Sprewell Headed To Miami? To Boston?

[Way Of The Ray <wayray@ix.netcom.com>]

Posted at 5:27 p.m. EDT Saturday,            
September 12, 1998

Latrell Sprewell rumors abound
regarding his next destination

         By IRA WINDERMAN
   Sun-Sentinel, South Florida

FORT LAUDERDALE -- Perhaps
Latrell Sprewell will be nothing
more than Derrick Coleman was
last year for the Heat: a player
unceasingly linked in trade
rumors but ultimately never to
arrive.

Perhaps.

Or perhaps the extenuating
circumstances make these rumors
too much to ignore.

Last summer, new 76ers coach
Larry Brown and Coleman sparred
through the media about a
perceived incompatibility. For
months the trade winds gusted due
south.

The difference this time is that
Sprewell and Warriors coach P.J.
Carlesimo already have gone well
beyond sparring. And for
Sprewell, there appears to be no
turning back.

The Heat-Sprewell link has grown
so out of control that:

- A respected former NBA coach
still very much in the NBA loop
asked a South Florida reporter
this summer if he was ready to
cover Sprewell.

- Another former NBA coach
already is predicting a drop-off
by Heat point guard Tim Hardaway
if Sprewell, Hardaway's Golden
State nemesis, lands in Miami.

- ESPN, on its web site, is
listing the Heat's '98-99
starting backcourt as Sprewell
and Hardaway.

- And in a truly incomprehensible
rumor, a Warriors report on The
Sporting News' web site reports
the Heat has ``a package on the
table that includes forwards P.J.
Brown, Jamal Mashburn and Keith
Askins, for Sprewell and another
player, possibly point guard
Bimbo Coles.'' (Considering
Askins is a free agent, you
shouldn't take that one to the
bank -- especially because the
Heat would be out of its mind to
offer that much.)

Still, Sprewell will continue to
loom large on the trade market
until the Warriors can unload
him, which cannot happen until
the end of the lockout.

While much of the Sprewell talk
is speculation, what is clear is
that the Warriors are tired of
Sprewell and Sprewell is tired of
being linked to Golden State and
his attack last December on
Carlesimo.

What is known about the Heat is
that coach Pat Riley still had
interest in Sprewell at the end
of last season.

But that was before Sprewell was
sentenced to house arrest after a
no-contest plea on an ugly
traffic arrest.

And it was before Sprewell
continued to press forward in the
legal system to exonerate himself
from his attack on Carlesimo.

Even before the opening bell of
Sprewell vs. Carlesimo, the
Golden State shooting guard had
an ugly history with Hardaway.
Now, the baggage would appear to
be overwhelming for the Heat to
maintain interest.

No matter where Sprewell lands
(and someone will lust after one
of the game's premier backcourt
scorers enough to make a bid),
the scrutiny will be exhaustive.

``People look at me now like I'm
the symbol for the bad boy of the
NBA,'' Sprewell said after
claiming the NBA destroyed
evidence in its arbitration case
against him last season. ``My
biggest concern is how the public
perceives me. I've been
vilified.''

Depending on when camps open,
Sprewell could have enough
problems just getting back on the
court, with three months home
detention due to his no-contest
plea in the auto incident. He
could wind up participating in
training camp wearing an ankle
bracelet, thus providing the
ultimate challenge for the
trainer charged to tape his
ankles.

Sprewell's home in the Hayward
Hills area of the East Bay
already is up for sale. His home
detention likely will be served
in his Milwaukee home.

But when he gets back on the
court, he wants it to be with a
winner.

``I would love to be on a team
that's winning,'' he said. ``As
long as we're winning ... it
doesn't matter where I am.''

Even beyond the excess baggage
Sprewell would carry from ankle
on up, there also could be salary
concerns, with the shooting guard
under contract for only two more
seasons.

Should the NBA adopt a hard
salary cap in its labor
negotiations, as it is seeking,
it could leave a high-salary team
such as the Heat in a difficult
position to re-sign Sprewell
during the 2000 offseason.

An option lost

With Christian Laettner facing up
to nine months rehabilitation for
a ruptured Achilles, teams in
search of a free-agent power
forward have lost a fall-back
position. The Pistons, for
example, are expected to make a
run at Minnesota free agent Tom
Gugliotta, but also had been
considering Laettner. Teams with
an eye on Philadelphia's Coleman
also had considered Laettner as
part of a Plan B. For the Hawks,
the news of the injury sustained
in a pickup game at Duke hardly
was devastating -- as long as
they can re-sign Alan Henderson,
a free agent who usurped
Laettner's starting role in
Atlanta for the final 33 games of
last season. ...

As for the Timberwolves retaining
Gugliotta, the fiscal insanity in
Minnesota might make it
impossible. Not only were the
'Wolves cornered into giving
Kevin Garnett a $126 million
extension last summer, but word
now is that Minnesota guard
Stephon Marbury will ask for a
$128 million package when the
lockout ends. With that type of
outlay, it is difficult to
imagine Gugliotta cashing in with
the 'Wolves, as well. ...

Al Harrington, the forward who
went directly from high school to
the Pacers' first-round pick in
the June draft, is biding his
time during the lockout by living
in the Indiana home of Pacers
forward Antonio Davis. Of having
yet to cash in as a pro, the
former New Jersey prep star said,
``If I knew this lockout was
going to happen, I'd have gone to
school.'' Low-profile approach

Denver appears poised to put its
search for a high-profile coach
on hold, with Mike D'Antoni
likely to hold the job for a year
as the Nuggets concentrate on
wooing Phil Jackson for
1999-2000.

Denver's only remaining assistant
coach from the otherwise exiled
staff of Bill Hanzlik, D'Antoni
has six years of coaching
experience in the Italian League,
where he went 144-68.

D'Antoni chuckled about possibly
being allowed to return from a
staff that guided Denver to an
11-71 record.

``If you don't make the same
mistake twice, we shouldn't make
any mistakes this year,'' he
said.

Obviously, a sense of humor has
helped the former NBA and ABA
point guard.

``Anytime a prospective coach
calls in and I intercept the
phone call, I don't pass them
on,'' he told the Rocky Mountain
News. ``That's why I'm in the
office all the time. Nothing gets
by me.''

There had been thought that Dan
Issel, the Nuggets' new general
manager, would return to Denver's
sidelines.

``Phil Jackson called three times
last week, but Dan doesn't know
about it,'' D'Antoni joked. ``One
ring, and I'm on it.'' A Lucas
return?

Former Spurs and 76ers coach John
Lucas will interview this week
for an assistant's position on a
potential D'Antoni staff.
D'Antoni also has looked at
former Kings coach Eddie Jordan
and 76ers assistant Gar Heard as
a lead assistant. Lucas has
worked out Nuggets guard Nick Van
Exel this summer in Houston and
their relationship works in
Lucas' favor. ...

It hardly comes as a shock that
the only thing that came between
Kurt Rambis and the Clippers'
coaching job was a low-ball offer
by Clippers' management. Rambis,
who will remain a Lakers
assistant, had received an offer
from the Clippers that would have
put him near the bottom of the
coaching salary list, not far
above what some leading
assistants make. ...

While Rambis also had been linked
to the Kings' coaching vacancy,
Hornets assistant Paul Silas
appears to have the edge there,
having already been called back
for a second interview. Rick
Adelman, the leading candidate
for the coaching vacancy at
Portland State, also remains a
Kings possibility.

X X X

(c) 1998, Sun-Sentinel, South
Florida.

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