We mentioned this yesterday, but it looks like Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov is one step closer to buying the New Jersey Nets.
Prokhorov says he has a deal to buy 80 percent of the franchise and almost half of a project to build an arena in Brooklyn.
Russia’s richest man, Mikhail Prokhorov, has made a takeover bid for the New Jersey Nets, the tycoon confirmed on his blog on Tuesday.
Prokhorov, a former nickel mining baron, boasts that if his move is successful, it would be the first time a National Basketball Association club would come under foreign control.
Prokhorov’s proposals, sent to existing Nets shareholders over the weekend, would see his Onexim group provide a loan to build a substantial part of a new arena, according to a post on his Web site.
Onexim would also receive a controlling stake of the NBA team for a “symbolic” price, the post said. Sources close to the billionaire have previously estimated the overall value of any deal at $700 million.
It’s not immediately clear how much this is going to help the Nets’ move to Brooklyn, which has been delayed by legal disputes, issues with financing and problems with the local community.
Prokhorov is flush with cash because he sold his assets prior to the global financial meltdown. His interest in the Nets is a testimony to just how far the American economy has declined.
“I want to be in Miami, and I hope everything works out that way,” Wade said Thursday. “I want to be one of those players that stays with one franchise for his entire career.”
“Next year will be a big year for myself and for the team, but the plan has always been to stay with the Heat, and that’s still the plan,” he said. “I think everything will work out.”
The NY Post went a step further, asking Wade if the Knicks or Nets had a chance of signing him.
And while admitting the Heat were still the favorites, for his services, he pretty much dashed any hope of the Nets or Knicks getting him. After saying firmly “The Heat” as the frontrunner, he was asked point blank if the Nets or Knicks had a chance.
“Not in my mind. I’m not thinking about the Knicks or the Nets. Only when we play them,” Wade said.
In a piece about which teams will project to have a lot of cap space next summer, I wrote this about the Heat…
Of these five teams, the Heat look to be in the best overall shape. Their projected payroll already includes Dwyane Wade, so they have enough to woo another superstar (LeBron, Bosh, Amare, Boozer?) to Miami. They also have a few good young players (Michael Beasley, Daequan Cook and Mario Chalmers) under contract, and the city boasts a great climate and nightlife. But the real draw is playing with Wade, who has already proven that he can win a championship if he has a little help.
There might be a little chicken and the egg thing going on here. In order for the Heat to attract a top free agent like Chris Bosh or Amare Stoudemire, they need to have a commitment from Dwyane Wade that he’ll re-sign. (Last summer, Baron Davis learned this the hard way when Elton Brand bolted for Philly.) But in order to get Wade to re-sign, he needs to know that there’s help on the way.
Right now, the Nets (with a nice core of Devin Harris and Brook Lopez) and the Knicks (great market) look to be the two biggest threats to stealing Wade away. In his own words, he doesn’t think there’s much of a chance of that happening.
But a lot can happen in a year.
ESPN’s Chad Ford wrote a good article [Insider subscription required] about how the Knicks’ rebuilding plan has shaped up thus far.
They successfully shed Stephon Marbury, Jamal Crawford, Zach Randolph and Jerome James. But Eddy Curry and Jared Jeffries are still on the roster, and their contracts will eat up cap space in 2010. Surprisingly GM Donnie Walsh passed up a chance to trade Jeffries for Kenny Thomas’s expiring contract at the trade deadline. I have no idea why he would do that.
The Knicks also did a great job of wooing Mike D’Antoni to New York. Players love to play in his up-tempo system and he has a number of connections to NBA stars given his stint as assistant coach for Team USA.
But Ford writes that “phase 3” of the plan has hit a few snags:
The plan was to restock the Knicks’ talent pool via the draft. Rookies have low salaries and high upside, and given the Knicks’ lack of talent the team hoped it could strike gold once or twice in the draft. While it’s still very early, things haven’t gone according to plan so far. The Knicks’ top targets the past two years have been off the draft board when they drafted.
