Latrell Sprewell's statement

[Warwick Janetzki <giants@icplus.net.au>]

Transcript of Latrell Sprewell's public statement Tuesday in Oakland,
               Calif.:

"First of all I want to thank everyone for coming today. I want to start
by
apologizing publicly to P.J. Carlesimo and to Garry St. Jean. I spoke
with P.J.
Sunday over the phone and I spoke with St. Jean on Monday. I think both
conversations went well and I we all feel good about what was said.

"The reason I didn't come out publicly in the first interview is because
I hadn't
talked to those guys personally, I hadn't talked to either one of them
on the
phone, so therefore I didn't feel I could go out and give them an
apology, or
apologize to those guys through the media. I didn't think that would be
the right
thing to do. I just wanted to do it personally before I did it publicly.

"I also want to thank all of these guys that are
standing behind me at this time. I know this is a
difficult situation for them, and I put them in a,
like I said, an awkward position, but I want to
thank them for being here.

"I want to thank all of my family that has been
behind me -- they have just been by my side
through this. My friends, all the people, my fans
-- all the people who have just given me cards
or flowers or whatever. I just want to thank
them also for being supportive.

"I have to say that I never really got a chance
to tell my side of the story. There were times
where I reached out and tried to reach out to
try to rectify the situation here at Golden State.
I was willing to meet with the team and the
league after being suspended and it just seemed like no one wanted to
hear what
I had to say.

"I hoped that the league would at least just afford me the opportunity
to come
out and just hear me -- that's all I really wanted to be able to do,
just tell what
happened. And no one was willing to listen at that time.

"I think there are several things that can be learned from this
incident. For me,
the one thing that I've learned is that I have to do a better job of
controlling my
temper, when I'm put in the situation where frustration mounts and you
want to
lose control. ... I know that I will do a better job of just controlling
-- like I said
-- my temper, and watching what I do.

"I know that this conduct is not appropriate in society or in
professional sports,
and I totally accept responsibility for what I've done.
"I realize that there's other ways of handling things when you are
frustrated. I
think one thing that I could have possibly done to try to prevent this
situation
from happening is to come out to the media, to come out to the press,
when
things were starting to get bad at Golden State. I feel that maybe if I
had said
things, and let it be known that something was wrong, instead of holding
all of
that in, that maybe I could have handled that situation better.

"I have worked hard to get where I
am today. This just didn't happen
for me overnight. I played one year
of high school basketball under
James Gordon at the Washington
High School. I played two years at
under coach Gene Best. I played two years at the University of Alabama
under
Wimp Sanderson, five years here at Golden State, a few years under coach
Don
Nelson and two under Rick Adleman.

"I think if you look at those coaches, and you look at their programs
and how
they emphasized discipline, you know I never had a problem with any of
those
guys. And I think if you talk to them they can tell you that I am a good
person
and I've never had any situation like this come up.

"I think if you look back -- and I've looked back -- over that span,
those 10
years, and I just feel that those 10 years of hard work shouldn't be
taken away
for one mistake. My career didn't happen overnight, and I don't think it
should
have been taken away from me overnight.

"A lot has been in said in the media, on TV, in the paper, about what
has
happened and the events that have taken place. In my opinion, a lot of
it has
been one-sided, and I've really been looked upon as a negative person,
as a
person that can't handle problems, and isn't good in problem-solving
situations,
and that is totally not true.

"I've been vilified. I mean, every time I look at a clip in the news
it's always a
picture of me looking mad or being aggressive. I never saw pictures of
myself
where I had a smile on my face, and there are times when I'm on the
court and
I'm happy, but I never saw that. It was always negative, and I thought
that that
was unfair.

"I have to say that I would love to answer you guys' questions, because
I do feel
that I was treated unfairly. But I have to say that these guys have
advised me,
because of the pending arbitration, that I can't comment on a lot of the
issues
that are at hand here. I have to trust their judgment in that. There's a
lot at stake
for me, and I don't want to come up here and jeopardize what's at stake
here.

"I hope that all of you can remain open-minded. I'm not, like I said,
condoning
what I did, and there is no excuse for that. I just want people to
understand my
position at this point.

"I know that going through all of this will make me a better person and
a better
man, and I truly believe that. I just hope that everyone out there can
forgive me
for the mistake that I made, and hopefully, nothing like this will ever
happen
again.

"There are lessons to be learned here and hopefully, everyone can learn
something from it. We all can take something from this incident.

"I understand that there are many fans that feel that I let them down, I
want to
say to them I'm sorry. Again I want to apologize to my teammates, the
entire
organization here, because I have made a lot of friends here, and the
Bay Area
has been great to me. I really want to apologize to them. I want to
thank all of
you for coming out, and at least hearing what I have to say.

"I wish I could answer more questions and just be open to you guys, but
the
seriousness of this is so great that I can't. It means so much to me to
get back on
the court that I don't want to jeopardize that at this point. So I have
to turn it
over to these guys and let them answer any questions that you might
have.

"Again I want to say I'm totally sorry for what happened, and I want to
thank
these guys again that are standing behind me because they really know
what
happened, and they understand my position and my side, and again, it
takes a lot
for them to be here.

"So, at this time, I think I'll just turn it over to Billy (Hunter), Arn
(Tellem) and let them go from there."