Sprewell’s Critics May Have Pegged Actions Correctly

This was in the early hours of bloody Wednesday, before the rest of the world knew that Madison Square Garden President Dave Checketts had fired New York Knicks General Manager Ernie Grunfeld and was about to throw the rest of the team over his knee and give it a good public spanking--starting with swingman Latrell Sprewell, whom Checketts fined $25,000 because of some gripes Sprewell’s agent, Robert Gist, had made. “I didn’t read the papers this morning,” Knicks Coach Jeff Van Gundy deadpanned when asked for a reaction. “What was the ‘Gist’ of it?”

Van Gundy knew every word, of course. He was one of the carcasses that Gist shish-kebabed during his rant. Gist got Sprewell fined for saying the Knicks are a lousy team because Grunfeld put together an ill-conceived roster, Sprewell is being misused as a sixth man rather than a starter, and Van Gundy is too thick-headed to know any better.

Gist also complained that Van Gundy is no Phil Jackson, and that Sprewell probably would demand an offseason trade if his job description didn’t change. As if there’s a big market for guys who choke the coach of their first NBA team, then drive the second club crazy with his attitude.

With each succeeding week, Sprewell has lived up to everything that he was accused of being when he arrived from Golden State. He’s been a disruptive force. A me-first player. A guy who can stir up a beehive of trouble for his team, then blithely go on without the ensuing controversy having any apparent corrosive effect on him.

Thursday, Sprewell was unfailingly pleasant, as usual. He stayed late after practice to shoot free throws, and stopped genially and waved a peace sign when a fan asked him to pose for a picture. He lingered for a scrum of reporters and patiently endured the predictable volley of questions. But even if Gist’s comments did turn up the heat on him, Sprewell could parrot the company line only to a point on a day when the other Knicks shrewdly said all the right things about Checkett’s scathing criticisms or Grunfeld’s re-assignment to a consultant’s role. (As point guard Chris Childs joked under his breath, “Do you really think anybody here is going to say, ‘I’m so glad he’s gone?’ That would be the biggest fine in team history.”)

You never know what Sprewell might say. Thursday, he contradicted Gist and insisted he has “accepted” his sixth-man role -- which isn’t true. He haltingly said “yes” when asked if he’d endorse Van Gundy as coach next year. He firmly said Gist’s timing was “inappropriate” and he tried to distance himself from the content of his agent’s comments, too--saying there had been some “miscommunication” and that Gist had assured him he’d been misquoted. That’s a disavowal that absolutely doesn’t fly because Gist reprised many of the same gripes a day later to another reporter.

But Sprewell blew the chance to kill some brushfires before they become bonfires.

When asked if he wants to return to New York next season without assurances that he’ll be a starter, Sprewell said, “I’m not even getting into that.” Asked if Checketts’ actions had the intended stirring effect, Sprewell shrugged and said, “You can interpret it a lot of different ways. I don’t personally feel like I’ve been put on notice. We’re all aware that more changes could be coming.”

Later, Sprewell added, “The last thing I need as a player is to have more controversy surrounding my name.”

And Sprewell is right. He just doesn’t do anything about it.

It’s important to stress that Sprewell isn’t to blame for all of the Knicks’ woes. Many of Grunfeld’s recent moves were expensive busts. For weeks now, Van Gundy has talked as if he’s a goner. Larry Johnson isn’t the player he used to be, and the Knicks’ $50-million tag team of point guards is so ordinary that rivals around the league mock Charlie Ward and/or Childs openly, without any fear of reprisal. Shooting guard Allan Houston’s game fades in and out like a weak radio signal, too. That leaves 36-year-old Patrick Ewing--a man playing with two arthritic knees, a bum Achilles and a surgically repaired wrist--as the team’s only go-to guy.

Sprewell was supposed to assume some of Ewing’s burden. But even when Sprewell is hogging the ball and launching up quick shots, he hasn’t consistently been the scorer or All-Star-caliber player he was for Golden State. He hasn’t been the defensive stopper he was advertised to be, either.

Even worse, instead of acting like the guy who arrived asking not to be treated like a pariah, or the guy who said he was grateful for this second chance, Sprewell has had at least two sit-down meetings with Van Gundy for not playing within the team’s offense. He’s been accused of being a “bad influence” on Dennis Scott, who was later waived. When told both of his NBA teams have had awful records with him as a starter, he said, “That doesn’t bother me”--a remark that nearly gave Van Gundy an aneurysm. “That’s gotta bother you,” Van Gundy shot back later.

After watching Sprewell for only a short period of time, it’s hard to know if he honestly doesn’t get what he does wrong, or if he really is incorrigible. Whatever the reason, he doesn’t deserve the benefit of the doubt that he asked for--and got--when he first arrived in New York. Trouble has shadowed him throughout his career. He’s a millstone until he proves otherwise. And chances are it won’t be here.