With Prokhorov looking on, Nets get 3rd pick in Draft

SECAUCUS, N.J. (AP) -- New owner, same result for the New Jersey Nets: another loss.

The Nets, who had the worst record in the NBA at 12-70 mark, were forced to settle for the third pick in next month's NBA draft despite having the best chance to win Tuesday night's lottery.

New owner Mikhail Prokhorov represented the Nets at the draft lottery and showed little emotion after the Nets selection was revealed. New Jersey had a 25 percent chance of landing the top pick, which was expected to be Kentucky guard John Wall.

Washington, which only had a roughly 10 percent chance of winning the lottery, got the No. 1 overall pick in the draft on June 24. The Philadelphia 76ers got the second pick.

"Sometimes luck makes all the difference, but it never comes down to one player," Prokhorov said. "I'm sure we're going to get a great player. For our team, the only way is up."

Prokhorov doesn't think it will take the Nets long to turn things around -- even without the No. 1 pick.

"If everything goes as planned, I predict that next season we'll be in the playoffs and as championship minimum one year and maximum five (years)," he said.

Nets president Rod Thorn said there was no disappointment, especially since the team with the best chance of winning the lottery has not won since 2004.

"If you are disappointed you are setting yourself up for a fall," Thorn said. "If you look at the odds, the odds are it can be anybody. We did not have any expectations. We were hopeful of going as high as we could because the higher you go you have more control in the draft."

What the Nets will have more of a say in is free agency, which might include the likes of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh and Amare Stoudemire.

The Nets will have more than $23 million in salary cap room to spend and the richest man in Russian to sign the checks.

"We do need to go back to square one," said Prokhorov, whose purchase of the team was approved by the league's board of governor's last week. "We need to focus on putting together the strongest team we can get. A lot will depend how pieces of the puzzle will fit together. But I'm confident we will have a great team next season."

If Wall is the top pick and Ohio State's Evan Turner goes second as is already being projected, the Nets will probably take either Kentucky center DeMarcus Cousins or Georgia Tech forward Derrick Favors.

Not getting the top pick probably means that the Nets won't trade point guard Devin Harris. He was considered trade bait if New Jersey won the lottery and took Wall.

"We feel if we were first, second, third or fourth that we were going to have the opportunity to draft a very very good player, someone who certainly could play in our rotation," Thorn said.