In 2008, their two favorites — Derrick Rose and O.J. Mayo — were gone, so they settled for Danilo Gallinari. While Gallinari showed enormous promise in Europe, he hurt his back in the summer league and played sparingly for the Knicks in his rookie season while he tried to rehab. Meanwhile, the Knicks passed on several prospects in the ’08 draft — like Brook Lopez, Eric Gordon and Anthony Randolph — who look like potential stars down the road.
In 2009, Walsh and D’Antoni had their hearts set on Davidson shooting star Stephen Curry. However, the Warriors took him one place ahead of the Knicks, who settled on Arizona forward Jordan Hill. While Hill has upside, too, he’s closer to Dale Davis than Amare Stoudemire.
And what about 2010? In 2005, Isiah agreed to send that first-round pick to Phoenix as part of the Marbury trade. The Suns then traded it to Utah. There are no protections left on the pick. It’s gone.
Isn’t it a little ironic that the Knicks are struggling at the one thing (finding talent in the draft) that Isiah Thomas was good at? Gallinari may still turn out to be a player, but I’m sure Knicks fans would trade him for any number of players that the team passed up. Ford mentioned Lopez, Gordon and Randolph, but what about D.J. Augustin or Jason Thompson?
While I like Jordan Hill, it seems a little counter intuitive to draft a power forward when you already have David Lee on the roster and are potentially targeting Chris Bosh or Amare Stoudemire next summer. However, the Knicks probably view Bosh and Stoudemire as potential centers in D’Antoni’s system.
To draft Hill, the Knicks passed up Brandon Jennings, who turned in a very good summer league performance for the Bucks and has the kind of speed, quickness and vision to be a nightmare on the fast break. The team has been flirting with Ramon Sessions (also of the Bucks), but has yet to come to terms on a deal even though Milwaukee put themselves in a tough position to match any offer greater than $2 or $3 million per season. As it stands, the Knicks don’t have a point guard to run D’Antoni’s system.
And, as Ford writes, the Knicks’ plans have soured with the economy. If they are able to move both Jeffries and Curry, they would have enough to sign two max-contract players, but even then, it would be tough to fill out the roster with the limited funds available. It’s looking more and more that the Knicks aren’t going to have the talent to attract LeBron James or Dwyane Wade. Forgetting about D’Antoni and Madision Square Garden for a moment, wouldn’t LeBron and Wade, assuming they change teams, rather play in Brooklyn with Devin Harris and Brook Lopez?
ESPN’s Chad Ford lists nine teams that will have significant cap space next summer. [Insider subscription required.]
1. Nets ($25-$27 million)
2. Knicks ($24 million, assuming they don’t sign anyone for longer than a year)
3. Heat ($20-$22 million)
4. Timberwolves ($16-$18 million)
5. Bulls ($13-$15 million minus whatever they give Tyrus Thomas)
6. Thunder ($14-$15 million)
7. Rockets ($12-$14 million minus whatever they give to Carl Landry and Chuck Hayes)
8. Clippers ($10-$11 million)
9. Kings ($9-$10 million)
This assumes a cap of $53.6 million, which is an optimistic view. The cap could drop below $50 million.
It takes about $14 million of space to sign a max-contract player, so even under these optimistic circumstances, there really are only five teams — the Nets, Knicks, Heat, T-Wolves and Thunder — that will have that kind of space. (The Bulls are likely to keep Thomas and the Rockets are likely to retain Landry and Hayes, though they could make another move here or there to put them in position to add a superstar.)
Of these five teams, the Heat look to be in the best overall shape. Their projected payroll already includes Dwyane Wade, so they have enough to woo another superstar (LeBron, Bosh, Amare, Boozer?) to Miami. They also have a few good young players (Michael Beasley, Daequan Cook and Mario Chalmers) under contract, and the city boasts a great climate and nightlife. But the real draw is playing with Wade, who has already proven that he can win a championship if he has a little help.
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