With Mikhail Prokhorov leading a new regime in taking over in New Jersey, there’s bound to be change all accross the board. The Nets were the worst team in the NBA last year, and generally speaking, Russian billionaires don’t like to lose.
The First Change In New Jersey? GM And Interim Coach Kiki Vandeweghe Will Not Be Asked Back
But where to start?
Well, today we got the answer. GM Kiki Vandeweghe, who also coached the team last year, will not be asked back now that his contract has finished. Asked to comment on his decision, Prokhorov was brief.
“I wish him well,” he said.
So what does this tell us? Well other than “Mikhail Prokhorov reacts to firing people exactly the way you expected he would,” not much. Vandeweghe’s job security would have been dicey under the same ownership, but with a new team on deck? There was very little doubt that Kiki was on the way out.
But before we pile on Vandeweghe as a manager, it’s worth nothing that at least some of Jersey’s current good fortune is due to a broader vision from Vandeweghe. He did the same thing in Denver, too, and back in November, SB Nation’s Denver Stiffs noticed the pattern where everyone else saw a franchise in a freefall:
During Vandeweghe’s tenure with the Nets, the franchise has dealt the aging, overpaid Jason Kidd to Dallas for Devin Harris and several soon-to-be-expiring contracts including Trenton Hassell’s, sent the overpaid Richard Jefferson to Milwaukee for Yi Jianlin and Bobby Simmons’ soon-to-be-expiring contract and recently traded another max player, Vince Carter, to Orlando for the expiring contracts of Rafer Alston and Tony Battie.
Left in the wake of all these deals is the 26th lowest payroll in the NBA with the salaries of Simmons, Alston, Battie, Hassell, Keyon Dooling and Jarvis Hayes coming off the books in 2010. Plus, the Nets have one of the better young point guards in the NBA in Devin Harris, a solid center in Brook Lopez (even though my Uncle Marty claims he’s a Stiff after watching him up close against the Nuggets last week), a good swingman in Chris Douglas-Roberts and even Yi was playing well before going down with another injury. Oh, and the Nets have their own lottery pick plus the Mavericks’ first round pick in 2010.
So while it’s fine to hold Vandeweghe accountable for some of the misery this past season, let’s remember: He’s a big reason the Nets have one of the brightest futures in the league.
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