HoopsHype.com Rumors

The Suns are also interested in speaking to CSKA Moscow assistant coach Quin Snyder, sources said. As a Lakers assistant last year, he received interest for the Charlotte and Orlando coaching jobs. Utah assistant coach Jeff Hornacek is also on the Suns' short list. Yahoo! Sports

Phoenix Suns, Coaching, Russia, Jeff Hornacek, Quin Snyder, CSKA Moscow 

Interesting footnote about the Nets' coaching search: Italian legend Ettore Messina, reported by Yahoo! Sports to be a candidate tempting Atlanta Hawks GM Danny Ferry, is not on Brooklyn's list. If the Hawks were to make him the first European head coach in NBA history, Messina would have to find a way out of Russian super club CSKA Moscow, which for years received considerable financial support from Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov. ESPN.com

Atlanta Hawks, Brooklyn Nets, Coaching, Danny Ferry, Mikhail Prokhorov, Russia, Ettore Messina, CSKA Moscow 

Mikhail Prokhorov, a prominent Russian businessman and leader of the Civil Platform party, plans not only to lead the party's ticket in elections to the Moscow City Duma in 2014 but also run in a single-mandate district in the Northwestern Administrative District. "I, for instance, will run in a single-mandate district," Prokhorov said in an interview with Interfax when asked what strong Civil Platform candidates could run in single-mandate districts in the elections to the Moscow City Duma. Russia Beyond The Headlines

Brooklyn Nets, Mikhail Prokhorov, Russia 

Atlanta Hawks general manager Danny Ferry is giving significant consideration to hiring the first European-born head coach in NBA history, sources told Yahoo! Sports. Ettore Messina, the Italian-born coach of CSKA Moscow, is among the top candidates to replace coach Larry Drew. Ferry and Messina have had contact about the possibility, and Messina is intrigued with the chance to be a global trail blazer in the NBA, sources told Y! Sports. Yahoo! Sports

Atlanta Hawks, Coaching, Danny Ferry, Russia, Larry Drew, Ettore Messina, CSKA Moscow 

FC Barcelona wants to sign a multi-year contract with Kostas Papanikolau and they have already contacted him. Papanikolau has a great offer from CSKA Moscow too. Papanikolau would like to play in the NBA, let's say in a couple of years. SER

FC Barcelona, Spain, Russia, CSKA Moscow, Kostas Papanikolaou 

Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov, who has been trying to get out of business and into politics, looks like he is setting his sights a bit lower after coming a distant third in last year’s presidential election. The 47-year-old tycoon now says he plans to run for a seat in the Moscow city legislature next year. “When I do something, I always work only to win,” he said in an interview aired Wednesday on state-run television channel Rossiya 24. Wall Street Journal

Brooklyn Nets, Mikhail Prokhorov, Russia 

Silver, 50, said Stern was planning a trip to India next month. "Another country of over a billion people with a young population that loves basketball." He said the NBA is working with Brooklyn Nets Russian owner Mikhail Prokhorov and the Russian government to further grow basketball there as well as projects to develop the game more on the continent of Africa. Silver said he believed establishing teams outside the United States was part of the NBA's future, but remained in the conceptual stage. "When we do expand, we'd need to expand probably with multiple teams, so that you wouldn't have an orphan team in Europe, but that you'd potentially have a division so those teams could play each other more often and NBA teams presumably traveling in Europe could have more teams to play when they're over there," said Silver. "It's still a concept, but I'm comfortable with it." Reuters

Brooklyn Nets, Mikhail Prokhorov, David Stern, Russia, India, Adam Silver 

International basketball source says we should anticipate the stream of NBA-caliber talent coming from overseas to dip in coming years because the economy has shrunk the pool of talent foreign clubs are capable of supporting. The biggest clubs -- the Real Madrids and Barcelonas and CSKA Moscows -- will continue to find and work with the best of the best, but the price of training and developing young players and the dwindling number of companies with discretionary funds to serve as sponsors is thinning the herd. Sulia

Draft, Real Madrid, FC Barcelona, Spain, Russia, CSKA Moscow 

Mikhail Prokhorov has spent time talking with Michael Bloomberg, the billionaire mayor of New York. Like Bloomberg, Prokhorov has media interests and like Bloomberg, he has a personal fortune of more than $10 billion. And now, like Bloomberg, Prokhorov would like to be the mayor of Moscow. NetsDaily

Brooklyn Nets, Mikhail Prokhorov, Russia, Moscow 

Over the past week and a half, ever since Prokhorov sold his stake in Polyus Gold for $3.6 billion, there have been more than a few hints in the Russian media that the Nets owner is getting ready to run for the mayor of Moscow, or at least the city Duma, or city council. The mayoral election is a year away. Prokhorov has been increasingly critical of the city administration on his blog and in tweets. In the past few months, he has attacked a new Moscow Metro policy prohibiting commuters from buying fewer that five tickets on the city subway and condemned an increase in the city vehicle tax. He's also continued to criticize Vladimir Putin, as the head of the Civic Platform party. Should he decide to run for mayor and win, it would provide him with a national stage for another run at the presidency in 2016. Prokhorov did will in Moscow in the 2012 presidential election. NetsDaily

