It wouldn't be unfair to say that the Brooklyn Nets have been a disappointment since moving from New Jersey to Brooklyn. Yes they have made the playoffs in all of their seasons in Brooklyn but they have won just one playoff series when they had championship expectations. This season the Nets are at the bottom of the NBA with their 10-24 record and it seems like general manager Billy King is nearing the end of his tenure. Owner Mikhail Prokhorov might look to Russia to replace King, according to Aris Barkas of EuroHoops.net.
Andrey Vatutin is the name being brought up as the possible next GM for the Nets out of Russia. Vatutin is 42 years old and is the president of CSKA Moscow. Vatutin has done a great job with CSKA Moscow as he has regularly kept them at the top of the VTB United league and among the best teams in all of Europe.
Vatutin was reportedly offered a role with the Nets back in 2010 but turned it down to stay in Russia but that role wasn't the GM role, this one might be. Vatutin is reportedly seriously considering leaving Russia to come to Brooklyn but Prokhorov has not confirmed whether or not the job is on the table for Vatutin. Prokhorov and Vatutin have a relationship through CSKA Moscow as Prokhorov was the team's main financial supporter for years.
As of right now King is still the GM but his contract runs out after this season and it seems all but certain that the Nets will not renew his contract. King has taken a lot of chances in his tenure with the Nets, mostly due to the strong pressure he has received from Prokhorov, but almost none of them have worked out. Now the Nets are in a really bad situation as they don't have draft picks or many future assets with which to build around.
Prokhorov is not a very patient man when it comes to winning so he is almost certainly enraged about how this season is going in Brooklyn. While there is the report that Vatutin has been offered the job another report suggests that it is unlikely he would be offered the GM job but becoming assistant GM is a possibility. Net Income reports that it is hard to imagine bringing in a Russian as the new general manager because players and their agents would see him as a complete unknown and that would therefore put the Nets at a disadvantage in free agency.
King still has the rest of this season to get through, and maybe he can save his job with some shrewd trades or free agent signings, but as of right now it looks like Prokhorov is already searching for his next general manager.
