After a successful off-season, Brooklyn Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov speaks out
Russian billionaire and Brooklyn Nets owners Mikhail Prokhorov has been a man on a mission ever since he took the reins of the franchise back in May 2010.
With an aim to take the Nets to new heights, Prokhorov put life into the construction of mega new arena, the Barclays Centre, and has also fulfilled his promise of taking a super team to the new building.
In a statement released by the club today the only non- North American owner in the league lavished his front office with praise;
"My congratulations and appreciation go out to general manager Billy King, assistant general manager Bobby Marks and head Coach Avery Johnson for their tenacity, nerve and heart throughout this process," Prokhorov said. "With the
re-signing of Deron Williams and the trade for Joe Johnson, we go into our new home led by an All-Star backcourt and with every hope of a great season for the Brooklyn Nets. I can't wait until opening night."
The Nets have by far been the most pro-active team this off season. Going into the free agency, their first aim was to retain All-Star point guard Deron Williams and for that made some quick and classy acquisitions.
Brooklyn roped in All-Star forward Joe Johnson from Atlanta Hawks, re-signed power forward Gerald Wallace for a 4 year – 40 million dollars contract, added a tenacious rebounder in Reggie Evans and also signed Bosnian forward Mirza
Teletovic.
With a strong roster already assembled, the Nets then forwarded their pitch to D-Will, and depth of the roster eventually turned out to be the factor that swayed the one guard away from Dallas Mavericks, the only other and the
favourite club in his pursuit.
The Nets did not stop there though, and pursued the trade of All-Star centre Dwight Howard of Orlando Magic. According to reports, Brooklyn put forward three different trade proposals to the Magic, but the South Florida franchise
never agreed.
After extensive yet failed efforts to land Howard, the Nets finally gave in yesterday and re-signed their own centre Robin Lopez to a four year, $ 60 million deal.
They have now got a roster which can trouble the very best teams in the NBA, and come next season, the Nets will be a force to be reckoned with.
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