Mikhail Prokhorov writes in his blog Wednesday about first impressions of the NBA. Two of those impressions stand out: the league is "a tremendous machine" very much unlike Russian basketball and there's "a new model in which top players agree between themselves where they can play", not the "owners, managers, agents or fans". Has Prokhorov embraced this "new model"...and is that behind the Nets' pursuit of Carmelo Anthony?
Here's the full translation provided by a representative of Onexim...
"I went to the first Nets games and learned a lot by going to straight to the source, as they say. My main conclusion is that the NBA is a tremendous machine. No detail is too small, everything runs like clockwork and everyone is very professional. And that machine has gained a lot of distance on our Russian basketball. We're now working on how we can introduce some of elements of the NBA into our student basketball program. We need to see results in a relatively quick period of time so as not to lose heart and faith that we can be close to that standard. What's also interesting is how globalization is affecting the NBA, too. I mean the way that two great players, LeBron James and Chris Bosh, joined the Miami Heat to form a Big Three with Dwyane Wade. We clearly see a new model in which the top players agree between themselves where they want to play, and understand full well that their individual statistics will be lower as a result. Almost no one likes this - not the owners, not the managers, not the agents or the fans, although it's not a violation of NBA rules. It will be interesting to see what the upshot of this trend will be."