It was expected, but the news is finally official as Dave D'Alessandro reports:

The NBA Board of Governors has approved Mikhail Prokhorov’s acquisition of a controlling interest in the Nets, the league announced in a statement released late Tuesday afternoon.

"We are pleased that the NBA’s Board of Governors approved Mikhail Prokhorov’s purchase of majority ownership of the Nets, welcoming into the NBA ownership ranks the league’s first majority investor from outside of North America,” NBA Commissioner David Stern said. “We anticipate that his passion for the game and business acumen will be of considerable value not only to the Nets franchise but to the entire NBA.”

The deal is expected to be officially completed Wednesday, with the final closing

Also in Dave D.'s report, he reiterates that Rod Thorn should be given a contract extension soon (which is important, because once that happens the Nets should get going on their offseason plans):

Prokhorov is expected to give team president Rod Thorn a contract extension sometime next week, and that will be followed by the NBA Draft Lottery in Secaucus -- where Prokhorov himself will probably represent the team Tuesday night -- and a free agent market in which the Nets hope to have at least $26 million to spend on new players.

Good to have this finally set in stone.  With all of the problems the Nets have had with their move to Brooklyn and everything related I was kind of just waiting for the other shoe to drop.  That won't happen now.  Hopefully we get to hear from Prokhorov soon, but if not, expect to see him next week at the Draft Lottery.  Given the good luck that has surrounded Mikhail Prokhorov during his professional life, this should be a good thing.

Sebastian Pruiti

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As everyone has probably read already, there are a number of reports that the current NBA owners are voting on Mikhail Prokhorov's bid to become the owner of the New Jersey Nets.  According to Julian Garcia, Prokhorov is going to need 75% of the vote, and if he gets it, Prokhorov will be the man in charge:

Prokhorov would become the league's first non-North American owner and also its second-richest, behind Portland's Paul Allen. According to Forbes' most recent list of wealthiest people in the world, Prokhorov is worth approximately $13.4 billion - a fortune that has the Nets and their fans hopeful they will quickly turn around the 12-70 record they compiled this season. "It's been coming for some time but it looks like it's about to come to fruition," said Nets president Rod Thorn, who is expected to get a new contract shortly after Prokhorov takes over.

I think everyone is assuming that the 75% vote is going to happen (because we probably would have heard something about it if it didn't happen), and when it does we are going to be going from one of the stingiest owners in the league, to one who is set to be the most willing to spend.

Things have been exciting for Nets' fans and he hasn't even taken over yet.  There is talk of taking over a D-League team in a hybrid deal (something that some of the best run teams do), talk of throwing money at a big name coach, and talk of Prokhorov to do whatever it takes to put the best team out there.  It is going to be funny to see how Nets' fans (including myself) handle the change.  I have been on the record here (and other places) saying that I think Eddie Jordan would be a really good fit as coach for the Nets, should I change who I want to see the Nets go after because Prokhorov is taking over?

One thing is for sure, Prokhorov cares about winning, and he is set to become a hands on owner (He even wants to represent the Nets at the Draft Lottery next week).  I am almost willing to compare him to Mark Cuban in that regard, and you have seen how well it has worked for the Mavs.  10 straight 50 win seasons?  Sign me up for that.

Sebastian Pruiti

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I apologize in advance to all of you readers out there who couldn’t get enough of our NAS off-season awards. With that said, after taking a bit of a hiatus, I realized there’s one more core member of the team who didn’t get any kind of acknowledgement.

Courtney Lee is an interesting case in that his season was so inconsistent, he could have been a candidate for many of the other awards given out so far: Most enigmatic? Sure, the guy would look like an all-around game changer one night, and then disappear the next. Disappointing? It depends a lot on your standards, but if you bought into the hype that the Nets traded their last star in Vince Carter for a guy who would be a suitable replacement offensively, then you would have been very disappointed. Most frustrating? Still think that Yi wins that award hands down, but similar to Yi, Lee’s stroke would be working on night, and then his shot would mysteriously go south.

But the award I’ve decided upon here is “Most Improved.” With all due respect to Terrence Williams and his outstanding final six weeks of the season, Lee statistically became a much more dynamic player as the season went along. Unlike TWill, outside of January, Lee got a little bit better every month of the season, and by the time mid-April rolled around, he looked like he was going to fit into next year’s core somehow (as a starter or bench player depends on who the Nets draft and sign in free agency).

