- 5,270
- 11
- Joined
- Nov 22, 2006
Russia's Richest Man Bids $700M for New Jersey Nets
- Thread in 'Sports & Training' Thread starter Started by N41D,
- Start date
- 29,630
- 1,863
- Joined
- Nov 4, 2003
i don't think planes don't fly fast enough for the nba to be truly globalized at the moment. maybe in the next 20 years? It's not out of the realmof possibilities.
- 1,136
- 10
- Joined
- Jun 5, 2008
nets in brooklyn could be profitable. and please don't bring jay z. people act like jayz owns ny lol. only in nt
- 23,363
- 5,435
- Joined
- Jan 19, 2002
- 1,175
- 10
- Joined
- May 17, 2006
Originally Posted by Carlos Tevez
Dude, have you ever taken a look at a map? How exactly would the Moscow Nets work out in the NBA?Originally Posted by Burns1923
What's scary is that no one can post their opinion on NT anymore without mental defectives such as yourself ripping them unless they subscribe to the same groupthink you do.Originally Posted by JDB1523
It's scary that people think before they post on here.
The Nets moving to Moscow?
Owners can move a team. Period.
And if you don't think Stern, in his quest for global NBA domination, wouldn't welcome such a decision...
Ol' Sarah Palin %!* dude...
Moscow was simply a facetious example to make the point that a foreign owner brings different interests to the table than an American owner does. BTW, I seeyou're a media Kool Aid drinker with that Palin reference. Of course it's widely acknowledged that Barack "57 states" Obama is anunquestioned genius.
You kids on NT.
Dah, well.
rockforlight
Banned
- 568
- 10
- Joined
- May 6, 2009
Shut up Burns.Stop trying to save face.
- 36
- 10
- Joined
- Jun 14, 2006
US owners and foreign owners have the same interest - making money
- 1,175
- 10
- Joined
- May 17, 2006
Umm... what? I never lost face.
It's people like you who have dragged NT into the gutter. Real shame.
Just keep it up, though.
- 879
- 23
- Joined
- Mar 15, 2009
this guy is a g and the funny thing is he made most of his money scamming people
- 2,088
- 10
- Joined
- Sep 29, 2005
In Russia, Nets buy you.
DYNAMICS
formerly diplomat tdot
- 28,602
- 3,814
- Joined
- Jun 26, 2002
- 4,726
- 899
- Joined
- Jun 18, 2005
I remember about a year ago steven a. smith saying that jay-z will leave the nets, join in on the knicks franchise, and bring lebron james to the nykncks..........
big j 33
Supporter
- 35,996
- 16,711
- Joined
- May 31, 2006
Well done.
im not you
Banned
- 7,863
- 11
- Joined
- May 29, 2009
Damn dude is 6'7...is he the tallest owner ever?
- 7,268
- 470
- Joined
- Apr 19, 2007
Good article. Not a fan of the Lebron stuff but there is more to the article than that. Long read:
Nets' pursuit of LeBron: From Russia, with love
By Adrian Wojnarowski, Yahoo! Sports
8 hours, 30 minutes ago
Buzz up! 24 PrintOnce LeBron James(notes) meets Mikhail Prokhorov, the superstar's sightline will reflect an unprecedented visage. When offering a globalvision of business and basketball, here's an NBA owner who can look James in the eyes. Russia's richest man is 6-foot-7 with an air of cool and atenacity of the streets.
For James, there's a chance that Prokhorov won't seem like a stranger from a faraway place but rather a reflection of himself. Together, they arecreations of their own industry and connected through a need for global conquest. All along, James has craved something bigger of basketball fame and fortune.
Once, it was Nets' part-owner Jay-Z who planned to escort LeBron into Brooklyn. Now, this strapping 44-year-old Russian oligarch with an estimated fortunenorth of $9 billion has arrived in the NBA threatening to make Mark Cuban and Paul Allen feel like mom-and-pop store owners. Prokhorov comes with a flair and asteely obsession with winning.
More From Adrian WojnarowskiNBA locks out refs Sep 18, 2009 Timberwolves signing Pavlovic Sep 15, 2009
Forbes magazine ranked Mikhail Prokhorov as Russia's richest man with a worth of $9.5 billion. (AP)
Suddenly, his arsenal and ambition make him the most dangerous man in basketball.
"He has the personality, the charisma and the wherewithal to reach any of the league's young stars on a level that I don't think other ownerscan," David Vanterpool said by phone Wednesday. "He likes to go out. He likes to fly to Europe and go to the most exclusive resorts. He's goingto connect with these guys.
