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March 29, 2010
It came from the Prokosphere...
Here's a rundown of stories covering the 60 Minutes, Bloomberg Markets and New York Times interviews with Mikhail Prokhorov.
Daily Transom [NY Observer], 60 Minutes Parties With Prokhorov
Steve Kroft went to Moscow for a 60 Minutes segment on impending Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov and got to do all kinds of fun things: eat a dinner of Russian delicacies, go to a club with a VIP section stocked with girls, and tour the sprawling mansion of Russia's richest man.
...Mr. Prokhorov, being the gentle 6'7" giant that he is, even let Mr. Kroft hold one of his favorite Kalashnikov assault rifles. And he told Mr. Kroft that he sort of enjoyed the three days he spent in jail in France for allegedly flying prostitutes into the country.
All of which might have precluded Mr. Prokhorov from owning a team in the old days of the NBA, say, five years ago, when the league was flush with cash and teams weren't giving away players to cut their losses.
Now, it doesn't seem to matter.
"I think he's a man who's passed a very tight security check, and nobody has come up with any reason why he shouldn't be an NBA owner," said David Stern, the NBA commissioner, with a straight face.
The Star-Ledger, Interviews shed light on prospective Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov
While the '60 Minutes' piece on Mikhail Prokhorov received national attention Sunday, a profile of depth and substance was released hours later by Bloomberg Markets magazine, which details his childhood and emphasized his global ambitions.
Interviewed in Moscow and Siberia over four days by reporter Stephanie Baker, the future owner of the Nets said the term “oligarch” shouldn’t apply to him, because “an oligarch is rich and has political power. I’m a businessman. Every businessman has a relationship with the government ... I’m not into politics.”
Still, Prokhorov admitted, he last paid a bribe “15 years ago, the last time. I need to be frank.”
NoLandGrab: Bruce Ratner certainly has a relationship with government. New York's seems to serve as his personal cash machine and land-procurement operation.
Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn, 60 Minutes Parties With Prospective Nets'/Barclays Center Owner Mikhail Prokhorov
There is hagiography, and then there is billionaire worship, and then there is....partying with an oligarch.
Tonight, once respectable 60 Minutes aired a puff piece on the prospective owner of the Nets and prospective partial owner of the Barclays Center Arena—Russia's richest man, Mikhail Prokhorov. And Steve Kroft had fun doing it (expensive wine, a helicopter trip to [Siberia], clubbing in Mikhail's section of the club and a lavish meal), while Bruce Ratner probably had a great time watching it, as well, as none of the controversial issues about the Atlantic Yards project and Prokhorov's complicity were even touched upon.
NY Post, Turning around Nets 'excites' Prokhorov
The 44-year-old's first interview with American television aired last night on "60 Minutes," and though he was not able to discuss any specific plans for improving the team, he did not hesitate to embrace the challenge of turning around a team that might tie the 1972-73 Philadelphia 76ers for the worst record in NBA history.
"I am real excited to take the worst team in the league and turn it to be the best," Prokhorov said of the 9-64 Nets, who need one win in their final nine games to avoid tying the 76ers' mark for ineptitude.
NetsAreScorching, MIKHAIL PROKHOROV’S 60 MINUTES INTERVIEW
I know a lot of people have been really excited about the change in ownership, and I am too. The biggest change Prokhorov is going to represent is in ownership’s feeling about the team. I have never met Bruce Ratner, but with what I have read about him and heard (interviews and such), it becomes apparent that putting a winning product on the court isn’t the top priority.
Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn, "Miracle Happens": 60 Minutes Pitches Softballs to Prospective Nets Owner Mikhail Prokhorov
Miracles do happen, such as Russia's richest man stepping in to bail out a broke developer subsidized by New York taxpayers and the government's gift of eminent domain. THAT is a miracle.
NBC New York, Mikhail Prokhorov Introduces Himself
The dual profiles do a lot to clean up the cartoon supervillain vibe that earlier discussions of Prokhorov have given off, especially when the incoming owner said that he was buying the Nets to benefit Russian basketball.
NLG: Supervillain? It's the current owner who's a well known supervillain.
DealBook [NYTimes.com], Nets’ Likely Owner Faces America
The Times repackages its story from last night with a dash of the Bloomberg Markets interview.
NBA FanHouse, Mikhail Prokhorov on Nets: 'There is Only One Way to Go: Up'
Hoopsnotes, Prokhorov To Nets Fans: ‘Miracles Happen’
Posted by eric at March 29, 2010 10:08 AM