An injury-plagued November limited Lee to only 7 games and 3 starts, as he seemingly found himself in Lawrence Frank’s doghouse early. The numbers weren’t pretty as he averaged 7.6 points on 35 percent shooting, including 22 percent from long-range, one of his supposed offensive strengths.  When Kiki Vandeweghe took over for Frank, his first move was to insert Lee back in the starting rotation. From there, Lee rewarded Kiki by scoring 13 points on 43 percent shooting, though he was still woeful from long range, shooting 26 percent from three.

By the time February rolled around, Lee’s game started to improve, and it’s no coincidence that the Nets started playing better as a team as a result.  February was probably his best month as he averaged 15.5 points on 49 percent shooting, including 41 percent from three. Lee was finally resembling the player Nets fans were hoping for after the Carter trade. No he wasn’t going to match VC’s offensive production, but he was resembling a good outside shooter with some nice defensive chops. He matched his shooting numbers from February in March, though he was done in by the small sample size of 7 games in March, averaging 14 points on 43 percent shooting, including 32 percent from three.

While Lee never resembled an “all-star” for sustained stretches, by the end of the season, he did come across as a steady presence on the roster. He got praise from coaches and sportswriters for his great attitude and his perseverance on the defensive end. Courtney Lee is certain to play some role for this organization next year.

Mark Ginocchio

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This offseason is going to be an exciting one for the New Jersey Nets, but before we can move forward we must look back.  Over the next couple of days, I am going to be looking at the Nets who will (most likely) be back, and review their year, from what they did well to what they didn’t.  Today we are going to look at Kris Humphries.

When the Nets acquired Kris Humphries, everyone kind of shrugged their shoulders.  "One old PF for an ok one," but then he came out like gangbusters.  He put up over 20 points a few times, and lead the Nets to a few big wins.  However, he wasn't able to maintain his high shooting percentage and he sort of fell off towards the end of the year.

The Positives

Aggressiveness

One of the things that Kris Humphries brought to this team was an attitude.  "A swagger" if you will.  He was always the guy giving up a hard foul on a team running up the score, fighting for lose balls, and just being scrappy.  I think his interview after the Nets win against the Clippers sums it up nicely.

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Sebastian Pruiti

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As someone who gets the Daily News delivered to my front door every day, let me tell how annoyed I was to see the newspaper ask its readers to photoshop LeBron James in various scenes around Manhattan. You know, because LeBron is coming to the Knicks. Duh. On a side note, inside the paper, they used a photo of Nathan's in Coney Island as a potential lure for LeBron (can't get hot dogs like that in Cleveland). Memo to Daily News, Nathan's is in Brooklyn - if LeBron wants Nathans in Manhattan near the Garden, he can wait in beautiful Penn Station.

Anyway, NetsDaily becomes my heroes by offering readers of the site a chance to Photoshop LeBron in a Nets-centric backdrop. I'll be curious to see what Nets fans come up with.

Mark Ginocchio

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The New York Times is reporting that Russian Billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov should be approved as Nets owner by Tuesday. This would give him about a week before the May 18 Draft Lottery, which Prokhorov reportedly wants to attend.

This is very exciting. We still don't know what kind of owner Prokhorov projects to be in the NBA, but anything that helps Nets fans move on from the Bruce Ratner era, especially the last two years of it, is fine by me.

Mark Ginocchio

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I might be a little late on this, but I still want to give my opinion on it.  Al Iannazzone reported it at the tail end of is May 5th article:

When Prokhorov takes over, the Nets’ coaching search will heat up, Thorn is expected to get a new contract and there will be other appointments and announcements, including the purchase of an NBA D-League team to serve as a training ground for players and Russian management types.

When thinking about the benefits of having an owner willing to spend, taking full control of a NBA D-League team slipped my mind.  Don't let it fool you though, this is something that if the Nets' do, can pay off big time for the team.  I mean let's look at the teams that have sole control of a D-League team; the Lakers, the Rockets, the Thunder, and the Spurs (the Mavs will have their own when the new Frisco team starts play).  The Spurs, Rockets, and Thunder have been able to do great things with the D-League, and a lot of it is because they are able to not only stock the team with their own players, but they are able to put their people in charge of the team.

