Good night.

Kyrie hasn't placed in January 5th because of personal reasons.

Deal.

Sending James Harden to the Nets is now official and officially changes the calculus in the NBA.

Well, this has been a nice quiet for a few months on the job.

How would you describe your experience as a head coach so far, especially if the Brooklyn Nets it's been great.

We've definitely had a lot thrown at us.

You know, it feels like we've had a couple of years worth of, uh, kind of turbulence in some ways, but I've loved it.

I look at it as a positive and embraced all of it and feel like it all in the end, help us and help me facilitate this group's best effort.

You guys as a team had a real gut check moment just a couple of weeks ago.

You had a very bad loss to Detroit.

The defense was bad.

The effort was bad.

You were seeing on the sidelines in a very animated discussion with DeAndre Jordan.

What did that turn into for you guys?

How is that a turning point?

You know, I gave us, um, you know, evidence that things needed to change.

And so we, you know, we showed film.

We talked about it and we challenge them.

We challenge them to bring more emotion and energy and competitive fire.

And since then, you know, we we've been playing good basketball.

And for me, I think what's been most exciting as I feel like that, the group is starting to come together a little bit, you know, as people as much as anything.

How good defensively do you think you guys have to be if you're going to win a title this year?

Considering all the great offensive talent that you already have, we have to be better for sure, somewhere between solid and very good.

That's a project that you know.

Everyone realizes it could make or break our season.

So that is something that we are cognizant of, that we talk about every single day and that we are moving in the right direction.

But it's gonna take the entire year for us to to figure out how good we can be.

Defensively.

James Harden, with a big three pointer triple double in his debut Welcome to Brooklyn, James Harden gets traded to Brooklyn, could have got a lot of different ways, Steve, but he came in really determined to be a facilitator.

How has that unfolded from your perspective?

It's been amazing.

He's in a sense, exactly what we needed.

You know, he's a guy that is so gifted, um, at reading the defense, manipulating the defense, distorting the defense, creating opportunities for his teammates, you know, a really true playmaker, Uh, at a historic level.

How much do you get?

The sense that your current players know about your playing career?

They obviously know you're a Hall of Famer.

But how much of a sense do you have that they actually watched you play or know about some of the details of your playing career?

Well, I mean, that's funny, because some of them I played against, you know, um, Kevin, Jeff Green DeAndre, you go down the line.

The rest of them, I don't know if they know anything about.

I've never discussed it with them.

Uh, I'm not even I don't even know if they know what teams I play for.

When I think back to your career.

In moments I've covered one of my favorite memories isn't as much a finesse moment but the Western semis in 2010.

You got that bloody gash on your eye?

What do you remember from that?

You know, I think I took an elbow and it was bleeding, and I thought, Okay, let's go get this stitched up and come back out.

I did not know that by the time I got out, it would be swollen shut.

I don't know if you ever done this, but going to a park and shot with one eye closed.

You start.

Yeah, And depth perception is a little off.

So fortunately, I threw up a three.

It went in and hung in there and and my teammates were great.

And we won.

Stick them off the dribble, understand?

Mesmerizing force on the handle behind the back.

Great mark, NBA everything.

That when we look back on your career, the MVPs, of course, stick out.

There's so much conversation around who should be an M v p.

What?

What should we give the award for?

Is it for the best player in the league?

Overall?

Is it for who happened to have the best statistical season that year?

How does your experience and some of the backlash against you when you want it over.

Kobe Bryant inform how you feel about it for today?

That's a good question.

You know, it's not really I don't know if I have an opinion, you know, I think that, you know, it's a moment in time, and I think when we look back, we forget what that moment was and we just look at the names.

And so you look back and you think, Well, why hasn't LeBron wanted every year?

But in each individual year, we had some of the incredible seasons that you know that guys like Steph Curry or Kevin Durant you know, we're in that moment off the charts and it was their time.

So I just, you know, look back at my career and I find a lot of reward that I put myself into the category in that conversation, being a kid that came from the west coast of Canada had one scholarship offer and nobody wanted and and scrapped and Claude and found my way to play 18 years in the league and have some success, there's no one who's a real comp to you In the NBA.

There's no present day, Steve Nash.

But we've heard Mark Cuban compare his young star, Luke Adachi, to you a few times, partly on the court, but also just in terms of position, He said.

Letting you go was the biggest mistake he ever made.

He's not gonna make that mistake with Luca.

As you prepare to face the Mavericks here on ABC Saturday night, What do you think of all of those comparisons?

Well, it's a compliment for me.

I mean, these guys today are unbelievable basketball players.

I mean, Luca can do all the things I could do any 68 £235.

So, you know, I'm barely 62 and £178.

I think it would be a great game.

You know, they they're a team that hasn't hasn't reached their their heights yet.

If we want to beat them, we're gonna have to play near our best.

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