New Jersey Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov has only owned his team for a short time, but his short time in the NBA doesn't mean he doesn't know about the league where he owns a team. Prokhorov says Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh will play for the Miami Heat next season. ESPN's Chris Broussard writes that Prokhorov has another belief....
LeBron James New Jersey Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov has only owned his team for a short time, but his short time in the NBA doesn't mean he doesn't know about the league where he owns a team.
Prokhorov says Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh will play for the Miami Heat next season.
ESPN's Chris Broussard writes that Prokhorov has another belief.
Another of Prokhorov's beliefs is that if LeBron James joins Wade and Bosh in Miami, The King could win "two or three titles" but "diminish the LeBron brand" because he'd be winning with such a power-packed lineup.
Those are two of the convictions the New Jersey Nets' billionaire Russian owner shared with his inner circle of executives before boarding his private jet and leaving the United States over the weekend.
After meeting with The Big Three of this summer's free agent class -- James, Wade and Bosh -- last week, Prokhorov held a conference call with some of his top executives from the Nets and Onexim, his holding company, to discuss his strategy and impressions.
The Nets were the first of six teams to meet with James last week. Prokhorov hopes the Nets made enough of a lasting impression.
Prokhorov, writes Broussard, says becoming a member of the Nets, would give James the best opportunity to build a dynasty, become a champion and emerge as a global icon. To assure James of winning, Prokhorov said the Nets would pursue a trade for Chris Paul. He admits it could "take a year for the young roster to grow" but that after adding the right pieces around James, the Nets could win the NBA title two years from now.
Miller time?
ESPN's J.A. Adande writes how free agent Mike Miller could possibly become teammates with LeBron James.
Miller has sat down with the Heat, Clippers and Knicks, three teams with an abundance of salary cap space. But Miller could settle for the mid-level exception on a good team.
That would include the Cavaliers if LeBron returns. Not only is Miller tight with James he’s also friends with Antawn Jamison, who was traded to Cleveland by the Wizards last season in the post-Gilbert’s Guns breakup of the team. Cavaliers general manager Chris Grant put in a call to Miller at the onset of the free agency period, and Cleveland remains a viable option for him.
Delay
LeBron James has not made a decision on where he will play next season, but neither has Chris Bosh nor Dwyane Wade.
So much has changed since the free agency period began last week. There was talk that Wade wanted Bosh and James to play with him in Miami. Now it doesn't appear that is likely.
Reporter John Jackson of the Chicago Sun-Times writes:
The only certainty with any of the three aforementioned free agents is that Bosh in not returning to the Toronto Raptors. After that, it's nothing more than a guessing game.
Still, the longer it takes Wade and James to make a decision, the more likely it becomes that they'll stay put. That's just a feeling I have.