Mikhail Prokhorov: I’ve Done What I Can, It’s On The Team To Do The Rest
By Mike Dyce
Mikhail Prokhorov has some how managed to have a successful offseason. After managing to re-sign point guard Deron Williams last summer and acquiring Joe Johnson, Nets owner Prokhorov added big names this year. He traded for Celtics veterans Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce, as well as Jason Terry. He also added Andrei Kirilenko in a questionable deal.
But according to Prokhorov it was just the “basketball gods smiling on the Nets.”
“I have done what I can. Now I think it is high time for the team to do the rest,” Prokhorov said at the new player introductions yesterday, deadpan.
“When I bought the team, I promised to create a championship contender, a team worthy of Brooklyn,” said Prokhorov, via the New York Post. “I’ll be proud when we win the championship. I am not a man of procedure. I am a man of results.”
“My reaction, we need a championship team,” said Prokhorov. “For me, it’s not the way to wait 10 years for results. I don’t think our fans will either.
“I’m willing to invest more to make [the] Brooklyn franchise the best in the league.”
He better be willing to invest more to help Brooklyn win, they’re looking at luxury tax numbers in the range of $72-77 million next year. No one paid over $30 million last year.
“Old stereotypes, they’re very hard to beat and to break,” Prokhorov said. “I respect all the NBA rules and we play by the NBA rules. But I want just to stress again like with [the] luxury tax, I will do whatever I can in order to win [a] championship, but under the NBA rules. Please make no mistake about this.”
“I just hope the check doesn’t bounce,” Prokhorov said with a smile.
“In the NBA, money, it’s important, but you can’t buy a championship only spending money. What’s most important is to put pieces together [for] a championship contender,” he said. “Frankly speaking, I’ll do whatever I can to reach the championship here in Brooklyn. It was the goal when I bought the NBA team. From inside, for me there is only one place and that’s first place.”