Remember Mikhail Prokhorov's championship promise? When he took over as majority owner of the Nets back in 2010 he said he expected the team to make the playoffs the following season and win a Larry O'Brien trophy within five years at the most.
Below is an excerpt from his speech to Nets fans and season ticketholders:
"If everything goes as planned, I expect to be in the playoffs next season...and championship in one year minimum and maximum in five years...
"The excitement is with the Nets. We will have a desire to win that is unmatched anywhere in the league. This will be a first class organization with all the support it needs...
"This will be the first truly global team in the NBA with exceptional international exposure no other team can reach, and there will be fans of the Nets from New Jersey to Brooklyn to Moscow...
“I can convince the very best of the best that the Nets are the place they want to be."
Five years came and went without the Nets coming anywhere near achieving a championship squad. In fact, the trade for Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, and Jason Terry backfired in the worst way as the organization mortgaged its future on a longshot for three aging stars to lead them to a title. That didn't happen, and instead the Nets became the laughing stock of the league.
Three years out of the playoffs before Sean Marks and company turned things around last season and won 42 games to reach the sixth seed in the East before being ousted by the Sixers in five games.
Prokhorov's pride was on the line back in 2015 and he pushed all his chips to the middle of the table, but luck was not on his side. Former General manager Billy King took the blame for what many considered one of the most lopsided trades in NBA history that awarded the Celtics countless unprotected draft picks in exchange for three over-the-hill players.
The Nets owner is less visible in the media and instead of making headlines with the media, he's empowering his employees to do their jobs and providing them with terrific resources to be as effective as possible.
Prokhorov learned his lesson through that challenge as he's now taken a backseat to allow Marks to build a culture and develop the roster organically through purchasing draft picks, investing in international scouting and developing players from starting at the G-League level.
The Nets are now the talk of the NBA with the acquisition of Kevin Durant via sign and trade and Kyrie Irving by way of free agency. Prokhorov's best decision was to check his ego at the door and allow the basketball experts to make the basketball decisions. With a healthy Durant, the Nets are trending toward being a team that could be considered a championship contender. The team's owner learned his lesson that a lot more is at stake for the Nets organization that just his personal pride.
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