NBA teams are going cheap and whoever can pony up the cash is being given a shot at buying a club. Whereas there used to be exclusivity, now a scion of a Soviet Union apparatchik with a list of scandals tied to his name is being fast-tracked into a seat at the table of the NBA's board of governors.
The Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov and the New Jersey Nets basketball team, a union who would have never been allowed when both came to life in the late 1960s, now appears to be a distinct possibility.
Unofficially, the club have been on the market for some time. Anyone who is familiar with basketball knows that the Nets do not draw big crowds, existing as they do in the shadow of the nearby New York Knicks. Yet the Nets play just outside Manhattan, the basketball centre of the universe. This is not a bad place to have a team.
If nothing else, the club's management are trying everything to change the team's financial reality. As of September 9, the name of New Jersey's PNY Technologies is now proudly emblazoned on the Nets practice uniforms, the first time an NBA team have sold logo rights on practice jerseys to a sponsor.
The deal had a scent of desperation, especially considering that NBA insiders have long believed that the Nets were losing money hand over fist.
The club's fate has been in flux ever since the Cleveland, Ohio, real estate developer Bruce Ratner took control five seasons ago.
Ratner's plan has been to use the Nets as a centrepiece in an elaborate real estate play. Dubbed the Atlantic Yards project, this proposal hopes to rip up an existing neighbourhood in the New York borough of Brooklyn to build a sports arena along with a significant commercial and residential real estate development. Local residents have fought Ratner and appear to have drained his finances.
Enter Prokhorov's billions. The Russian achieved notoriety in Europe when it was alleged by French authorities that he procured prostitutes from Russia to visit clients who were on holiday at France's swish Courchevel ski resort. France's then presidential hopeful Nicholas Sarkozy is reported to have uttered at the time: "There's a man who wants to please." The French authorities eventually dropped the charges.
This wouldn't be the first time Prokhorov has saved a basketball club, although it might be the first time he has done so of his own volition. When the iconic CSKA Red Army basketball team were floundering, the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, persuaded Prokhorov to finance the club.
Putin is known for wanting to use sporting success to inspire the Russian nation. Seemingly overnight, CSKA became the best basketball team in Europe, albeit because of an American player, Trajan Langdon, the man they call the Alaskan Assassin because of his deft shooting skills.
With a budget that surpassed several NBA franchises, CSKA won the Euroleague basketball championship in 2006 and 2008.
It is doubtful that Prokhorov would have the same sort of instant success in bringing a title to New Jersey, or to Brooklyn in the event that the Nets move. The NBA have a salary-cap, so even a free-spending foreigner wouldn't have much impact in producing on-court results.
A final thought: if someone with Prokhorov's reputation can be embraced by the American sports establishment, one can only imagine how precarious the US economy has become.
gdole@thenational.ae
How green is the expo nursery?
Some 400,000 shrubs and 13,000 trees in the on-site nursery
An additional 450,000 shrubs and 4,000 trees to be delivered in the months leading up to the expo
Ghaf, date palm, acacia arabica, acacia tortilis, vitex or sage, techoma and the salvadora are just some heat tolerant native plants in the nursery
Approximately 340 species of shrubs and trees selected for diverse landscape
The nursery team works exclusively with organic fertilisers and pesticides
All shrubs and trees supplied by Dubai Municipality
Most sourced from farms, nurseries across the country
Plants and trees are re-potted when they arrive at nursery to give them room to grow
Some mature trees are in open areas or planted within the expo site
Green waste is recycled as compost
Treated sewage effluent supplied by Dubai Municipality is used to meet the majority of the nursery’s irrigation needs
Construction workforce peaked at 40,000 workers
About 65,000 people have signed up to volunteer
Main themes of expo is ‘Connecting Minds, Creating the Future’ and three subthemes of opportunity, mobility and sustainability.
Expo 2020 Dubai to open in October 2020 and run for six months
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
Where to submit a sample
Volunteers of all ages can submit DNA samples at centres across Abu Dhabi, including: Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre (Adnec), Biogenix Labs in Masdar City, NMC Royal Hospital in Khalifa City, NMC Royal Medical Centre, Abu Dhabi, NMC Royal Women's Hospital, Bareen International Hospital, Al Towayya in Al Ain, NMC Specialty Hospital, Al Ain
TRAP
Starring: Josh Hartnett, Saleka Shyamalan, Ariel Donaghue
Director: M Night Shyamalan
Rating: 3/5
Guns N’ Roses’s last gig before Abu Dhabi was in Hong Kong on November 21. We were there – and here’s what they played, and in what order. You were warned.
- It’s So Easy
- Mr Brownstone
- Chinese Democracy
- Welcome to the Jungle
- Double Talkin’ Jive
- Better
- Estranged
- Live and Let Die (Wings cover)
- Slither (Velvet Revolver cover)
- Rocket Queen
- You Could Be Mine
- Shadow of Your Love
- Attitude (Misfits cover)
- Civil War
- Coma
- Love Theme from The Godfather (movie cover)
- Sweet Child O’ Mine
- Wichita Lineman (Jimmy Webb cover)
- Wish You Were Here (instrumental Pink Floyd cover)
- November Rain
- Black Hole Sun (Soundgarden cover)
- Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door (Bob Dylan cover)
- Nightrain
Encore:
- Patience
- Don’t Cry
- The Seeker (The Who cover)
- Paradise City
Our family matters legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
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MATCH DETAILS
Liverpool 2
Wijnaldum (14), Oxlade-Chamberlain (52)
Genk 1
Samatta (40)
A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
21 Lessons for the 21st Century
Yuval Noah Harari, Jonathan Cape
The rules on fostering in the UAE
A foster couple or family must:
- be Muslim, Emirati and be residing in the UAE
- not be younger than 25 years old
- not have been convicted of offences or crimes involving moral turpitude
- be free of infectious diseases or psychological and mental disorders
- have the ability to support its members and the foster child financially
- undertake to treat and raise the child in a proper manner and take care of his or her health and well-being
- A single, divorced or widowed Muslim Emirati female, residing in the UAE may apply to foster a child if she is at least 30 years old and able to support the child financially
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
Defending champions
World Series: South Africa
Women’s World Series: Australia
Gulf Men’s League: Dubai Exiles
Gulf Men’s Social: Mediclinic Barrelhouse Warriors
Gulf Vets: Jebel Ali Dragons Veterans
Gulf Women: Dubai Sports City Eagles
Gulf Under 19: British School Al Khubairat
Gulf Under 19 Girls: Dubai Exiles
UAE National Schools: Al Safa School
International Invitational: Speranza 22
International Vets: Joining Jack