SAN ANTONIO — Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov is happy with his new head coach.
After saying, among other things, that Kidd has the “fire in the belly we need” in a statement upon Kidd’s official hiring Wednesday night, he made it clear at a press conference in Moscow Thursday he approved of the move.
“The point is that there are people who are born coaches,” Prokhorov said, according to the New York Times. “It is known that Jason Kidd was, in fact, a player-coach on many teams, and he has been training for a long time. He has played under many coaches, and he has always wanted to be a coach.”
Prokhorov also said Kidd becoming the Nets coach is good for the league, because it helps bring some star power to the sidelines — something he thinks the NBA is missing.
“Despite all the NBA’s competitive potential, they lack a little bit of star coaches,” he said. “Of course, we are very glad that now, together with our fans, we can grow up a new star and finally, naturally with the NBA [championship].”
* Also, as part of his political ambitions, Prokhorov has taken the Nets to Russia.
Well, not exactly. But in compliance with new Russian legislation that has barred Russian government officials from having assets outside of the country, Prokhorov said he has gotten permission to register Onexim Sports and Entertainment — the investment vehicle that he runs and owns the Nets — in Russia.
* It has been expected since the Nets saw their season end against the Bulls in the first round of the playoffs C.J. Watson would opt-out of his contract and become an unrestricted free agent.
Nets general manager Billy King all but confirmed that would be the case in a radio interview yesterday.
“I haven’t gotten the official letter yet, but I’m assuming he will,” King said. “Because the salary that he makes, he knows he can get that, and he wants to get more if he can.
“Jason and I have already discussed if that happens, and if we aren’t able to retain him we have some guys in mind that we’d like to replace him with.”
If Watson does wind up leaving, the question will be who the Nets bring in to provide competition to Tyshawn Taylor for the backup point guard job. They could either draft a point guard with their first-round pick, No. 22 overall, or they could pursue a veteran free agent to challenge Taylor for playing time.