The NBA has become a recession-ridden league with owners slashing roster payrolls and front-office staff. Owners are begging for commissioner David Stern to crush the Players Association in collective bargaining with a bigger percentage of league revenue and perhaps even a hard salary cap. As long as these CBA rules are in place, Prokhorov can offer the New York stage with unlimited resources. Cablevision reached its spending breaking point with the New York Knicks, but the days of the Nets as a cash-strapped punch line are over. 由於现在大环境整个经济衰退，NBA各个球队的老板已经朝着朝阵容还有制服组 、教练团方面开刀以节省开支。各家老板请求总裁大卫史腾打破球员工会的 劳资双方谈判问题，还有目前严苛的薪资上限。 只要目前的CBA规则就定位，Prokhorov 可以提供纽约地区几乎无上限的资源。 目前有线电视已经因为纽约尼克队达到上限，但是篮网队资金短缺的日子 已经接近尾声。 This Russian is liable to treat $70 million luxury-tax payments like drops in the Jersey Turnpike toll buckets. 这位俄罗斯人倾向将七千万以上要付的豪华税当做付高速公路的收费一样。 “If he sees something as a reasonable, smart move, then money won’t be an issue,” Vanterpool said. “I don’t see the luxury tax affecting him. You’ re talking about a billionaire who will take a two-week vacation that ends up costing him $10 million. He’ll do whatever it takes to win, and win big.” Vanterpool 说："如果他只要将事情看到合理的，聪明的行动， 那麽资金不会是个问题。我不认为现有的豪华税会影响他的行动。 你现在谈论的亿万富翁是一个两个礼拜的度假就花一千万美金的人， 他将会做出任何帮助球队赢球的行动！" Prokhorov’s brashness doesn’t come in the basketball arena but in the clubs and fancy European resorts. Truth be told, they never noticed where the owner would sit in the arena most nights in Moscow and seldom witnessed him courting coverage with the cameras and notebooks. Prokhorov 的傲慢态度并不会在篮球场上出现，但会出现在俱乐部或是 高档的欧洲旅游上。告诉一个事实，他们从不会发现这大老板在大部分 的夜晚会出现在莫斯科球场的哪一个地方，更少目击到他出现在许多 摄影机还有笔记型电脑出现的记者会上。 He far outspent other teams in Europe, won titles and now wants to do it on the biggest stage of all. He hired the best coach overseas and had payrolls bigger than some NBA teams. One NBA executive with strong Eastern European ties says to expect Russian and Lithuanian basketball legends Sarunas Marciulionis and Arvydas Sabonis to be included in a dramatically changed Nets organization. With CSKA, Prokhorov tried to hire Toronto Raptors assistant GM Maurizio Gherardini but was spurned. He could revisit the Italian executive for the Nets’ top job, and it wouldn’t be long until the NBA had its first foreign coach, Ettore Messina. 他在欧洲已经对他的球队付出超出一般人想像，已经赢得了欧洲的总冠军。 现在他的目标放在等级最高的篮球殿堂。他过去在中央陆军队雇用了海外最 好的教练，而且所花的钱比一些NBA球队还要高。 一个带有浓厚东方欧洲色彩的NBA执行长官说，他预期俄罗斯还有立陶宛的 传奇名人 Sarunas Marciulionis 还有 Arvydas Sabonis 会被招入目前 即将改变巨大的篮网队。 在中央陆军队的时候，Prokhorov 尝试过要雇用报龙队的助理GM: Maurizio Gherardini，但是却失败了。 他现在可以再次拜访这位义大利的执行长官来篮网做高官，而且 直到NBA有第一个外籍教练并不会太久，而那个人是 Ettore Messina。 For now, Prokhorov would be wise to re-sign president Rod Thorn to an extension, and sources with knowledge of the Russian billionaire believe it’ s a distinct possibility. 但就目前而言，Prokhorov 如果将来和目前的篮网总裁 Rod Thorn续约才是 明智之举。而据消息而言，这位俄罗斯亿万富翁也认为这是很明确的。 Whatever happens, Prokhorov won’t be running the Nets like Mavericks owner Mark Cuban. Prokhorov likes to hang with the players, but not so much in the locker room and huddles. He likes it in a social way, and so do they. It’s like running with James Bond, jets on a moment’s notice to the most exotic locations in the world. That’s how he lives, and that’s how they’ll roll. He can offer a superstar lifestyle that few would dare try in the public eye. 但不管将来会发生什麽，Prokhorov 不会像小牛队老板 Mark Cuban 那般对待球队。 Prokhorov 喜欢和球员交心，但不会在球员休息室还有练习的时候给太多压力。 他喜欢用社交的方式和球员交心，所以他的球员也总是如此。 这就像和詹姆士庞德一起跑步，飞往世界上最吸引人的几个地方。 这就是他的生活，他的作风。他敢提供像超级巨星一般的生活方式， 而却少有人赶在公众这样做。 The fact there are whispers about him would give him street cred with a lot of players. Mostly, players see owners as dopes to be stroked, but invading Brooklyn with the Russian boss and a stocked, bloated payroll could be a blast. 事实上，他会让他队上的球员对他有认同感。大多数，球员视老板就像一点一滴 的麻醉剂，但现在入侵布鲁克林的俄罗斯老板有着巨大的薪资总额，对他们来讲 可是影响很大。 