 Um, it was reported by woge that the nets had acquired James Harden, but it wasn't official. So before the game and after the game, no one from the nets could talk about it. Well, it became official today. Uh, all the components of the deal that we reported yesterday, that's, that's what it took to get Harden and Sean Marks, the GM of the nets spoke with the media on a zoom call today and said, we just felt, you know, it came together quickly. Uh, we felt that was the move to make, uh, and then we're going to go for it. So he also said that the organization is disappointed in not having Kyrie Irving didn't have any timetable for when he would get back, but expects that he would. Um, and I've given a lot of thought and I've read everybody and, and, you know, the prevailing thought on this deal is they've got to win a championship to make this work. Now, a lot of people say they have to win a championship this year. Well, that's ridiculous. They don't have to win one this year. They have to win one while these three guys are here. That's all there is to it. Not easy to win titles. So they have to win one because there might be a little bit of a downturn in the net fortunes when these guys get older or if they just decide to opt out and they could do that in two more years. So if they do that and leave, the nets are in some trouble. You know, it was an unbelievable stat today that I saw that the nets since the trade with Boston will not have control of their first round pick from the trade that they made with Boston until I think 2025. They don't have over control. They don't have total control of their first round picks. So they have four flips in this deal and they have four first round draft picks as well. Now, you know, I took a good look at it. Given up the first round draft picks for the next couple of years, it doesn't, that's not a big deal. It's really not a big deal and I'll tell you why they're going to be good. Now, whether they win a championship or not, we'll see, but they are going to be good. So the first round draft picks that they're giving away in my opinion are going to be the 27th of the 28th. They're not going to be a lottery team unless one of these guys get hurt. So I don't mind giving up those first round picks. It's the picks that are there after these guys leave. Those are the ones that get me nervous. Those are the ones that you're really going to need. Those are the ones that could be a lottery picks or like right in the middle of the first round where, oh, I don't know. You could get a Nyanis and Tana Kumpo. Those are the ones that get me concerned. Bottom line is this. They put all their chips into the table like Jim Fossel did. He got to the Super Bowl didn't win. They need to get to the finals and win because they have completely mortgage their future guys and they've got to win. They've got to win. I think they know that and add an added layer of intrigue to the whole thing. Not only are they a team that has to win, but they're not liked. They've got players that are not like they are now becoming the villains. So they've got the black suit on. They are the villains. The black hat. We'll see how they handle it. Some don't like that. Yeah, but you know, as somebody who rooted for one of those teams in the Mets in 86, you don't care. You know, if you're a net fan, you just want to see your team win and you've never seen your team win a championship before and I think that's that has value for sure. You know, everybody's so concerned about the future and I and I get I'm disgusted by the way things went down from an NBA standpoint, but if you're a net fan, you've got a chance to win a championship not that not not just this year, but for the next two or three years to win a championship that you've never seen your team win before and you're going to sit there and worry about well, what's it going to be like after it's over? Oh, then worry about it then. Everybody's so worried about the future. You're living in the now. You've got a dynamic team with an excellent chance to win this year and if not this year the year after and the year after that there's a lot of franchises that go a hundred years without getting that kind of an opportunity. So yeah, you might have to pay the Piper the way Cleveland did after LeBron left or what's going on now in Golden State. But if you win that championship Michael isn't going to be worth it. Well, you never won one before. It means you got to go for years of being God awful, but you've got championship banners. Well, I was just as good as we think that they don't have to have that real follow long period. There might be a couple of years, but Mike McCarron had a great column in today's post and and he dug up a quote from Mark's now Mark's a heavy lifting since being the GM of the Nets has been getting out from under the Celtic trade which buried the Nets. Now I don't compare this to the Celtic trade because of the fact. The two guys they got one was 37 one was 35. They were both on the back end of their career, but he gave up the farm for them and I don't blame Billy King to this day. Don't blame him. He was forced by Prokhorov to do that deal as Don said yesterday. They just moved to Brooklyn. They wanted to make a splash wanted to be the Nicks whatever. Okay. Well, this is what Mark said when he was hired. I think we want to build something sustainable here. This is not something that's a fleeting moment like go all in and a year or two years from now. We're sitting there like great now. We've got to completely rebuild everything and we don't have the assets to rebuild with. So there's that side of it. He's done exactly what he said he was going to do. However, exactly what he said, he couldn't have but he couldn't have seen this coming. Right. How is he supposed to look into a crystal ball that he would have a chance to get two of the best players on the face of the earth in the NBA right to join his team in free agency. And that one of them would go off the rails the way I mean sometimes circumstances tell you that you got to you got to go you got to roll with the punches. So he's not going to make that deal because a few years ago he said he would never do it circumstances change. Did he ever think he'd be in this situation? Yeah, but but the reason that marks that the reason that King get it was that same situation. Now the players are older, but he pretty much said when he got hard, he wouldn't do a deal like this. He wouldn't do this because then it would bury you where you don't have assets to rebuild. But here's the exact he's the exact stat. The Nets are going to go 14 years from 2014 until 2027 without once controlling their first round choice. It's unbelievable. No, it's so they have to have a championship. It's a lot. There's no question, but you know, but to get a couple of championships out of it and if you believe in the brain trust there that they'll find a way to get picks. They'll find a way to make a second round player turn out to be a star. That's what you got to have faith in. But you know, how often do you get a chance to put yourself in this kind of championship caliber? And I'm sorry. We said yesterday, Garnett and Pierce did not put the Nets on this kind of level. It was a blockbuster deal. It made them better for that your first year in Brooklyn so that you could win some fans over in Brooklyn and play some meaningful games. But they never put them in the championship caliber conversation. They were aging players. Let me bring in a star player. Oh, they've got three stars, right? Essentially in their prime. And so this is a team that is now that, you know, Peter said yesterday we're on a championship level anyway, but this puts them right into the conversation for the next three years. So you, you what? You pass that up so you can possibly be that in years to come. Now, Vicar also brought up a great point that I didn't think about and I want to throw this at Peter because Peter, you were a little bit, you know, a little bit hinky on this deal giving up a lot. I am. So Houston got Levert in the deal and quickly turned Levert into Oladipo. Correct. Wouldn't that have made the nets better? If you got Kyrie coming back, you could have just traded Karris Levert for Victor Oladipo. You still have your first round draft choice. Now Oladipo is by no stretch of the imagination. James Harden, but he's a really good player and you make yourself, you then you have two and a half stars. He's not a full star like a Harden, but two and a half stars and you keep Jared Allen, which makes your defense better. You keep Taureen Prince. You keep Karris Levert and you keep the four draft picks in the flips. You keep all of that and you get Oladipo and all you gave away was Karris Levert. Think about that. I mean, Oladipo. He's now a 20 point player. Oh, if you really look at over the course of his career, he's like a 1617.5 assist player. Now, my only problem with that is how big an upgrade is that from Karris Levert as your third player. I just don't know that's a good point to I don't know that it's enough of an upgrade. I mean, listen, I'm sticking with this team was already a championship contender without James Harden. So I while I know, you know, Allen sort of laughed in my face with the idea of would you be better off without the deal? He also pointed out you're certainly better off with the deal deal on paper. I liked how he put it. If it's a video game, they have the best players in the game. You are unstoppable in a game of 2K, but 2K doesn't include the fact that two of the three players are potential headaches. Now, I think Harden will be fine when he gets here. Obviously, you know, he had not been a problem had we are really a peep from Harden up until things went south with Houston. I feel like things have been fine. No, because he's a guy. He doesn't believe in load management. He plays every single day.