"I would think right now that a lot of people in the NBA would be scared to death of this guy, if for nothing else the unknown of what he might dohere."
Vanterpool played two seasons for Prokhorov's powerhouse CSKA in Moscow, winning Euroleague and Russian championships. These past two years, Vanterpool,who played for Detroit and Washington in the NBA, had a job on the CSKA bench as an assistant coach. He had heard the talk for years about his old boss wantingan NBA team, and finally Prokhorov made an offer that Nets beleaguered owner Bruce Ratner couldn't refuse.
With lingering suggestions of possible underworld ties, there are some suggesting the Russian won't pass the NBA vetting process. As long as his issuesdon't spill into the public eye, no one should expect the commissioner's office to dig them up. As vetting processes go, most expect this one to bringall the tenacity of a Michael Jordan gambling investigation.
And anyway, NBA ownership is hardly an exclusive club. For every upstanding Abe Pollin, there are far too many scoundrels, slime balls and empty suits.Prokhorov has posted $700 million to spare this sorry franchise, and the league will live with whatever ethical lapses befell him on his rise to becomingRussia's richest billionaire.
For the NBA, James and Dwyane Wade(notes) and Chris Bosh(notes) - the Class of 2010 - are in play again in New York. The Knicks and Nets have cap space, andjust maybe a star or two will come save the world's biggest market.
The NBA has become a recession-ridden league with owners slashing roster payrolls and front-office staff. Owners are begging for commissioner David Stern tocrush the Players Association in collective bargaining with a bigger percentage of league revenue and perhaps even a hard salary cap. As long as these CBArules are in place, Prokhorov can offer the New York stage with unlimited resources. Cablevision reached its spending breaking point with the New York Knicks,but the days of the Nets as a cash-strapped punch line are over.
This Russian is liable to treat $70 million luxury-tax payments like drops in the Jersey Turnpike toll buckets.
"If he sees something as a reasonable, smart move, then money won't be an issue," Vanterpool said. "I don't see the luxury tax affectinghim. You're talking about a billionaire who will take a two-week vacation that ends up costing him $10 million. He'll do whatever it takes to win, andwin big."
Prokhorov's brashness doesn't come in the basketball arena but in the clubs and fancy European resorts. Truth be told, they never noticed where theowner would sit in the arena most nights in Moscow and seldom witnessed him courting coverage with the cameras and notebooks.
He far outspent other teams in Europe, won titles and now wants to do it on the biggest stage of all. He hired the best coach overseas and had payrolls biggerthan some NBA teams. One NBA executive with strong Eastern European ties says to expect Russian and Lithuanian basketball legends Sarunas Marciulionis andArvydas Sabonis to be included in a dramatically changed Nets organization. With CSKA, Prokhorov tried to hire Toronto Raptors assistant GM Maurizio Gherardinibut was spurned. He could revisit the Italian executive for the Nets' top job, and it wouldn't be long until the NBA had its first foreign coach,Ettore Messina.
For now, Prokhorov would be wise to re-sign president Rod Thorn to an extension, and sources with knowledge of the Russian billionaire believe it's adistinct possibility.
Whatever happens, Prokhorov won't be running the Nets like Mavericks owner Mark Cuban. Prokhorov likes to hang with the players, but not so much in thelocker room and huddles. He likes it in a social way, and so do they. It's like running with James Bond, jets on a moment's notice to the most exoticlocations in the world. That's how he lives, and that's how they'll roll. He can offer a superstar lifestyle that few would dare try in the publiceye.
The fact there are whispers about him would give him street cred with a lot of players. Mostly, players see owners as dopes to be stroked, but invadingBrooklyn with the Russian boss and a stocked, bloated payroll could be a blast.
Two years ago, Prokhorov was detained for four days as a material witness in an investigation into a prostitution ring at a French resort. He was nevercharged, but French authorities alleged someone was jetting prostitutes in and out of there. When his CKSA team traveled to the Euroleague championships, NBAexecutives marveled over the spillover of Prokhorov-supplied blondes and brunettes that turned the tournament locale into a remote Playboy Mansion.
"Unlike anything you've ever seen in your life," one Eastern Conference executive said. "They flooded the hotel. But the [NBA office's]international people know all about it. They were staying there, too."
