Trajan Langdon on the Good and the Bad of Working for Mikhail Prokhorov

Like any Alaskan, Trajan Langdon could see Russia from his house. It's just that he went around to world the opposite way to get there, passing through Durham, Cleveland, Venice and Istanbul before settling in Moscow five years ago.  He spoke to Brandon Bowers of SLAM about that journey, Euroleague vs. NBA basketball, Ricky Rubio and of course his former boss at CSKA Moscow, Mikhail Prokhorov.

Langdon says much the same as everyone else about Prokhorov: he knows what he's doing, he trusts his people and he will commit the resources for a winning team.Just don't expect to see him much.  Langdon didn't, noting Prokhorov didn't show up until the team won the Euroleague, then he'd only see him at a "couple home games" a year after that.

Bottom line, though is this: "I think once he commits to something...he is a guy that doesn’t get in to something if he doesn’t want to see it do well...I think he will do whatever it takes to try to get the Nets to be a contender and a team that can compete every year at a high level. I don’t know how long it will take to get there, but I think he will spare no time and no resources to get them [the Nets] there."

• A Devil in Russia - Brandon Bowers - SLAM