Eventually, he forced his way out of town.

He kind of played his way out right to the to the teeth.

Should the city boo him for that?

I think about what it takes to win a championship.

We think Stephen A.

If a D is not 100% the Nets have a really good chance to win the championship.

It's James Harden, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant and shooters and like everything you want, and we think there's a good chance they can win a championship.

It is so hard to win a title.

And for whatever reason, the state of Texas has not been seen by free agents, potential free agents as as a desirable enough for glamorous enough location for them to sign the Rockets.

And the Mavs have had a hard time attracting, you know, a level superstars, which is odd to me because it's warm weather, relatively glamorous, maybe not as much as New York or L.

A or Miami, but it's a relatively glamorous destination.

As you always point out Stephen a no state income tax like How much do you want?

And yet the Mavs and the Rockets have a hard time.

Maybe it's because the Cowboys loom so large in that state that you always play second fiddle.

I don't know what it is, but the fact is, James Harden was in a situation where he never really had quite enough.

In spite of that, they came really close.

And yes, he choked.

If Harden would have played better, maybe they win the championship.

But they came closer than they should have, based on the talent they had.

And a lot of that had to do with James Harden.

And finally Stephen A.

The fans have to realize, while if they if they boo harden, if they don't give him a good uh, you know, welcome back, return a reception.

They may be thinking they're making commentary on Harden, but really, the rest of the league is it's commentary on themselves.

Is that the kind of place that you want to play when a dude has done as much for an organization is hardened has and they treat them that way.

I think it's even in their own best self interest to give Harden a good welcome.

Oh, well, we go away from the purposes of this show, Max Kellerman because we don't disagree.

I don't believe that Hardened deserves to be booed.

I want to make sure I'm very clear about that, But I do believe he will be.

I don't think he deserves it.

I don't think somebody that averaged 37 minutes a game in eight plus seasons for that team that averaged 29 7 and six in that span and took them to the playoffs every single year.

Not to mention coming out of his own pocket in terms of millions of dollars that he donated to causes, uh, to help with relief efforts and things of that nature with some of the catastrophes that they've had to deal with.

He's been a model citizen, not to mention a great, great player for the franchise, and in that regard he does not deserve to be booed, and I hope that he's not.

But I must confess to you I would be shocked if he's not booed, at least by some in attendance.

Now.

Obviously, when you take into account his off court of philanthropic efforts and things of that nature, it's pretty hard to do anything negative towards him and they shouldn't from a basketball perspective dope.

I can't knock them if they do boom in this regard, he departs.

He shows up.

He's not in shape.

It clearly is on purpose because he doesn't want to be there.

Fair enough.

Now that he's gone there, one of the worst teams in basketball, his exit has basically plummeted the entire franchise.

They are on a 12 game losing streak.

They are in basketball purgatory Right now, they're clearly one of the worst teams in the NBA.

Um, and there's no way around, and I feel my heart goes out to Stephen Silas, who waited 20 years as an assistant to become a head coach.

And this is what he saddled with.

John Wall is averaging 20 and six.

Christian would is averaging 22 10.

Uh, you know, Victor Oladipo hasn't been that great.

He doesn't want to be there anyway.

It's just not a good situation right now, but that also has something to do with James Harden.

You wanted Dwight Howard, and then you didn't.

You wanted Chris Paul, and then you didn't You want to play with Russell Westbrook, and then y'all didn't want to play with one another.

And along the way they gave up assets.

They don't do that if it were not for James Harden.

So even though James Harden is absolutely phenomenal in every sense of the word, as far as I'm concerned, and I don't view him as a person that choked in the postseason, the average 28 even though his numbers were down compared to what we're accustomed to seeing them during the regular season if you want to use that as to describe.

But I don't consider that choking.

In the end.

What I'm saying is the ultimate indictment they will make against them if they choose to boo him, is the fact that having to make a deal to send them into Brooklyn and Garner assets in return because they had given them away in previous deals just to get him the assets that he had asked for.

Those are the kind of things that people who know something about basketball in Houston may tend to hold against them because the state of affairs that exist now, it's primarily because they tried to give him everything he said he needed in order for them to elevate to another level.

He wasn't wrong in doing that, he thought it gave them a best chance to go for the chip.

He was right to do so.

But it doesn't mean that they're going to interpret it that way.

And that's why I'm fearful.

They're probably going to some people anywhere gonna boom.

That's reasonable.

And it's fair to say the only thing I would say is that when Golden State put that team together, Stephen A with KD and Steph and Clay Andrey and it was like they had everybody What are you gonna do?

Like he had a good G m a great GM, I think in Houston.

But once you're facing a team like that, what are you supposed to?

For example, Darrell Moore has done a great job in Philly surrounding Simmons and MP with shooters.

Look at the difference it's made.

And yet, if you ask you or me or anyone, you really think they're gonna beat the Nets when it comes down to it.

Nah, Man KD and Kyrie and Harden is just too much.

So all I'm saying is if Fertitta and the fans like this goes from ownership to fans, want to be the kind of place where players want to come together.

Consider the way you treat a dude like hardened when he returns.

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