Said a Western Conference official, "Stern will have to put 24 hour guards around this guy's castle. Unless this guy completely divorces himself fromhis lifestyle over there, he's going to have a little trouble assimilating. I mean, we do have some rules over here. … But damn, he's got more moneythan anyone here, and that's going to win out."
For whatever wink-wink that comes with suggesting that Prokhorov made his fortune as simply a "banker and mining executive," there's a grudgingacceptance that he's the future of the NBA. Someone had to get the Nets to Brooklyn, and if it took $700 million of funny money, most of Stern'sbottom-feeder owners couldn't care less. When no one is looking, most of the NBA Board of Governors will be pestering Prokhorov for jet rides from Russia,with love.
"I guarantee you that some of the owners in our league who are desperate to sell were on the phone with Stern today looking for other foreign owners withdeep pockets," one team president said Wednesday.
LeBron James used Cleveland owner Dan Gilbert's connections to get him into the prestigious Allen & Company billionaire conference in Sun Valley,Idaho, this summer, a gathering of 260 of America's richest and most powerful people. As much as James wants to win championships, he also wants anunprecedented global brand. There's still a good chance that he'll pursue it with his hometown Cavaliers, but the odds tilted a touch on Wednesday,when a $9 billion man pledged $700 million to a fledgling NBA franchise.
One of these days, Mikhail Prokhorov could get his audience with LeBron and other NBA stars, and tempt them with unprecedented resources and possibilities.Historic player meets historic owner, gaze into each other's eyes and they're liable to concoct the most historic partnership of all.
As the Nets bled money, as the move to Brooklyn seemed a bleaker proposition, it felt like Cleveland could exhale. Suddenly, the game changes and here comesthis charismatic and charming and murky Russian rolling out of his jet with basketball's deepest pockets and a gripping global pitch.
Here comes trouble for everyone.
Here comes tomorrow.
Nets' pursuit of LeBron: From Russia, with love
By Adrian Wojnarowski, Yahoo! Sports
8 hours, 30 minutes ago
Buzz up! 24 PrintOnce LeBron James(notes) meets Mikhail Prokhorov, the superstar's sightline will reflect an unprecedented visage. When offering a globalvision of business and basketball, here's an NBA owner who can look James in the eyes. Russia's richest man is 6-foot-7 with an air of cool and atenacity of the streets.
For James, there's a chance that Prokhorov won't seem like a stranger from a faraway place but rather a reflection of himself. Together, they arecreations of their own industry and connected through a need for global conquest. All along, James has craved something bigger of basketball fame and fortune.
Once, it was Nets' part-owner Jay-Z who planned to escort LeBron into Brooklyn. Now, this strapping 44-year-old Russian oligarch with an estimated fortunenorth of $9 billion has arrived in the NBA threatening to make Mark Cuban and Paul Allen feel like mom-and-pop store owners. Prokhorov comes with a flair and asteely obsession with winning.
More From Adrian WojnarowskiNBA locks out refs Sep 18, 2009 Timberwolves signing Pavlovic Sep 15, 2009
Forbes magazine ranked Mikhail Prokhorov as Russia's richest man with a worth of $9.5 billion. (AP)
Suddenly, his arsenal and ambition make him the most dangerous man in basketball.
"He has the personality, the charisma and the wherewithal to reach any of the league's young stars on a level that I don't think other ownerscan," David Vanterpool said by phone Wednesday. "He likes to go out. He likes to fly to Europe and go to the most exclusive resorts. He's goingto connect with these guys.
"I would think right now that a lot of people in the NBA would be scared to death of this guy, if for nothing else the unknown of what he might dohere."
Vanterpool played two seasons for Prokhorov's powerhouse CSKA in Moscow, winning Euroleague and Russian championships. These past two years, Vanterpool,who played for Detroit and Washington in the NBA, had a job on the CSKA bench as an assistant coach. He had heard the talk for years about his old boss wantingan NBA team, and finally Prokhorov made an offer that Nets beleaguered owner Bruce Ratner couldn't refuse.
With lingering suggestions of possible underworld ties, there are some suggesting the Russian won't pass the NBA vetting process. As long as his issuesdon't spill into the public eye, no one should expect the commissioner's office to dig them up. As vetting processes go, most expect this one to bringall the tenacity of a Michael Jordan gambling investigation.
And anyway, NBA ownership is hardly an exclusive club. For every upstanding Abe Pollin, there are far too many scoundrels, slime balls and empty suits.Prokhorov has posted $700 million to spare this sorry franchise, and the league will live with whatever ethical lapses befell him on his rise to becomingRussia's richest billionaire.
