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July 6, 2010
Ratner: Vandeweghe deserved better
ESPN The Magazine
by Ric Bucher
Bruce Ratner is shedding a few crocodile tears over the team's dismissal of Kiki Vandeweghe.
Bruce Ratner remains a minority partner in the New Jersey Nets, so he's not at liberty to question the decisions made by the team's new majority owner, Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov. But if there's one consequence of the new regime's attempt to distance itself from last season's nearly historic -- as in historically bad --12-70 record that bothers him, it's how assistant general manager Kiki Vandeweghe was sent packing.
Enough so that Ratner's conscience apparently compelled him to speak out about it. Especially now that team president Rod Thorn is stepping aside as well and the team is in search of new leadership altogether.
"He didn't go out the way he should have," Ratner said now of Vandeweghe. "The team is in a really good position and he was instrumental in putting it there."
Ratner's conscience? We wonder if Bruce also feels that Daniel Goldstein "didn't go out the way he should have."
That said, Ratner doesn't see the Nets bringing Vandeweghe back. His gratitude for Vandeweghe's work and guilt over how he was dismissed stops short of going to bat for him.
"It's Mikhail's team now and he wants to put his stamp on it," Ratner says. "I can understand that."
NoLandGrab: You're a stand-up guy, Bruce. Maybe if you hadn't been desperate for Proky's cash to keep your crooked Atlantic Yards deal afloat, Kiki would still have a job. But that's not how it went down. So shut up already.
Posted by eric at July 6, 2010 7:24 AM