mo Williams in ’05 to get 30 points in a gamewinner at the buzzer. Giannis finished with 33 and 13. Bobby, you want to see double the double was just a little bit too late here. But here’s a guy. He doesn’t make that shot if this is three years ago. Yeah, there you go. Well, it’s been seven years. Let’s hear after the game. It’s instincts. Like the, you know, the moment I was spinning, uh, I felt his guy coming and I saw Miles for like a split second underneath the basket, but I knew that it was one second I had to shoot the ball. You can leave. You can leave if you miss. Uh, you cannot leave if you don’t shoot it. People don’t remember the time you you miss. They remember all the time you make. So, I’m happy about that. It’s been a special start this season for Giannis. Last night, Giannis recorded his 154th career game with at least 30 points, 10 rebounds, and five assists, tying Elgen Baylor for the third most such games in NBA history. He’s just six away from Oscar Robertson for the all-time lead. It was his sixth straight game with at least 25 points, five rebounds, and five assists. The second longest streak to start a season NBA history. He’s one shy of tying James Harden back in 1617. And Giannis hasn’t missed much this season, shooting 68%, the fourth best shooting percentage in the shot clock era over the first six games of the season. Best since Barkley back in 8788. And that’s with a minimum of 75 attempts. All right, so we saw everything we we got to see there after the game. Doc Rivers told the team that the Bucks weren’t going to let one guy lose this game, but it would be hard to not say no to the one that actually did win it. So, David Dennis Jr., I’m going to start with you. What has changed in Milwaukee that has Giannis off to such a historic start? I think Giannis just has this massive chip on his shoulder and last night came because he was at the scene of the crime where everything fell apart last year. Dame gets hurt. Uh they had an embarrassing loss in the playoffs. Hallebertton’s dad is in his face and you come into this season, everybody’s saying you do not have a chance and you should have left Milwaukee and you you don’t have a shot in the East. This dude right now, Giannis, is carrying this team and playing as the best version of himself. He has at has a 40 peer, which is the greatest of all time by a wide margin. He is attacking the basket relentlessly. He is making 11 going to last night. 11 buckets at the basket. That’s 20 to 22 points right there in automatic layups and dunks. This dude is taking this team on his back and right now the sky’s is the limit because Giannis is playing the best we have seen him so far. Well, David Dennis Jr., thank you so much. By the way, George Sadano in from Malikica Andrews. David Dennis Jr. you just heard there the Hall of Famer Mark Spears and our NBA front office insider Bobby Marks. Bobby, what do you think about all this? Well, a as David, he’s got a chip on his shoulder here. I I think you forget the brilliance of Giannis. There’s only a handful of players out there we can call franchise level players. But I think what we learned last year from that Indiana series is there’s kind of a blueprint as far as how this team can be successful. Just put all shooters around him. But Giannis out there, certainly Miles Turner, but when you have, you know, certainly Gary Trent Jr. and AJ Green, players give you the volume shooting here. This team could be dangerous in that Eastern Conference that as we’ve talked about is wide open. you know, whether it was Middleton or Dame, he’s always had that number two guy, right? The guy to go with him. He doesn’t have it now, right? So, he’s doing Wilt things. These are Wilt Chamberlain type numbers. I I I do wonder if it’s sustainable, but he’s actually playing two less minutes than he did a season ago. Crazy doing this. Uh it’s absolutely incredible. Can he do this every night? 82 games. Uh, you know, he he hasn’t played over 75 in a while, even though 785 is a high number. Um, I I don’t know if it’s sustainable, but what I’ve seen is is is MVP. Oh, right. For sure. I I don’t think there’s any question. Not that we’re giving away the MVP award after six or seven games, but if there were a guy we were giving it to, it would probably be him. No LeBron, no Luca, no Reeves, but that didn’t slow down the Lake Show. Looking for their fourth straight win. Let’s start. Eight minutes left in the first. Jake Larabia deflects a pass. Marcus Smart doing Marcus Smart things. Gets the steal. Outlas to Ruie. I see you. Ruy gets the slam. 12-6. Midway through the first. Ruy again. Pompe drains the mid-range. Lakers take the lead. Now, let’s talk about DeAndre Aton facing his former team for the first time as a Laker. Lakers down nine in the second. Eighton drives, hits the floater on the time lord. Lakers down seven. Lakers lead by five late in the third. Nick Smith Jr. gets into the act. When did he get there? Uh early this season. Nick Smith Jr. show continues. Okay. Smart passes to Smith Jr. hits a three. Lakers lead 114 105. Next Lakers possession. Eighton battles in the paint. Finds an open Smith Jr. drains another one. Lakers lead by 12. Under a minute remaining. Eighton passes to Smith Jr. Smith Jr. says, “I got you, man.” Hey, there it is. Lakers win 123 to 115. Nick Smith Jr. with 25 points. Let’s hear JJ. Oh, but before that, the Lakers became the first team in NBA history to have six different 25 point scorers over a twoame span. That’s after Hashimura, Aon, and Smith Jr. hit that mark last night after Reeves, Donic, and Laravia did that the night before. Now, here’s JJ after the game. You can’t win in the NBA without stepping on the floor and expecting to win. And I thought our guys had that from the start. And then that just confidence, belief, and truly connectivity in that second half was just awesome to watch it. It was like it was just blossoming. All right, you heard him. Confidence, belief, and connectivity. What does that say about the Lakers depth? I guess at this point, considering