For the NBA, James and Dwyane Wade(notes) and Chris Bosh(notes) - the Class of 2010 - are in play again in New York. The Knicks and Nets have cap space, andjust maybe a star or two will come save the world's biggest market.
The NBA has become a recession-ridden league with owners slashing roster payrolls and front-office staff. Owners are begging for commissioner David Stern tocrush the Players Association in collective bargaining with a bigger percentage of league revenue and perhaps even a hard salary cap. As long as these CBArules are in place, Prokhorov can offer the New York stage with unlimited resources. Cablevision reached its spending breaking point with the New York Knicks,but the days of the Nets as a cash-strapped punch line are over.
This Russian is liable to treat $70 million luxury-tax payments like drops in the Jersey Turnpike toll buckets.
"If he sees something as a reasonable, smart move, then money won't be an issue," Vanterpool said. "I don't see the luxury tax affectinghim. You're talking about a billionaire who will take a two-week vacation that ends up costing him $10 million. He'll do whatever it takes to win, andwin big."
Prokhorov's brashness doesn't come in the basketball arena but in the clubs and fancy European resorts. Truth be told, they never noticed where theowner would sit in the arena most nights in Moscow and seldom witnessed him courting coverage with the cameras and notebooks.
He far outspent other teams in Europe, won titles and now wants to do it on the biggest stage of all. He hired the best coach overseas and had payrolls biggerthan some NBA teams. One NBA executive with strong Eastern European ties says to expect Russian and Lithuanian basketball legends Sarunas Marciulionis andArvydas Sabonis to be included in a dramatically changed Nets organization. With CSKA, Prokhorov tried to hire Toronto Raptors assistant GM Maurizio Gherardinibut was spurned. He could revisit the Italian executive for the Nets' top job, and it wouldn't be long until the NBA had its first foreign coach,Ettore Messina.
For now, Prokhorov would be wise to re-sign president Rod Thorn to an extension, and sources with knowledge of the Russian billionaire believe it's adistinct possibility.
Whatever happens, Prokhorov won't be running the Nets like Mavericks owner Mark Cuban. Prokhorov likes to hang with the players, but not so much in thelocker room and huddles. He likes it in a social way, and so do they. It's like running with James Bond, jets on a moment's notice to the most exoticlocations in the world. That's how he lives, and that's how they'll roll. He can offer a superstar lifestyle that few would dare try in the publiceye.
The fact there are whispers about him would give him street cred with a lot of players. Mostly, players see owners as dopes to be stroked, but invadingBrooklyn with the Russian boss and a stocked, bloated payroll could be a blast.
Two years ago, Prokhorov was detained for four days as a material witness in an investigation into a prostitution ring at a French resort. He was nevercharged, but French authorities alleged someone was jetting prostitutes in and out of there. When his CKSA team traveled to the Euroleague championships, NBAexecutives marveled over the spillover of Prokhorov-supplied blondes and brunettes that turned the tournament locale into a remote Playboy Mansion.
"Unlike anything you've ever seen in your life," one Eastern Conference executive said. "They flooded the hotel. But the [NBA office's]international people know all about it. They were staying there, too."
Said a Western Conference official, "Stern will have to put 24 hour guards around this guy's castle. Unless this guy completely divorces himself fromhis lifestyle over there, he's going to have a little trouble assimilating. I mean, we do have some rules over here. … But damn, he's got more moneythan anyone here, and that's going to win out."
For whatever wink-wink that comes with suggesting that Prokhorov made his fortune as simply a "banker and mining executive," there's a grudgingacceptance that he's the future of the NBA. Someone had to get the Nets to Brooklyn, and if it took $700 million of funny money, most of Stern'sbottom-feeder owners couldn't care less. When no one is looking, most of the NBA Board of Governors will be pestering Prokhorov for jet rides from Russia,with love.
"I guarantee you that some of the owners in our league who are desperate to sell were on the phone with Stern today looking for other foreign owners withdeep pockets," one team president said Wednesday.
LeBron James used Cleveland owner Dan Gilbert's connections to get him into the prestigious Allen & Company billionaire conference in Sun Valley,Idaho, this summer, a gathering of 260 of America's richest and most powerful people. As much as James wants to win championships, he also wants anunprecedented global brand. There's still a good chance that he'll pursue it with his hometown Cavaliers, but the odds tilted a touch on Wednesday,when a $9 billion man pledged $700 million to a fledgling NBA franchise.
