Forget about all the teams he disappointed and left behind, collecting checks along the way, Alonzo Mourning is happy about the situation he is in and doesn?t care about what the New Jersey Nets have to say.

"Everybody has their own selective opinion about the situation," he said, "which is comical to me."

In New Jersey, Alonzo Mourning, a player who has seemingly sat out more games than he has played, became unhappy with the direction owner Bruce Ratner was taking his beloved Nets.

"I wasn't loyal," he said, mocking the criticism of his departure, "that I didn't appreciate what they did for me. Little do people know, I had better offers out there to play for other teams. Much better offers. But my ultimate goal wasn't the money. I wanted to be somewhere where I could win. Money was secondary at that point."

Mourning does understand the absurdity of the situation and has leaned a valuable lesson.

"I understand the irony in it all," he said yesterday. "That's how things work. When you go from one place, and you're trying to accomplish a goal, you've got to go through paths that you've gone through before."