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In an interview with the Nets website Monday, Sean Marks talked about some of the same issues --culture, market, what he learned in San Antonio, etc.-- but also added an element of independence stating flatly that the way that ownership did things in the past "didn't work" and "so maybe this time we'll go about it in a little bit of a different way."
Marks, now 10 days into his new job, said he chose the Nets because he considered the Brooklyn job an "elite one" in part because of the commitment of the ownership, that is, Mikhail Prokhorov, to win. "The name of the game is winning." But he noted as well that what the Nets have done since moving to Brooklyn, while evidence of that commitment, failed.
"It may be a little bit different from what we've done in the past here in Brooklyn," he told an unseen interviewer. "I have some empathy for the way they went about it in the past and said, look, 'He's committed to winning. He's gone about it with a willingness to spend money and so forth.' I'm not saying it's the wrong way, but it didn't work! So maybe this time, we'll go about it in a little bit of a different way. We won't skip any steps along the way."
He also outlined the process that he and Prokhorov --and presumably the rest of ownership-- worked out for making decisions .... and Prokhorov's desire to get what has happened "behind me."
"Mr. Prokhorov is committed to doing that and that's what solved me in the interview. When he said, 'Look, I want to win. I want to put this behind me. You make some of these decisions and you tell me what's best.' We talked about the process," he noted.
He also once again pleaded for patience and said he warned Prokhorov that the new Nets culture isn't going to be an overnight sensation.
"We talked about this not being, look, in two weeks we're not going to have a totally revamped organization," he said of his discussions with the owner. "It's going to take time. Its about bringing in the right people at the right time. I would hope the fans would hang in there and they've done a great job so are this year. You're at the game and you hear the passion behind the Nets. So, next year, we'll be different."
As for fans, he said he liked what he saw in the two home games he attended before the Nets "circus trip," adding, "The fans want to get behind the team. The ones that are there right now are behind the team. Its going to be up to us, our staff, to deliver a product they can get behind. "
Marks hinted as well that the organization is open to an international perspective "not just for players, for all stuff! When you're open to a market like Brooklyn, hopefully people want to come to you."