Sprewell got off easy
Posted: Wed December 3, 1997 at 2:03 PM ET
Latrell Sprewell should have spent Monday night in jail.
If he had accosted a man on the street the way he wrestled Golden State coach P.J. Carlesimo into a chokehold, then returned, some 15 minutes later, to renew the altercation with punches to Carlesimo's neck, he would have been arrested for assault.
Instead, in America's indoor schoolyard we call the NBA, Sprewell was pried off his coach, and sent home immediately, presumably without supper.
Witnesses said Sprewell's explosion was frightening, horrifying. But hey, guess what? He just wants to put this whole thing behind him.
And worse, the biggest loser in all of this is Carlesimo, the victim, and that stinks. What are people talking about? Wow, that PJ, he sure has trouble relating to his players, doesn't he?
So what exactly did Carlesimo say to Sprewell to send him into this rage? He told him to put a little more effort into a drill. Last time I checked, that's a coach's job.
Sprewell has a history of violent outbursts. He went after Jerome Kersey in Portland, and once jumped Warriors teammate Byron Houston with such viciousness that even 250-pound coach Bob Lanier had trouble containing him.
Sprewell has done it again and he'll be back, of course, some 10 games from now, and we will be told he has paid the price, including more than $900,000 in lost wages.
But we know better. We know its only bingo money to Sprewell, and in the end, he will get what he wanted all along: a trade, because he can shoot, and he can score, and in the increasingly offensive-challenged NBA, those are priceless skills.
Sources told me while San Antonio was horrified at what Sprewell did, they're not so horrified that they've scrapped their hope of acquiring him. That's right. Send Sprewell to play alongside David Robinson and Tim Duncan. That'll show him.
Meanwhile, a shell-shocked Carlesimo struggles to restore his dignity. Those scratches on his neck are healing already, but the damage runs much, much deeper.
Sprewell assaulted his reputation, and damaged it beyond repair.
If NBA commissioner David Stern cares anything about his coaches, and the image of his game, he should step in and require Sprewell to undergo mandatory counseling, insist on a public apology to Carlesimo, and while he's at it, why not tack another 20 games or so, with another couple million in fine money for good measure.
P.J. Carlesimo is a man who loves and respects the game of basketball. He found himself in a street brawl Monday, and recognized he could not, and should not, fight back. So what do you say, commissioner? How about landing a punch for him?
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