Russian Makeover?

Could Bruce Ratner soon be the former owner of the New Jersey Nets?  He could be if one of the richest men in Russia is to be believed.

Mikhail Prokhorov, a former nickel mining baron, says he has sent proposals to existing Nets shareholders over the weekend.  Those proposals would see his group provide a loan to build a substantial part of a new arena.

His group, Onexim, would also receive a controlling stake of the team for a “symbolic” price.  Sources close to the billionaire have previously estimated the overall value of any deal at $700 million.

Officials with the Nets and the NBA were not immediately available for comment.

A former chief executive of the world’s largest nickel firm Norilsk Nickel, Prokhorov has an estimated fortune of $9.5 billion, according to the latest Russian edition of Forbes magazine.

Ratner owns the Nets, which Forbes magazine in December ranked as the 26th most valuable of the 30 NBA teams, with an estimated value of $295 million.  Ratner’s company, Forest City Ratner, has planned for a new Nets arena in Brooklyn as well as constructing 16 office and apartment buildings, as well as upgrading subway, utility and other infrastructures as part of a larger project.

Legal disputes, financing problems and challenges from local community groups have dogged the project for years.  In June, Ratner dropped architect Frank Gehry to cut costs, further irking critics as Gehry’s design was a key factor in winning public support for the project in the first place.

On the surface, without knowing much about this Russian billionaire, I am all for the move.  He isn’t going to buy the team just for the sake of buying it.  He’ll want the Nets to win no matter where they play, unlike Ratner who only seems interested in using the team to get his Brooklyn project up and running.

I understand some people will be weary of Prokhorov becoming a Russian Mark Cuban, but I would have only one question for those people:

Would that be so bad?

Cuban might be a headache to the league — and his players at times — but he will never blink when it comes to putting the best product on the court.  If Prokhorov comes in here — and hopefully keeps Jay-Z as part of the ownership group — I think it only raises the possibility of adding LeBron James next summer.

The lure of playing for his friends team (possibly) in Brooklyn is a huge draw.  But if he could truly expand his empire to Russia?  That is something no other team would be able to offer.

Right now we are only dealing with the reported blog postings — I don’t read Russian, so I’ll assume ESPN & Reuters has it right — but I am all about hearing what the possibilities could be with Prokhorov as the next owner of the New Jersey Nets.

Tags: Bruce Ratner, Mikhail Prokhorov