Prokhorov, Unleashed, Endorses Thorn, Yormark

What's left to say about Mikhail Prokhorov?  Probably a lot, but less than there was before "60 Minutes" aired its profile Sunday night.  There was Mikhail Dmitrievich doing wheelies on his jet ski in the Maldives, racing down the slopes in Canada, examining gold bars in Siberia and an AK-47 in his palatial estate outside Moscow.  And there he was, talking about his love of sports, his love of stress, his love of food, his love of women...oh yes, the women.

Still, the bottom line for Nets fans was this one: "I am real excited to take the worst team of the league and turn it to be the best."

Separately, in an email exchange with the Times, Prokhorov gave a vote of confidence to both Rod Thorn and Brett Yormark.  Asked if he intended to install a Russian in a top position with the Nets, Prokhorov replied, “At the moment, there are no managers in Russia qualified to supervise people at the level of Rod Thorn or Brett Yormark. I do plan to incorporate a young, talented Russian manager with a successful background in European basketball into the team’s management, someone who can develop to the level of N.B.A. basketball over time and fully grasp basketball as a business.

“I view this investment as a business opportunity," he added. "I expect this asset to be worth around a billion dollars after the new arena is built and the team gets to the top of the N.B.A.”  As ESPN's Marc Stein tweets, "LeBron surely has to at least listen to what this guy has to say. Also safe to say free-agent upgrades to Nets' dance team on way for sure."