Mikhail Prokhorov Says the Nets and New Arena Remain Hard-Hat Zones "For the time being, it's top secret," Prokhorov, the Nets" majority owner, said Tuesday during a news conference inside the unfinished Barclays Center in Brooklyn. Why the omertà about the point guard so essential to the team's future? "N.B.A. rules prohibit me from comment on a potential contract," he said. Please wait for summer. When reminded by a reporter that he is not prohibited from discussing his own free agent, he quickly shed his self-imposed gag order. "We met yesterday," he said, wearing a white hard hat that made him look 6 feet 11 inches. We had a very good discussion. He wants to win. I want to win maybe even more. He added, "We're on the same page." The Nets need Williams next season when they move into Barclays Center and rechristen themselves the Brooklyn Nets. If he leaves, they are unlikely to improve on their current season in which they were 21-37 through Monday. Prokhorov may not get far with Williams if he does not trade for Orlando's Dwight Howard. Williams knows that the team needs another All-Star, and acquiring Howard would give the Nets perhaps the best center-point guard tandem in the league. The Nets tried to get Howard before last month's trade deadline, but he agreed not to opt out of the final year of his contract and stayed in Orlando. Asked about competing for Williams against Mark Cuban, the Dallas Mavericks" owner, Prokhorov said, "Let the best man win," adding, "If he wins, I'll crush him in kickboxing throwdown." Such a match would be an event at Barclays once it is finished. But the seats are not installed yet. The floor is still dirt. The eastern end is open to the street to let in heavy machinery. But Bruce C. Ratner, the developer who sold Prokhorov 80 percent of the team and 45 percent of the arena, said that construction should be completed a month ahead of schedule, leading to a Sept. 28 opening with a Jay-Z concert. Ratner and Prokhorov stood before the seating bowl, praised each other as partners - Prokhorov proved himself by paying Ratner $200 million - and proclaimed that Barclays Center will be the best arena in the world. "You can see how beautiful it is," Ratner said somewhat prematurely. Prokhorov was more realistic. "The Nets, like the arena, are still under construction," he said. Until Tuesday, Prokhorov had not stepped into Barclays Center since January 2011. He had not attended a Nets game this season until their overtime victory Sunday against Cleveland. He had been busy recently running for president of Russia. He finished third in last month's election. Vladimir V. Putin won with 64.7 percent of the vote. During his long absence from New York, New Jersey and Prudential Center in Newark, where the Nets have played the last two seasons, he said he kept up with the team. "It doesn't matter if I'm in Moscow or New York," he said. I watch 80 percent of the games and read statistics of all the games. He added, "What is more important is not what you see but what's behind the scenes." Eight games remain in the Nets" final season in the Garden State, including Tuesday night's game against Philadelphia. A fifth consecutive losing season will soon be over. Nine years have passed since the Nets played (and lost) in the N.B.A. finals and five years since their last playoff appearance. But Prokhorov is optimistic. If not for "crazy injuries" this season, he is certain that his Nets would have made the playoffs. He said that there was "great time spirit" at the franchise. Coach Avery Johnson and General Manager Billy King are doing "a great job." And, he added, "I will keep my prediction of a championship." When that may happen is top secret.