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July 16, 2010
Prokhorov Preaches Patience: Nets Owner Moves to Plan B After Failing To Land Big Free Agents
Brooklyn Daily Eagle
by John Torenli
Mikhail Prokhorov, the Russian billionaire who took the tri-state area by storm just over two months ago when he was officially named owner of the New Jersey (soon-to-be-Brooklyn) Nets, had a new message for diehard fans this week.
“Be patient. Support our team. We will win for sure,” Prokhorov insisted Tuesday during his state-of-the-franchise address at the Four Seasons in New York.
After failing to land one of the prized free agents on the team’s July wish list — LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh — Prokhorov didn’t panic and sign a player his management group was less than enamored with in the hopes of pacifying a loyal but frustrated fan base.
Instead, he simply went to one of several back-up plans the organization had in place, just in case the “Big Three” turned down his monster pitch.
“Really I’m very happy with how things have played out,” Prokhorov said calmly. “Just after my meeting on the first of July, I had a different anticipation. I have predicted a lot of what has gone on. We have Plan A, we have Plan B and we have Plan C and even Plan D.
NoLandGrab: OK, it's one thing for a reporter to mindlessly boost a team, but it's a completely different thing to lose one's grip on reality. Does John Torenli really believe that somewhere the Nets had a plan to acquire four guys nobody's ever heard of, and hire as their president the executive who built the Sixers into the sixth-worst team in the NBA, one that missed the playoffs last season by 14 games? That sounds more like Plan W.
Posted by eric at July 16, 2010 10:27 AM