Two years ago, Prokhorov was detained for four days as a material witness in an investigation into a prostitution ring at a French resort. He was never charged, but French authorities alleged someone was jetting prostitutes in and out of there. When his CKSA team traveled to the Euroleague championships, NBA executives marveled over the spillover of Prokhorov-supplied blondes and brunettes that turned the tournament locale into a remote Playboy Mansion. 两年以前，Prokhorov以重要证人的身分因为一个调查案被拘留了四天， 原因是在法国的一个渡假地区有卖淫集团，认为与他有关。 他没有被起诉，但是法国高层声称有某位人在那边从事卖淫集团。 当中央陆军队到欧洲联盟进行总冠军赛时，NBA的一些执行长官受不了 Prokhorov所提供的金发美女还有一些黑皮肤美人， 让这个锦标赛的进行好像变成花花公子的娱乐天堂。 “Unlike anything you’ve ever seen in your life,” one Eastern Conference executive said. “They flooded the hotel. But the [NBA office’s] international people know all about it. They were staying there, too.” 一位东区联盟的执行长说："这是在你生活当中很难看到的，他们将整个饭店 都当成自个儿的娱乐天地。但是NBA中一些来自国际的高官都知道此事， 因为他们也都在那儿。" Said a Western Conference official, “Stern will have to put 24 hour guards around this guy’s castle. Unless this guy completely divorces himself from his lifestyle over there, he’s going to have a little trouble assimilating. I mean, we do have some rules over here. … But damn, he’s got more money than anyone here, and that’s going to win out.” 来自西区联盟的某位官方代表："史腾即将放二十四小时的保镖围绕着这个人的城堡。 除非这个人想脱离这边的生活型态，那麽他将有一些适应的问题。 我的意思是，我们在美国是有一些规矩的，但是，妈的，他比这里的一些人 还要更有财力，这也是他可以改变文化的重要原因。" For whatever wink-wink that comes with suggesting that Prokhorov made his fortune as simply a “banker and mining executive,” there’s a grudging acceptance that he’s the future of the NBA. Someone had to get the Nets to Brooklyn, and if it took $700 million of funny money, most of Stern’s bottom-feeder owners couldn’t care less. When no one is looking, most of the NBA Board of Governors will be pestering Prokhorov for jet rides from Russia, with love. 不管这位神秘的老板视如何改变他的命运，不仅仅是个银行家或是赚钱的执行长， 虽然会让有些人难以接受，但他就会是未来的NBA掌控者之一。 有人要将篮网送到布鲁克林，如果他将付出七亿美金来赞助此计画，那麽 史腾和一些人将不会管他在其他方面的道德瑕疵。 当没有人管这些事情，大部分NBA的长官将会烦恼 Prokhorov 从俄罗斯带回来的 东西。 “I guarantee you that some of the owners in our league who are desperate to sell were on the phone with Stern today looking for other foreign owners with deep pockets,” one team president said Wednesday. 有一个球队的总裁昨天这样说："我敢跟你们保证，在我们联盟当中有许多老板 已经不想在花钱的，昨天和史腾已经通过电话，想要找一些钱包够厚的外籍老版。" LeBron James used Cleveland owner Dan Gilbert’s connections to get him into the prestigious Allen & Company billionaire conference in Sun Valley, Idaho, this summer, a gathering of 260 of America’s richest and most powerful people. As much as James wants to win championships, he also wants an unprecedented global brand. There’s still a good chance that he’ll pursue it with his hometown Cavaliers, but the odds tilted a touch on Wednesday, when a $9 billion man pledged $700 million to a fledgling NBA franchise. LeBron 透过克里夫兰老板 Dan Gilbert的关系让他进入在Sun Valley的 Allen & Company 亿万富翁的论坛。 在这个夏天，那边聚集了两百六十位美国最有钱还有影响力的人， 就在詹姆斯想要赢得总冠军的同时，他也很希望成为前所未有全球化的篮球品牌， 当然他还是有很大的机会和自己的家乡球队一起为这个目标打拼， 但就在星期三这个可能性有点倾斜了，就当这九十亿美金还有七亿美金即将 注入一支NBA球队的同时。 One of these days, Mikhail Prokhorov could get his audience with LeBron and other NBA stars, and tempt them with unprecedented resources and possibilities. Historic player meets historic owner, gaze into each other’s eyes and they’re liable to concoct the most historic partnership of all. 在最近某一天，Prokhorov 可以请 LeBron 或是其他的球星来当做他们的听众， 给他们享之不尽的资源还有机会。伟大的球员和伟大的老板碰面，彼此注视， 他们有办法连接出最有意义的夥伴关系。 As the Nets bled money, as the move to Brooklyn seemed a bleaker proposition, it felt like Cleveland could exhale. Suddenly, the game changes and here comes this charismatic and charming and murky Russian rolling out of his jet with basketball’s deepest pockets and a gripping global pitch. 就当篮网缺少财力的时候，搬到布鲁克林的行为看起来是没有希望的提案， 这让克里夫兰可以叹口气。但一瞬间，游戏的局面改变了， 突然来了这位有魅力、迷人、而且神秘的俄罗斯人从他的喷射机走了出来， 带着篮球界中最深厚的口袋，以及最扣人心弦的全球化眼光。 Here comes trouble for everyone. Here comes tomorrow. 他的到来即将改变NBA的生态，或许他将是某些人的眼中钉。 --

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