The New York state of mind: Sully Spree - From Courtside - basketball player Latrell Sprewell

Basketball Digest, Dec, 2002 by Brett Ballantini

OVER THE YEARS, THERE HAVE been some easy major-market marks in the NBA.

Exhibit A: the Los Angeles Clippers. GM Elgin Baylor once turned lottery picks into CBA players faster than you could say Bo Kimble. Yes, the Clippers and Baylor are now on a roll, but sooner or later owner Don Sterling will pinch enough pennies to send the Clips sailing south again.

The Chicago Bulls, they of six recent NBA titles, have been badmouthed like a loose Luvabull. The team's foundered for four years and is still searching for its future: Elton Brand ... Tyson Chandler and Eddy Curry ... Jalen Rose ...

But another big-market team--the biggest-market team, in fact--is nipping at the Clips' and Bulls' heals like a dachshund in heat.

The New York Knicks made the NBA Finals as a No. 8 seed in 1999, an unprecedented feat. They were summarily swept by the San Antonio Spurs in that Finals, and in the three seasons since then the team has gone from bad to worse to unwatchable.

It was only last season that the Knicks snapped their streak of 14 straight playoffs. But remember, it's still easier to make the NBA playoffs than to not qualify. And the Knicks appear ready to not qualify for years to come.

New York's media wolf-pack does a good enough job minimizing the good and maximizing the evil of the Knicks' day-to-day doings. But one situation in particular--and one player in particular--merits mention here, beyond the spittle of the pack.

That player is Latrell Sprewell, by far the best player on the Knicks. The team's emotional, if not physical, leader. The same guy New York began its training camp by paying to stay away from the team. That Latrell Sprewell.

The Knicks fined Sprewell $250,000 at the start of camp because he failed to report his broken pinky finger in a "timely manner" to Knicks' brass--as if ownership found itself short of a mortgage payment and decided to pass costs on to its easiest mark of an employee. This would be the broken pinky Sprewell didn't even know was broken, the pinky that he showed to trainers upon his arrival at training camp. So, citing Spree as a detriment to the team, the Knicks told him to stay away until further notice.

That's right. The superstar. The only marketable player on the team, the only true multitalented player on the team, was told to go away. Oh, Spree, just leave the $250,000 by the door when you leave.

This treatment wouldn't befit a frith-stringer like Felton Spencer. It certainly isn't warranted for Sprewell.

The fines--last year's $125,000 ticket for missing a shootaround dater discounted to $2,500) and this year's preposterous tab--clearly fall outside the lines of the league's bargaining agreement and burst the seams of smart business. But for Knicks fans--and, let's face it, for Sprewell, who's a multimillionaire--it's not about the money. It's the message.

Since 1999, the dawn of the Sprewell era in New York, the Knicks haven't had a clue how to structure their team, from administration on down to the floor. And Sprewell is the pivot man in all the Knicks' plans on both sides of the ball.

Spree's talents didn't come naturally; he worked doggedly to develop a decent long-range game and stifling defense to complement his uptempo slashing skill.

Allan Houston is a fine enough player, if one worth measurably less than the $99 mil New York paid him to stay a Knick. But it's not in his nature to grow much as a player, as evidenced by his mellow mood and matador defense. Antonio McDyess, the Knicks' newest would-be marquee star, is now shelved indefinitely after reinjuring the knee that kept him out all but 10 games last season. Even when healthy, though, McDyess doesn't fit on the marquee--he's an Alabama guy, humble, a lunch-pailer. Sure, he could become a folk hero on the Chas. Oakley level in Madison Square Garden, but he's no NYC superstar.

The Knicks' best youth movement is still playing in some Bronx Small Fry league. The rudderless coaching staff is led by head man Don Chaney, who's indicated a need to make the Knicks more of an attacking club on both sides of the ball, conveniently ignoring the fact that he has no personnel to make the uptempo game work--and the linchpin of such a game plan, Sprewell, started camp in his PJs, staring at his pinky.

Like it or not, Sprewell is the Knicks. The sooner New York brass understands that, the better the chance the team has of starting another postseason streak.