Re: Sprewell

[Matt Healy <mhealy@welchlink.welch.jhu.edu>]

>Matt Healy wrote:
>
>> Three cheers for the previously insulted Gary St. Jean.  This is not a
>> great business decision.  Probably not a great basketball decision.  But
>> this is without question, the right decision, and he deserves a great
>> deal of respect for standing up and making that decision.  We can only
>> hope this will set a precedent for what kind of behavior is unacceptable
>> for players.
>
>Actually, I think this decision *is* a great business decision, *and* a
>great basketball decision.  Before Sprewell's assault on Carlesimo, he was
>an overpaid player with little trade value who was not helping his team
>win.

I think Sprewell was one of the most talented players in the league, and a
true all-star.  I'm not sure he was that overpaid, by todays standards, and
I think the team is going to win fewer games without him.  I still think he
is a cancer, and the team will be better off without him in the long run,
but if it were a great basketball decision, they'd have made it long ago,
and he never would have  gotten the contract to begin with.  Basically, I
think Sprewell was a star, and it seems rare to see a team deal with a star
in this way.  Lawrence Phillips is a budding star, but not there yet for
sure.  Cordero was certainly not a star, and there were accusations that
the Red Sox would have looked the other way if it were Mo Vaughn (and maybe
so, lets leave that alone).  I think this decision was absolutely correct,
but also gutsy, because it is dropping the most talented player on the
team, and probably their biggest fan draw.

>
>It will be interesting to see what happens with the player's association
>grievance.  They will probably contend that the Warriors' decision was
>motivated not by the assault, but rather by their inability to get rid of
>Sprewell (and his contract) any other way.  The player's association will
>contend that Warriors' management is using the assault as an excuse to get
>rid of Sprewell.  And, it wouldn't surprise me if that was true.

Its a pretty darn good excuse.  In fact, I think its the reason, not an
excuse.  Why get rid of an all-star?  Would the Celtics just dump Walker?
They wanted to get rid of Sprewell because he is the kind of person that
would attack a coach.  Before this incident, they could have traded
Sprewell.  For a while they had to be hoping that he would pull out of his
attitude problem.  But this is totally legit.  He violated terms of his
contract, and they should not be bound to keep somebody on their team who
does something like this.

Matt