Brooklyn Nets, Mikhail Prokhorov, Russia, Moscow 

And on stepping away from the Russian national team after leading it to an Olympic bronze medal last summer in London… “It’s not connected to playing time, I’m not tired, I’m not tired of playing for the national team,” he said. “I want to be a better dad. I want to be with my family a little more. I think I already give a lot, play 12 years on the national team. There is time.” Minneapolis Star-Tribune

Minnesota Timberwolves, Andrei Kirilenko, Russia 

He said he has thought about this decision for the last two, three years but got serious about making it after the Olympics. “I was thinking in summertime I don’t have enough time with my kids,” he said. “My wife and kids, I want to be around them. I don’t want to be dad who’s spending two hours and then you don’t see your kids. It’s a hard decision. “It’s kind of a dilemma: Going around the globe, playing basketball, have fun or spend your time with your kids and have fun and see how they’re growing. You want to be around them at this kind of age when they’re growing, they start playing hockey, start playing basketball. You want to see the improvement, not only in sports but the person. Minneapolis Star-Tribune

Minnesota Timberwolves, Andrei Kirilenko, Russia 

Jeff Taylor: Russia's Andrei Kirilenko retires from national team to have more time with family in summers. Twitter

Minnesota Timberwolves, Andrei Kirilenko, Russia 

Mikhail Prokhorov has a habit of promising dire consequences if his teams don't win championships. He's said more than once that he'll marry if the Nets don't win an NBA championship by 2015. Now, with the Winter Olympics a year away, he's told Russian writers that if the Russian Biathlon team doesn't win at least two gold medals at Sochi. "If it is less, then I retire - it means I have failed," Prokhorov told Russian writers. "Let those who come to do better." NetsDaily

Brooklyn Nets, Mikhail Prokhorov, Russia 

Are there any restrictions set by the club concerning food and alcohol? Alexey Shved: Nothing special. If you want to drink some beer, nobody will be against it. What’s important is to know your measure and to do well in practice. What if one comes to practice when hung over? Alexey Shved: Such thing didn’t happen yet. Do you do everything the right way while driving too? Alexey Shved: I was taking a test here to get an American driving license. I didn’t pass it on the first try, because it’s really strict. If you forget to use the turn light – that’s it, you failed the test. Probably I got used to driving here by now. They don’t stop you here unless you violate the driving rules, and I was never pulled over. If I go to Moscow now, I’ll be in a state of shock for the first few days. Rush'n Hoops

Minnesota Timberwolves, Russia, Alexey Shved 

Russian powerhouse Spartak SPB announced the signing of Darius Johnson-Odom. The Lakers draftee started the season in NBA playing 4 games. Sportando

Russia, Darius Johnson-Odom 

This weekend, Brooklyn Nets fans will learn to say "defense" in Russian. On Jan. 13, the Nets will host An Evening of Russian Culture during a game against the Indiana Pacers, which coincides with Old Russian New Year's Eve. Famed Russian concert violinist Alexander Markov will perform the national anthem before the game and again at halftime. Russian entertainer Oleg Kolomyets is slated to introduce the starting players, and Russian music will also be incorporated throughout the game. Nets players Deron Williams, Joe Johnson and Brook Lopez will appear in a video in which they sample fare from Manhattan restaurant The Russian Samovar. Crain's

Brooklyn Nets, Joe Johnson, Deron Williams, Russia, Brook Lopez 

Finally, Eurocup contender Spartak S. Petersburg is still trying to find a replacement for Pat Beverley. Jaka Lakovic still is a target, but there are buy out problems with him and Galatasaray and that opened the window for Donald Sloan (photo) who was cut by Cleveland on the 27 of December. The 24 years old guard seems to be a viable option for the team. EuroHoops.net

Free Agency, Donald Sloan, Russia 

“For sure, he’s made everything easier,” Shved said of having Kirilenko has his teammate. “We’ve played together for a long time – last summer with CSKA Moscow and then all summer on the Russian team. We understand each other. I know what he likes to do, when he likes to cut and where he likes his passes. He knows the same with me. We play well together, but we need to play better with the whole team. We need to do what’s best for the team.” HoopsWorld

Minnesota Timberwolves, Russia, Europe, CSKA Moscow, Alexey Shved 

Alexander Krasnenkov, president of Russian Federation, said that Andrei Kirilenko will decide after the NBAAll-Star Game whether to join or not the Russian National Team for Eurobasket in Slovenia. Sportando

Minnesota Timberwolves, Andrei Kirilenko, Russia, Slovenia, Eurobasket