SEATTLE – Latrell Sprewell was stung yesterday by scathing remarks from Byron Scott, who remarked the Knick star “sets a bad example for other guys.”
“He hasn’t coached me,” Sprewell said before last night’s 103-94 loss to the Sonics. “He has no idea how I play, when I’m late, when I’m not. It’s unfair to me.
“As a coach who’s played, he should understand certain things. He really doesn’t know me as a person. I was surprised. I’ve always wished him luck,” Sprewell said.
Asked if he would have traded Keith Van Horn for Sprewell, Scott bluntly said, in part, “No, I don’t like guys who are on their own time. Spree comes to practice when he wants to, comes to games when he wants to.”
The timing couldn’t be worse as the Knicks braced last night for their final game before today’s 3 p.m. trading deadline, with GM Scott Layden trying to pull off a move – likely one that won’t involve Sprewell.
“If something does happen, I don’t think it’d be because they were so ticked about what happened earlier in the season,” Sprewell said. “It’d be something they have to do to help the team.”
Sprewell has drawn varying degrees of interest from Philly, Dallas, Miami, Washington, San Antonio, the Lakers, and Portland but his maximum contract – which pays him $12.3M this season and $29M the next two years – is making him tough to deal.
Van Horn is still on the block, Layden likes him, but sources said it was a no-go. One late report was an oldie – Sprewell for Jerry Stackhouse.