they pulled off a win without Luca, LeBron, or Reeves. Bobby, we’ll start with you. Well, I think it says that for eight games, and I hate giving awards out, but we already gave MVP already after eight games that Rob Pelinka is probably the early favorite for executive of the year. DeAndre Aton, Marcus Smart, Jake Loravia, and Nick Smith Jr. on a two-way contract who just scored 25 points in in Portland. It just shows you a combination of guys on contract years. Ruy Hatchimore and the Lakers going out this offseason and find complimentary pieces for this roster right now. Mark, um, you know, I’m I’m going to go back in time, be my the old guy when I cover George Carl with the Nuggets. He was amazing at doing the best with injured lineups and I and I think it goes back to his CBA days when he coached there. He had to do this. I mean, look, this is the six different starting lineup that JJ’s had. He didn’t coach in the CBA. Should we give JJ coach of the year? Should we do another award? Like I’m give it to him. JJ, I got you. You’re the coach of the year after eight games. Coaching his off. I mean to do what he’s doing with all these different lineups. Luca’s missed four games. LeBron hasn’t played yet. Austin Reeves. Kudos to you JJ. Hell of a coaching job so far. David, uh, I don’t have any real awards to give out. I guess we can give DeAndre Aiden like the we were the most wrongest about the the move award because this summer when that happened I we were extremely wrong about it. I was one of the guys who did not think that uh DeAndre I was Hey. Well, hey, take a bow. Take a bow. My man Mark was having Bohemian food with him a couple years ago. That I mean that is factual. Look, I I I thought DeAndre ate I was worried about how this would move the needle. I was worried about the motor and the engine of this dude. He has been tremendous so far this season. He has been integral in that pick and roll with Austin Reeves and Luca. He’s at 17 and eight for the season. And to have a game when everybody’s out, you’re under against your old team who seem to not couldn’t wait to get you out of there. And you put up 29 points. This is the DeAndre Aiden story. Again, I ain’t got no awards for him, but he is central to what the Lakers are doing right now. Yeah, George. We’ll see. I mean, listen, I’m happy for the kid. I’m happy for the kid. I I hope that he does have a resurgence. I’ll say this, okay, because I’ I’ve done I’ve done a number of Lakers games already this season. And as we all know on this panel, guys get a reputation. So for for better or worse, by the way, sometimes guys get a reputation being, let’s just use this as an example, a great defender. And then, you know, seven years, eight years into their career, they’re no longer a great defender, but people still consider them a great defender. In DeAndre Aiden’s case, it’s been the reverse. A lot of chatter about desire, right? deservedly so I think because it’s not just you know media types it’s players it’s coaches etc who have been around him that say that but the Lakers are fully aware of that and they have made him fully aware of his reputation and trying to fix that reputation. So we’ll see. Let me let me add one thing in here. There’s a perception when a player is on a max contract and when a player is making $8 million a year. Sure. That’s the nature of the beast here. When you look at a player that you think is overpaid versus a player making $8 million and can give you 28 points and nine rebounds in Portland and you think it’s probably one of the best value contracts in the NBA, that’s that’s how we look at things right now. There’s also a pressure when you put on that jersey and I think there’s a different standard that he’s playing with now, too. Fair point. We’ll talk well I’m sure we have plenty of Lakers to talk about throughout the season. It won’t be the last time. All right, time to take it coast to coast. Let’s start in the middle of Texas Rockets. Ahmed Thompson with a season high 27 points last night. But check out this play from the second quarter. He misses the free throw, but stays with it, snags his own rebound, kicks it to Shenon, who sends it right back for the reverse slam to finish the job. Mark Rockets are quietly stacking wins. What’s clicking for them? Man, I’m going to nickname him Hallelujah. I mean, he stepped in for Fred Van Vleet, played out of position and been incredible. So, I mean, expect this team to get even better. All right, let’s move on to Denver Jokic. He scored his own season high yesterday. 34 points against the Kings. But check out this pass. He nearly took Sabonis’ head out here. Still hit Aaron Gordon in stride. David, where do you rank Yogic’s passing game right now? Give him a haircut. That’s a great pass. Sabonis is one afro away from a really good defensive play. He got to grow that thing out if you want to uh stop some of those passes. A little disappointed. Yic. A couple of games without a triple double. He’s kind of falling off a little bit. He’s got to do a little bit better out there. Come on. Come on. It’s funny. All right, let’s move on from the Joker to Julius Randall showing out in Brooklyn to get his first triple double. Speaking of triple doubles as a T- Wolves leading Minnesota past the Nets with 19 points, 11 rebounds, and 10 assists as the Wolves keep it rolling without Bobby. What’s standing out to you about Randle? Big thing that stands out is 43% from three from three this season here. He is keeping this team above water until Anthony Edwards comes back. All right. [Music]

David Dennis Jr., Marc J. Spears and Bobby Marks join Jorge Sedano on NBA Today to discuss some of the biggest storylines as the NBA season keeps on.

0:00 Milwaukee Bucks vs. Indiana Pacers
1:54 Giannis Antetokounmpo postgame
3:09 What has changed in Milwaukee?
4:38 “Brilliance of Giannis”
5:50 Los Angeles Lakers vs. Portland Trail Blazers
7:17 JJ Redick press conference
7:55 Lakers’ depth
10:55 “Nature of the beast”
11:20 Coast to Coast

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