Upon arriving in Brooklyn from his Russian homeland, Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov made it clear on Monday that he has the confidence that his franchise can right the ship. On Sunday afternoon the Nets announced the firing of Head Coach Lionel Hollins and the reassignment of General Manager Billy King. Earlier today Prokhorov held a press conference at Barclays Center where he discussed the upcoming transition and what his plan is for the future.
Admitting that he thought of making these changes over a month ago, the owner made it clear that the Nets need a fresh start. It was just before Christmas when Prokhorov bought out the rest of the ownership stakes from acclaimed developer Bruce Ratner. While this solidified the foundation for the team, many are wondering about what this means for the Nets future. Prokhorov has stated all along that he is focused on bringing a title to Kings County but it is not clear how the Russian businessman will lead. On Monday Prokhorov gave some some insight into his intentions but there is still a lot of uncertainty in terms of what lies ahead.
During his time at the helm, Prokhorov has not been a constant fixture around the team. In many ways, the owner is like the Mike Myers movie character Austin Powers as he is an international man of mystery. Spending more time overseas than here in the states, this does not mean that he is not fully engaged in helping the Nets through what has now become a very dark time.
When he was asked by NBC’s Bruce Beck if he now plans on spending more time here in the states Prokhorov stated that he does.
“In the current situation, for sure I will spend much more time here meeting people, looking for opportunities to discuss different potential strategy,” said Prokhorov.
This was one of the most important quotes that came from Monday because it shows that the owner plans to become much more involved. Those that know him claim that he is a is a genuine competitor and Prokhorov has made it known that he is not satisfied with providing a lousy product. Right now, the Nets have had a very lackluster season and it seems like things are getting progressively worse. As the losses continue to mount, the public was starting to question how much longer this would go on. With Hollins out and King losing power at least now people know that change is not just coming, it is already here.
Lionel Hollins is a very good NBA coach and while he has to take the axe, this is not all of his fault. He took the Nets to the playoffs last season and with a depleted roster he really had nothing to work with for this season. The horrible performance on the court is not his responsibility because they really had no talent. Hollins track record speaks for itself. He had success with the Nets and he also led some very competitive teams that contended in Memphis. In the future, Hollins should definitely get another opportunity to coach again in the NBA.
Meanwhile, Billy King also takes the blame here, but King should get a lot of the credit for helping the Brooklyn Nets succeed at the start. Remember, King was the guy that was challenged in the beginning to bring in the talent so that this team could win. And he did. He landed Joe Johnson, Deron Williams, Paul pierce and Kevin Garnett. Despite not going out and bringing in any players this past offseason, he was handcuffed because the Nets did not have much money to work with.
The consequence of playing so poorly that Brooklyn is facing right now stems from a lot of the pressure that the team put on itself once it made the move from New Jersey. Ever since Prokhorov arrived in the Big Apple he stated that he wanted a team that could immediately compete. This prevented Billy King from helping build the franchise properly from the ground up. Now the Nets are paying the price.
A source close to KCP Sports says that the reason why King is being reassigned and not completely relived of his duties is because Brooklyn will still depend on him to clean up the mess that was created. Specifically, this involves trading Joe Johnson so that the Nets can get some money back for that investment. Keeping King in the loop gives them a better chance of trading Jonhson.
Before Sunday, the Nets had a lot more questions than answers. Now, the biggest questions of all will be who is going to the next coach of this team, who will be the General Manager and most importantly, could one man handle both jobs. Prokhorov made it clear on Monday that he is open to all possibilities and he will be heavily involved with the all of the basketball and business decisions moving forward.
Prokhorov also addressed rumors that he would be bringing in Kentucky Coach John Calipari, saying that while Calipari is a great coach he won’t be discussing any one name. “There’s a lot of names on the list,” he said.
Prokhorov said being an NBA owner and building a winning franchise is both more difficult and fascinating than he expected, but he is determined to not only bring the team back to the playoffs, but to be a championship contender.
“Following the consolidation of team ownership last month, I can assure you that I’m more determined and committed than ever to build a winner,” he said.
