I never met Mikhail Prokhorov, but I hear that guy is awesome.

That adaptation of a Barney Stinson line conveys the image that the New Jersey Nets owner wanted to sell to all NBA fans.  He was the cool new owner with big bucks who was going to take over New York once the Nets moved to Brooklyn.  The first stage of Prokhorov’s coup occurred at the start of the 2010 NBA free agency period when he put up the following poster with him and minority owner, Jay-Z, across the street from Madison Square Garden:

It was a pretty bold move.  But it was supposed to just be the beginning.  The Nets had enough money to sign two free agents to the most expensive contracts possible under the NBA’s collective bargaining agreement.  High priced talent like that would turn the Nets into the talk of New York, New Jersey’s big city neighbor, which typically only has eyes for their hometown Knickerbockers.  Everything was set up perfectly for Mikhail’s grand entrance.  There was just one problem: the reality of his organization. 

The Nets roster had been neglected for years by opportunistic former owner, Bruce Ratner, who bought the team predominantly for real estate purposes.  Moving the team to Brooklyn allowed the savvy business man to secure a sweetheart deal for land rights in the pricey neighborhood of Forte Greene.  In addition to the Barclays Center, which he still owns a stake in even after selling the Nets, Ratner was given permission to build fourteen high rise buildings surrounding the arena as part of the Atlantic Yards project.  For a borough desperate to have their first professional team since the Dodgers moved away over fifty years ago, no deal could be too generous.  Both sides were delighted with the deal, the only losers were the Nets players and fans.  Former stars Jason Kidd and Richard Jefferson were dealt primarily to save money and Kenyon Martin escaped for nothing after the Nuggets gave him a hefty new contract in free agency that was well out of New Jersey’s price range.  Throw in the fact that even in the best of times - like when they failed to sell out NBA finals games - the Nets were never a big box office draw.  So the team that Prokhorov bought was in reality one of the worst teams in the league who play in a half empty arena in Newark, New Jersey.  If you were a free agent and could choose to play anywhere in the league for roughly the same money, would that situation appeal to you? 

Not surprisingly Prokhorov backed up this brash advertising by whiffing on all the marquee free agents that were available last summer.  Adding insult to injury, in an effort to reach the minimum salary floor that every team in the NBA is required to spend the Nets overpaid benchwarmer Johan Petro (3 years - $10 million) and ludicrously overspent on the recently amnestied Travis Outlaw (5 years - $35 million).  Talk about ripping off the foreign guy. I’ve seen tourists get better deals from the guy selling them a fake Rolex. 

Undeterred, Prokhorov set his eyes on the next available big name to hunt: Denver Nuggets small forward, Carmelo Anthony, who would be a free agent in 2011.  Melo was the perfect target, a highly marketable superstar who was born in the very borough that the Nets would move to in 2012.  Best of all, New Jersey could offer cheap and promising young bigman, Derrick Favors, along with a package of high future draft picks in exchange for the star small forward.  There was just one problem: Anthony didn’t want to play for the Nets.  It was a comparably undesirable situation to the one in Denver, which he wished to flee.  The superstar swingman refused to sign a contract extension that would pay him a small fortune to be the face of the Brooklyn Nets.  After months of very public trade talks between Denver and New Jersey, Carmelo Anthony ended up being dealt to Prokhorov's self made rival, the New York Knicks.  Suddenly, the playboy billionaire looked like a fool.

Prokhorov has been about as successful in business as anyone could possibly be.  Failure was not an option.  For a man in his position, looking foolish was unacceptable.  So the day after the Melo deal went down the billionaire playboy got his mojo back when the Nets stole the back pages across the country by swinging a trade for All Star point guard, Deron Williams, of the Utah Jazz; an elite player, easily of Melo's caliber. 

What the new owner either didn’t realize or chose to ignore is that in the NBA looking like a fool is actually a good thing.  A team should be so lucky as to bottom out so that they can get some high draft picks and rebuild.  For all of the talk about small market stars abandoning their teams for bigger cities, many big market teams' best players were obtained through the draft, not free agency.  The Chicago Bulls drafted Derrick Rose, the Los Angeles Lakers drafted Kobe Bryant, the Dallas Mavs drafted Dirk Nowitzki, the Boston Celtics drafted Paul Pierce, etc. Meanwhile, despite playing in the biggest market in the league, the Knicks haven’t drafted a superstar since Patrick Ewing.  Consequently, they have stunk almost every year since his retirement.  How would those Knicks teams have looked if their management had not traded away the draft picks that eventually selected Nene, Joakim Noah and Lamarcus Aldridge?  This was the folly of Prokhorov’s way.  He was star gazing in the wrong direction.  Look at this year's new elite team, the Oklakoma City Thunder.  They drafted their stars Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook as well as Jeff Green, who they were able to trade last season for NBA champion center, Kendrick Perkins.  The draft not only provides teams with access to elite talent, but allows those players to essentially be locked up for the next seven years due to rookie contracts and restricted free agency . Another team on the rise is the Los Angelas Clippers, who not only drafted superstar Blake Griffin and elite shot blocker Deandre Jordan, but also the players who they just dealt for Chris Paul: Eric Gordon, Al-Farouq Aminu, and Chris Kaman.  Don’t be surprised to see another hoarder of home grown talent like the Minnesota Timberwolves win considerably more games this year as they start their ascension from irrelevance.  The tragedy about New Jersey is that they were in the perfect position to stink.