Hearing that is what Prokhorov plans to do (bring his own front office/coaching) people couldn't excite me more.  Here is what Ridiculous Upside has to say on the subject:

What about executives? As with pretty much everything in this post, this is pretty speculative, but it's possible that Prokhorov and the Nets could use the Springfield Armor as a training ground for Russian basketball executives.  And you know what?  That's fine.  In fact, D-League affiliates ideally shouldn't be just about the players, but about every level of basketball operations.  If a team wants someone to get more scouting experience by having him or her spend time scouting D-League players, so much the better.  The same goes for those on a general manager-track.  Gersson Rosas in Rio Grande Valley, Brandon Barnett in Tulsa and Dell Demps in Austin all seem to be benefiting from their teams' NBA affiliation.

What I really want to see though is the Nets bring this team closer to New Jersey.  For one, it could be fun to be able to watch some D-League games, but if you can get a D-League team close to you, it is easier to call-up/send-down players without worrying about the logistics.  Maybe when the team gets into Brooklyn have the D-League team set up shop in Newark at the Prudential Center?

Either way, this is exciting news and another benefit of having an owner who is concerned about winning rather than making money.

Sebastian Pruiti

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Ben Couch did a terrific job earlier this week looking back at Kris Humphries' season, though the question still remains headed into this summer whether or not Hump will be back with the team, and if so, what is his role, besides roster filler?

From a financial standpoint, Hump has a player option for about $3.2 million that if he exercises, cuts into the cap space for the Nets this summer. I still liked the trade when the trigger was pulled earlier this year, as Hump, even with his salary, was a major roster and energy upgrade over the corpse of Eduardo Najera. The trade gave Hump an opportunity to get playing time, but he ended up producing in uneven fashion. He looked like a steal, when he scored more than 20 points twice against the Clippers in January, but was also prone to games like his 1-8, 8 point debacle against the Wizards on January 29.

Couch picks up on some key stats for Hump in his review, including his 18.0 rebounding rate while with the Nets,  but also his penchant for shooting jumpers 58 percent of the time (with an eFG% of 37 percent). And that's where Hump's game confounds me, because for someone who is clearly so physically strong around the rim, he's far too content to shoot jump shots. If he lived around the rim on offense, he could become a great instant offense, high energy guy around the rim, but he hasn't shown the ability or the IQ to be that player.  There also are the questions of Hump's defense. While he showed more promise than Yi Jianlian, Hump still wasn't great, allowing opposing PFs to score 23.1 points and 9.8 rebounds per 48 minutes, good for a Player Efficiency Rating (PER) of 19.8, according to 82games. Hump did a better job of holding opposing Cs in-check, as they averaged 16.5 points, 11.6 rebounds for a PER of 16.6.

But again, the question goes back to whether or not these numbers are good enough for Hump to be counted on next year. Not to be harsh, but I think Hump proved what he was last season, a competent backup on a lottery team. He's never played significant minutes for a winner, and while they may be chalked up to who he was backing up (Chris Bosh in Toronto, Dirk in Dallas), it's not like Hump was able to truly distinguish himself in New Jersey. The Nets may not have a choice whether or not he'll be back next season, but if the team hopefully goes out and gets a legit PF and keeps Yi, Hump will be back to the third string again, while the Nets should hopefully be able to get back into the playoff picture without him.

Mark Ginocchio

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An old friend of the Nets, Mark Jackson, has reportedly declined to interview for the head coaching vacancy with the Philadelphia 76ers and is instead waiting for the "right" opportunity, which may include a chance to coach the New Jersey Nets, according to the Philadelphia Daily News.

The Sixers had been trying to schedule a meeting with Jackson, but he sent word Tuesday that he was trying to determine whether he wanted to proceed. He informed Kauffman yesterday of his decision. He is expected to interview for the New Orleans Hornets job, and is hopeful of being contacted by the Los Angeles Clippers and, possibly, the New Jersey Nets.

Jackson is an intriguing name, and he was one of the most insightful television guys I've ever seen/heard when he was working for YES a few years ago, but does anyone else find it weird that the guy is being so picky about his coaching options, especially since he has never been a head coach before? He was reportedly flabbergasted when the Knicks passed on him a few years back in favor of Mike D'Antoni.

Mark Ginocchio

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This offseason is going to be an exciting one for the New Jersey Nets, but before we can move forward we must look back.  Over the next couple of days, I am going to be looking at the Nets who will (most likely) be back, and review their year, from what they did well to what they didn’t.  Today we are going to look at the  Nets’ Most Frustrating  Player, Yi Jianlian.

Yi Jianlian had  a rough start to the year.  After 4 games, Yi was injured and didn't return until December 23rd (suffering setback after setback during his recovery).  When he came back, there was a new Yi, but as we have seen in the past, he was unable to remain consistant.

