Mikhail Prokhorov, the Nets’ Russian billionaire owner, made his very best presentation to the free agent Gang of Three — LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh. Under normal circumstances, Prokhorov’s global platform might have been enough to sway the free-agent stars.
These were not normal circumstances. And Prokhorov said, deep down, he knew it.
“After my meeting on the First of July,” Prokhorov said in Midtown after conducting interviews to find a successor for outgoing team president Rod Thorn, “I predicted a lot of what was going on. We have Plan A, Plan B and Plan C and even D. Now we’re in progress with Plan B.”
Plan B includes signing younger, athletic players for less money while maintaining trade and salary-cap flexibility. That is fine with the owner who says the goal of a title in five years is the same, though “the strategy” differs.
“I’m really very happy,” insisted Prokhorov, who gave a player-by-player assessment of the roster. “We have the youngest team in the league. I’m lucky we have not overpaid. . . . During next season we’ll be much stronger.”
The Nets cannot be weaker than they were during last season’s 12-70 sludge. But Prokhorov, 45, won’t look back. He only looks forward — to that title. How he gets there doesn’t matter. The ring is the thing.
“For the next year we will fight for the playoffs and the next five years, a championship,” he said, stressing “results” above all.
The immediate focus is finding Thorn’s successor. Former 76ers president Billy King and ex-Cavs GM Danny Ferry interviewed yesterday with Prokhorov, Thorn and new coach Avery Johnson. Though the owner suggested there are “more than five” candidates for the job, King and Ferry are the top choices.
Prokhorov said he wanted someone with experience and that the position would be a one-person job instead of having separate president and general manager titles.
Regardless, the buck stops with the owner, who stressed again how much he wanted Thorn to stay.
“We’re going to build a championship team and we need a general manager with great ambitions. He needs to be one of the best in the league,” Prokhorov explained, noting, “I take all responsibilities of what goes on with the team.”
In the interview, Prokhorov relentlessly talked about his desire to win. But he frequently showed a light side — as he did in discussing the 225-foot ad of him and Jay-Z that dominates Madison Square Garden.
“Jay and I look really great and I am looking into the possibility of buying this building and having it shipped back to Moscow,” he joked. I want to put it across the Red Square near the Kremlin.”
Above all, Prokhorov sent a message to Nets fans.
“Be patient. Support our team. We will win for sure. And, trust me, the next season will be completely different — aggressive, young,” Prokhorov said. “Now we have a really good ambition: to beat Miami Heat.”
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The Nets completed their sign-and-trade with the Warriors for shooting guard Anthony Morrow. The Nets yielded a 2011 second-round pick, but it is protected above No. 55.