When Mikhail Prokhorov purchased the Nets they were mired in both futility and an awkward two year limbo period of playing in Newark before the move into the Barclays Center, which is still being constructed in Brooklyn. As underwhelming as that sounds, it was actually the ideal circumstance for building through the draft in 2011 and 2012.  When you consider that much of the motivation behind the move to Brooklyn was the inability to put fans in the seats in New Jersey, the team was virtually guaranteed bad attendance.  Plus, expectations were already low. The Nets were nowhere close to winining now anyway so the best thing that they could do was develop young talent.  However, the idea of patience and losing did not appeal to ownership.  They wanted to make a splash.

The Nets finally got their superstar, but for how long?

At the end of the 2011-12 season Williams can leave the Nets as a free agent and they would get nothing in return. His exodus seems rather likely because even with the All Star point guard running the show, the New Jersey roster is still pretty weak.  At best they are looking at a low playoff seed and a first round exit in a year where the Eastern Conference is loaded with lousy teams.  So why would Williams stay?  This question gets particularly dicey when you factor in the fact that his hometown Dallas Mavericks are setting up their salary cap so that they can offer Williams a max deal.  Once again, the Nets management is stargazing for a solution.  This time Dwight Howard is their target. The Nets whole season seems to hinge on their ability to land the best center in the league as though no other teams will be bidding on his services.  New Jersey can offer a package of Brook Lopez, salary cap relief (by taking on Hedo Turkoglu’s overpriced contract), and a bunch of late first round draft picks including last year's 25th overall draft pick, Marshon Brooks.  This is an offer only Orlando can refuse.  They are better off trying to convince Howard to stay with the Magic rather than trade their superstar for 60 cents on the dollar.  By the way, Lopez is a restricted free agent at the end of this season so basically Orlando would have to pay him 80% of Howard’s money for a fraction of the impact, particularly in terms of selling tickets.

The Nets finally got their superstar, but at what cost? 

Take a look at what New Jersey gave up for one and a half years of Deron Williams and the opportunity to offer him a more lucrative extension:

1.    Devin Harris:  A 28-year-old one time all-star, who may not be one of the top ten point guards in the league, but is a proven NBA starter who brings a lot of positives to the table. 

2.    Derrick Favors:  A very raw 20-year-old power forward who has the ideal measurements to play down low.  He was the number 3 pick in the 2010 draft and is considered to have a great deal of upside despite only playing 20.5 minutes a night as a rookie.  Remember the rule: big men always take time to develop.

3.    The New Jersey Nets' 2011 first round pick: Based on their record this would have been the 6th selection in the draft but the Jazz hit the lotto and moved up to the third pick, which they used to select Enes Kanter, arguably the most talented player in the draft.  Even if the Nets kept the pick and stayed at the 6 spot they still could have picked up a skilled player like the pride of Glen Falls, New York, Jimmer Fridette, who could have been their point guard of the future and would certainly sell tickets.

4.    The Golden State Warriors' 2012 first round pick:  A likely lottery pick (top 7 protected) in what experts agree will be a loaded draft.

So if the Nets never pulled the trigger on the Williams deal their roster would have looked like this: 

• Lopez, Kanter, and Petro at center.  
• Reality star, Kris Humphries, Favors, and rookie, Jordan Williams at power forward.  
• Damion James, Stephen Graham, and Shawne Williams at small forward.  
• Anthony Morrow and Marshon Brooks at shooting guard.  
• Devin Harris and Jordan Farmar at the point. 

Would this team make the playoffs? 

Of course not; neither will Golden State.  That would give the Nets two lottery picks in the loaded 2012 draft. Granted, that likely won’t make them world beaters by 2012, but it would position them to arrive in Brooklyn with a talented young nucleus that could grow into something special while playing an energetic and crowd pleasing brand of basketball.  Also, don’t forget that the league is rigged and so is the draft.  Commissioner David Stern has as much desire to see a successful NBA team in Brooklyn as anyone.  Would it shock anyone if they won the lottery and were awarded a top 3 pick?  From there, they could theoretically have had a front line of Lopez, Kanter, Favors, and elite prospect, Harrison Barnes.  Suddenly, that is starting to sound like a team of the future; however, it will never be seen, at least not in Brooklyn.  Perhaps, Utah will be the big winner of the 2012 draft instead.  The much more frightening and realistic scenario for this current constitution of the Nets is that they might find themselves entering the Barclays Center with little more than Brook Lopez on an 8 figure deal and a big hole at point guard.

I never met Mikhail Prokhorov, but I think his team might be screwed.

 Unless, of course, the Nets land Dwight Howard.  Then he’s a genius and this article was a complete waste of time. 

Either way, smile because you have just been distracted.