The real Sprewell.(Latrell Sprewell, professional basketball player)(Interview)

Publication: The Sporting News

Publication Date: 26-FEB-01

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COPYRIGHT 2001 Sporting News Publishing Co.

He is the same person who choked his coach three seasons ago, but there is much more to Latrell Sprewell, as teammates and fans are finding out

The Knicks had just beaten the Wizards, but something still was Latrell Sprewell as he sat in the visitors' locker room at the MCI Center.

The cause of his dismay? A second-quarter technical foul handed to him by official Eddie T. Rush.

"I wasn't even talking to him," Sprewell said. "I was just walking away. Now it puts a blemish on my record. I only had one (technical) for my career, and now I have two."

While Sprewell actually has drawn a modest nine technical fouls in nine NBA seasons, that was, by his count, only his second for griping with officials. He received a third last week after questioning Ron Olesiak in Utah.

"I'm just not the type of person to argue with referees," says Sprewell. "I can talk lo someone without having to curse them out, or shout in their face."

Is Sprewell kidding? Isn't this the same guy who choked and assaulted Warriors coach P.J. Carlesimo in 1997 after becoming infuriated with Carlesimo's sarcasm during a practice? Yes--and no.

That's because, as his surprisingly cordial long-time relationship with officials suggests, there's a lot more to the personality of one of the league's most difficult-to-pigeonhole players.

In fact, Sprewell possesses many of the very attributes that his dwindling number of detractors would like to see in an NBA player--humble, hardworking, eloquent, team-oriented, and even (believe it or not) respectful of his coach.

So though there might have been some surprise when commissioner David Stem--a former antagonist of Sprewell's in the courtroom--selected Sprewell to replace injured Grant Hill in the recent All-Star Game, the choice merely proves Stern recognizes the cartoonish negative image of Sprewell is woefully incomplete.

Sprewell hopes his AU-Star selection--his fourth, but his first since the choking--will be a springboard toward an image that goes beyond the one brought out after his assault on Carlesimo.

"You saw a bunch of pictures of...

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