One of these days, Mikhail Prokhorov could get his audience with LeBron and other NBA stars, and tempt them with unprecedented resources and possibilities.Historic player meets historic owner, gaze into each other's eyes and they're liable to concoct the most historic partnership of all.
As the Nets bled money, as the move to Brooklyn seemed a bleaker proposition, it felt like Cleveland could exhale. Suddenly, the game changes and here comesthis charismatic and charming and murky Russian rolling out of his jet with basketball's deepest pockets and a gripping global pitch.
Here comes trouble for everyone.
Here comes tomorrow.
- 10,791
- 932
- Joined
- Feb 9, 2003
Nyets lol
- 29,630
- 1,863
- Joined
- Nov 4, 2003
^ hahahahaha
- 3,319
- 14
- Joined
- Nov 15, 2007
Damn 700Mill... he could have bought a Soccer team which would have been more lucrative than a basketball team.
@ downplaying a person owning 1% of a multimillion dollar company....only thing some NTer's own are SB Dunks and Supreme tees.
- 49,029
- 61,330
- Joined
- Sep 21, 2008
^ woord
- 25,496
- 655
- Joined
- Sep 1, 2004
Nets fans sounding like Cav fans with the switch of owners thinking will get them bron now
- 9,086
- 11
- Joined
- Nov 22, 2006
If the Nets could move to Brooklyn by next year (unlikely) I would give them a chance.
Big market: check
Young talent: check
Cap space: check
Plus the Jay-Z connection.
- 11,629
- 62
- Joined
- Nov 22, 2002
Lebron and Warren Buffett - "let's hang out in the cigar room with the Russian guy."
- 7,268
- 470
- Joined
- Apr 19, 2007
Eh, Not all Nets fans are jumping for joy with this move.
I for one has never thought Lebron was leaving cleveland.
this guy just fits the mold from what has been said.
Will this owner save this franchise? Maybe.
Does this make Lebron raise his Eyebrows? It shouldn't.
All this does is give us an owner who seems big on winning. It has not been fully approved by the league yet any way.
I like this move, I just don't think Lebron is coming here. I can't see him with this franchise unless that brooklyn stadium is a quarter of the waydone by the time free agency hits this off-season
He plays one year at Izod. Half the year at another venue and then he will be in brooklyn come the all-star break 2012.
the stadium though is the big key.
But I really do think it is the Knicks or Cleveland.
I for one has never thought Lebron was leaving cleveland.
this guy just fits the mold from what has been said.
Will this owner save this franchise? Maybe.
Does this make Lebron raise his Eyebrows? It shouldn't.
All this does is give us an owner who seems big on winning. It has not been fully approved by the league yet any way.
I like this move, I just don't think Lebron is coming here. I can't see him with this franchise unless that brooklyn stadium is a quarter of the waydone by the time free agency hits this off-season
He plays one year at Izod. Half the year at another venue and then he will be in brooklyn come the all-star break 2012.
the stadium though is the big key.
But I really do think it is the Knicks or Cleveland.
- 7,322
- 112
- Joined
- Sep 7, 2006
A lot of the foreign owners have lost money off of their soccer investments. I doubt Abrahmovic, the Liverpool owners, the new Man City Arabowners, the Arsenal owners have turned that much of a profit. $700 mill will get you a mid-table Premiership club, but you still have to spend a ton more tomake the team competitive. I dont think some of these sports team owners care about making money, they're just passionate about sports.Originally Posted by NostrandAve68
Damn 700Mill... he could have bought a Soccer team which would have been more lucrative than a basketball team.
@ downplaying a person owning 1% of a multimillion dollar company.... only thing some NTer's own are SB Dunks and Supreme tees.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2009/jun/02/premier-league-clubs-debtPremier League clubs owe 3.1 billion pounds
Owning an NBA team in Brooklyn would probably make this guy more money than owning a mid-table soccer club.
And I dont think that we are downplaying Jay-Z's 1% investment in the Nets...its probably a very smart investment for him. We're downplaying theridiculous notion that "Jay-Z owns the Nets" as if he is the majority OWNER of the team...as if he calls the shots for the clubs and all the bigdecisions go through him when in fact, he has very little influence or say over the club's affairs.
- 29,630
- 1,863
- Joined
- Nov 4, 2003
there isn't a snowballs chance in hell that stadium gets built in brooklyn in a year unless some serious bribes go down. This is huge news, though.Crazyiness.
and it's 200 mil, where did you guys get 700?