The Positives

Quick Decisions

When Yi came back from injury, he just seemed ready to play basketball, and the biggest example of this was his quick decision making.  When Yi struggles, he seems to take forever to make up his mind when deciding what to do with the basketball.  When he goes quick though, he gives the defense no chance to play effective defense on him:

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Sebastian Pruiti

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As speculation continues to mount about who will coach the Nets next season, one possible candidate was on the record with Dave D'Alessandro endorsing another candidate for a head coaching spot in the NBA. Jeff Van Gundy, who is reportedly leaning towards staying with his NBA analyst gig rather than returning to coaching, had high praise for Boston assistant coach Tom Thibodeau, who was an assistant for JVG in New York:

“The guy has been so good for so long that he’s been taken for granted,” Van Gundy said of the Boston associate head coach. “And Tom now has this thing where he’s known as a defensive guy, which he’s great at — not good, great. But he also is very good offensively. And it’s the reason why I hired him initially in New York — his work with individual players. He had incredibly good offensively ideas. His work with Yao Ming still gets overlooked because Yao is hurt a lot. But in Yao’s last full year, he was an MVP candidate, 25 and 11. ...”

I still think Prokhorov is more inclined to make a "splash" rather than hiring a competent assistant coach, but I could obviously be wrong here. There's a lot of buzz about Thibodeau, and if it's not the Nets, it sounds like someone is going to give him a head coaching job this summer. As a Jets fan, I obviously see the value in grabbing a defensive minded lifelong assistant coach. And it would be a better move than making a splash for the sake of one and bringing in failed NBA coaches like Rick Pitino or John Calipari.

Mark Ginocchio

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LeBron and the Cavs' path to the Eastern Conference semi-finals and a meeting with the Orlando Magic took a bit of a detour last night when the Celtics beat the Cavs in blowout fashion winning 104-86 (and it wasn't even that close).  Nobody really though about what would happen if the Cavs lose in the second round to the Celtics because nobody (including myself) thought that was a possibility.  So what happen if the Cavs lose?  Jay Mariotti thinks that LeBron is out of there:

"Relax,'' he could have said at the pre-game ceremony. "I'm staying five more years.''

But James refuses to soothe fears that he still might leave the Cavaliers in free agency this summer. He prefers to keep playing his public poker game and let it veer into a frantic climax come July 1, when he finally can negotiate with the Knicks, Nets, Bulls, Heat and even the Clippers and Wizards if his masochistic side prefers. Maybe he's remaining mum right now for a very good reason.

If the Cavs flop again in the playoffs, he might be looking for the nearest escape hatch out of town.

If you want my opinion, LeBron is staying, but for those holding out hope that LeBron will become a Net, the Cavs losing to the Celtics is probably the most likely way that it would happen.  What else could Cleveland do to put a winner on the court?  Not much.  If LeBron does leave, I still think the best landing spot for him is New Jersey...er...Brooklyn.

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One of the reasons I think the Nets is the best landing spot for LeBron is Brook Lopez.  In just his second year, Brook Lopez is starting to make a claim that he might be the second best center in the east.  He has a solid back to the basket game, a nice shot, and he runs the floor very well.  Jordan Schultz from NBA Fanhouse tends to agree:

Perhaps the most well-rounded big man in this tier, Lopez is a true center in every sense of the word. Despite playing for the awful Nets, he was a bright spot in east New Jersey all season long, flourishing in his second professional season. Defensively, he's a shutdown block artist (1.70 per game) who utilizes his tremendous length to clog driving lanes and force errant shot attempts.

He runs the floor well, either filling the lane on fast breaks or creating excellent low-post position. He has terrific hands, the type of huge oven mitts you want from a big guy. He can score from either block and has a surprisingly useful left hand for such a young player. Plus, he's an 82 percent free-throw shooter, ensuring he'll be on the floor late in games. Unlike many of his peers, Lopez's game is predicated off of footwork and a diverse skill set. His combination of hooks, up-and-unders and overall cleverness around the basket make him the best young center in the game today not named Dwight Howard. If the Nets acquire a gifted passer like John Wall or Evan Turner in the draft, there's no telling how good Lopez can be.

It makes me happy whenever Brook Lopez gets some love.  He made such a jump from his first year to his second year, but it doesn't really get talked about much because he was playing for the worst team in the NBA last year.  On most nights Brook was the only one really doing work on the offensive end, and that's even when he faces a barrage of double and triple teams.

Sebastian Pruiti

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