Latrell Sprewell was scheduled to put himself on public display Thursday night. That, after all, is one of his roles this season. He is like some visitor from an uncharted land, and this means he will be a source of curiosity in every arena.
“I have things to prove, of course,” he acknowledged. “That I can still play well. That I’m not the person I was made out to be during the incident. Those are the two major things I want to prove. Obviously, I don’t want to go out and have terrible games. But I just want people to see the real me, not all the stuff they may have read. “There was just so much written that was so untrue about my personality and character. I’m not that way. I’m myself. That’s kind of hard to explain, how I am. But I would definitely say I’m not the way I was portrayed to be.”
In the months that followed his vicious attack last season on Golden State coach P.J. Carlesimo, Sprewell was portrayed as rabid and rebellious, as surly and just about everything short of a serial killer. This made him a risk for the New York Knicks when they acquired him from the Warriors on Jan. 21, but in the weeks since then he has belied that public image and fit easily with his new teammates.
This new reality is what he had hoped to display during their 73-68 win over the Bulls. But 48 hours earlier, a series of exams discovered a stress fracture in his right heel. That meant no games for at least the next three weeks.
“It was disappointing,” Sprewell said as he sat alone in a corner of the Knicks’ United Center locker room. “Obviously, I wanted to play and try to get familiar with these guys as soon as possible and fit in. So it’s a setback. But three weeks isn’t too terrible, if it’s three weeks.”
His injured foot was propped up onto a stool and he was continually searching for a comfortable way to sit. Still, patiently, he fielded questions, and offered up answers easily and amiably.
What did he miss during his 14 months away from the game?
“Camaraderie, travel, a number of things,” he said. “The actual games, the excitement of playing, scoring, dunking the ball. I could think of a number of things. Every little aspect that you take for granted when you’re playing all the time you appreciate when you’re not out there. I was frustrated. Definitely frustrated.
“What helped me is when I did get upset I’d go to the weight room, try to do something to stay active. I didn’t want to get too fat.”
And how did it feel to get back?
“It felt great. Great,” he said. “It has been a long wait, and to be back at it again, to get the first game behind you and back in the swing of things felt great.”
Before his setback, Sprewell had been given a standing ovation in his new Madison Square Garden home. “I was unsure how they’d accept me, so that was great,” he said. He also had a rude razzing during the Knicks’ season opener in Orlando. “That comes with the territory.”
In New York’s loss to the Magic, he showed promise while leading the Knicks with 24 points, but two days later, in their loss to the Heat, he managed but five points on 2-of-12 shooting.
His experiences have been as inconsistent as the team for which he plays, but still, he is back from exile and again part of the NBA. He does not care that he continually must put himself on public display, or that he is now such a source of curiosity.
“I’m just glad to have it behind me,” he said.
“I’m just glad to be here with an organization that has accepted me and with fans that have accepted me, and with a team that has a high standard. So I’m not harping on that stuff anymore, you know. I’m just getting past that and moving on.”
Is he sorry the Carlesimo incident happened?
“Oh, of course. But, hey, you learn from mistakes and you have to move on. When you do make mistakes, you learn from them and get better as a person. Like I say, you just go on.”
What did he learn?
The chuckle that greets this question is as soft as his image is hard, and from behind it Latrell Sprewell finally said: “That’s a long list about people, and I don’t want to get into all that. I’ve learned a lot, I will say that.
“But like I said, life goes on.”
