Johnette Howard of ESPN New York writes this weekend of Mikhail Prokhorov and James Dolan's approach to winning it all. Both have, in public (Prokhorov) and private (Dolan), said they expect to be holding the O'Brien trophy in late June.
But Howard thinks that while Dolan can talk the talk, Prokhorov has walked the walk.
"When it comes to having the acumen to run a business or build one from scratch, Prokhorov has demonstrated he is light years ahead of Dolan there too," she writes.
She notes that Dolan has been micro-managing the Knicks roster moves (and firing his GM for reasons still unexplained), Prokhorov has given Billy King free rein (although the line that Russian ownership is hands-off is not quite what it seems.) It's all good for the back pages, Howard writes.
"The best news is, the intradivision rivalry feels real now that we have Dolan and Prokhorov, and Garnett and Melo snarling at each other. The knowledge that Prokhorov and Dolan have declared they're on the same timetable to win a title is going to make this feel like 82 one-game seasons. The head-to-head tote board will be updated daily: Who's up? Who's down? Which team has the biggest upside? Which owner looks like the horse's backside today?"
One thing is for certain, she notes. The Knicks can no longer just assume they own the city. The Nets are coming for them.
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