Getting Sprewell Puts Checketts on Hot Seat

Once again, Latrell Sprewell finds himself presented with someone’s exposed and vulnerable windpipe.

Question is, does he dare squeeze?

Or can Dave Checketts escape this without a single cough?

The hunch here is the New York Knicks’ CEO will only feel pressure when he wears his favorite mock turtleneck. Sprewell may very well be the most coach-able player in team sports right now. Jeff Van Gundy’s peers don’t have pity for him. They have envy.

They know, as everyone else, that Sprewell’s margin for error is about as thin as Calista Flockhart. He doesn’t have another $6.4 million to blow. He knows the hazards of becoming a topic for “60 Minutes” and “Larry King Live.” The Bible-quoting Charlie Ward is no longer the least-threatening presence in the Knicks locker room. Introducing St. Sprewell, ladies and gentlemen.

Or so Checketts hopes.

Checketts sacrificed a healthy portion of his proud moral standards for the scent of a title. Checketts saw a league that Michael Jordan left ripe to be taken, and it made him weak. In one bold and risky move, Checketts changed. He became like all the others, willing to stoop for the sake of winning.

“A lot has happened in my thinking,” he said. “I adjusted my thinking and said, ‘It’s worth it.’ ”

Checketts could benefit handsomely from the pain Sprewell caused P.J. Carlesimo two Decembers ago by getting an All-Star cheaply. Or by trading for the antithesis of Mark McGwire, he just made a colossal blunder that’ll haunt him forever.

He gambled his good name on a two-hour, face-to-face meeting he had with Sprewell in the player’s hometown of Milwaukee a day before the deal with Golden State. Apparently, Sprewell sounded more convincing to Checketts than he was with Lesley Stahl.

“I know when I’m being conned,” Checketts said.

Perhaps. But what else was Sprewell supposed to say to the man who could save his career? I wasn’t even there, and I bet Sprewell’s explanation went something like this: I screwed up, I’ve regretted it ever since, it really wasn’t me who attacked P.J., I was having a bad day, blah-blah, blah-blah.

How can sincerity be measured in one leisurely afternoon?

“I don’t know how you can be completely safe about anyone,” Checketts admits.

Sprewell makes it hard for you to believe him. He has a history. This isn’t about a second chance; Sprewell’s on his fifth. He first rebelled when the Warriors dumped his buddy Chris Webber. He went AWOL on them by the season’s end, forcing Don Nelson to issue an APB during a radio interview.

He exchanged punches with teammate Jerome Kersey and then threatened to grab a two-by-four. He had bad blood with Tim Hardaway. Then he went for Carlesimo’s throat and became a national symbol of what’s wrong with today’s athlete.

In the post-P.J. period, when Sprewell was supposed to show remorse, he sued the league, then his agent, then served time for house arrest after driving recklessly and almost killing two passengers.

“He’s made some serious mistakes,” Checketts said. “I’m not condoning anything that Latrell Sprewell has done.”

And yet, Checketts saw someone who can slash inside or step outside and shoot three-pointers, who’s only 28. It made him take notice of a 36-year-old center with creaky knees and a team that lost four straight times in the second round of the playoffs.

There were the Indiana Pacers and Miami Heat, both pursuing Sprewell, both standing between the Knicks and a golden opportunity in the post-Jordan era, and that was enough for Checketts to modify his own standards.

“He could help us win, and in the end it was how we made the decision,” Checketts said.

Checketts had drawn the line against bad behavior a while ago. He once announced the Knicks were off-limits to Nick Van Exel. He dumped Anthony Mason after tiring of watching Mason fill out a box score and a police blotter the same night. He saw disgust in Dennis Rodman.

“It made me sound almost self-righteous,” Checketts now says. “I regret having said those things. I know I’ve set myself up for this issue. I’m not going to stand on high moral ground here.”

He can’t, because his moral ground just turned to quicksand.

His talent made it possible to bring him back, just as Darryl Strawberry and David Meggett and countless others were left for dead but not buried by their stupidity.

Only presidents get impeached, not athletes.

So Checketts climbed down from his ivory tower and joined the crowd. He figures it’s safe. He knows he has Van Gundy, a coach with a calm temperament like Rick Adelman, who didn’t clash with Sprewell. He has a contender, and winning smoothes all rough edges. Most of all, he had Sprewell begging for redemption.

If all goes well for Checketts, Spree will give the Knicks another big scorer, bring some excitement, and prevent Reggie Miller from extending Ewing’s frustration. The Knicks will make the Finals, as they did the first time Jordan retired, and Spike Lee will wear jersey No. 15.

It’s all in Sprewell’s hands. So to speak.