ONCE again, Byron Scott, the Knicks’ off-sight consultant, has been kind enough to carve out time from his hectic agenda to evaluate Latrell Sprewell’s professionalism.
Let’s give it up for Lord Byron; most of us spend far too much time trying to camouflage our inflated opinions of ourselves. The Nets’ coach is not shy about letting us see that Jason Kidd’s success has gone to his head.
No problem. I’m not about begrudging any mope his delusion of grandeur. If Scott is convinced he has something significant to do with his team’s winning ways, far be it from me to rock his reality. Let him hallucinate home and away while he can for all I care; because when Kidd fast breaks to San Antonio this summer as a free agent, Scott will be so busy trying to stay employed he won’t have time to meddle in outside affairs.
Now that the Sonics are without a pure point guard (with apologies to Brent Barry and Kevin Ollie), you’ll probably hear there’s a chance Kidd could wind up in Seattle because of his connection and affection for team owner Howard Schultz.
Yet, there is no chance; it has something to do with having no capacity to win it all or pay Kidd remotely (roughly $7 million in cap room) what he’s worth. He’ll either sign with the Nets or the Spurs.
As stated early and often in this space, the odds heavily favor the warm climate championship contending team that flaunts Tim Duncan, as well as Tony Parker (how intoxicating would he and Jason be in the same accelerated backcourt!), Manu Ginobili and Malik Rose.
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Upon hearing of the untimely death (so much for the federal government’s case) of his sugar daddy, “Con Ed” Martin, C-Note Webber denied taking the pennies from his eyelids.
From what I’m told, the Knicks could’ve had Antonio Davis and Mo Peterson (unofficially retired Hakeem Olajuwon was a throw-in for cap purposes) from the Raptors had Scott Layden been willing to give up Kurt Thomas along with Sprewell. The Knick VP refused to budge, offering Othella Harrington instead as the second piece.
To prove Todd MacCulloch wasn’t faking nerve damage in his feet, the Sixers enlisted John Croce to play “this little piggy” with the center. “I rifled through all 10 toes,” Croce testified, “and he didn’t feel a thing.”
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When Jerry West arrived in Memphis he was determined to acquire several players – Mike Dunleavy, Mike Miller, Earl Watson and Rodney White. Two down, two to go. West recruited Watson as a free agent, secured Miller (for Drew Gooden and Gordon Giricek) after months of futile offers involving Stromile Swift. Sources say Warrior coach Eric Musselman endorsed exchanging Dunleavy for Gooden, but was overruled by management; at which time West went to Plan B and dealt the 6-10 forward to Orlando.
At first glance, the inclination is to think John Gabriel got the best of West; Gooden provides desperately needed low dock presence and Giricek can make the defense pay from outside if it doubles Tracy McGrady, whereas Miller, a heralded basketball junkie, is a defensive dead spot and most effective on the outskirts of the offense.
Well, think again. Nobody can remember the last time (first time) West gave up on a first-round pick (No. 4) so quickly. That alone should be enough to make Magic fans nervous and raise the suspicion there’s something radically wrong with Gooden.
The argument by the Grizzlies that he’s too slow to guard threes and not tough enough to guard fours is only scratching the surface, Apparently, the self-acclaimed “Killa” is awfully peculiar, not particularly coachable and is said to be sky-high maintenance.
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Contrary to yet another one of ESPN’s artificial exclusives, the Bucks did not petition the league for more time in order to trade Sam Cassell ($4.8M) for Sprewell ($12.3M).
You’d think their salary disparity would’ve tipped off the network (and the nitwits in the media who spread the account without checking the facts) that it made no sense. Ernie Grunfeld says his Bucks haven’t had a conversation with the Knicks about Sprewell since last summer when Glenn Robinson could’ve been had even up for him.
Another fake story circulating as the deadline approached had the Bucks sending Cassell to the Lakers for Derek Fisher. Except for a petty salary point (Fisher earns $1.8M less than Cassell) and a minor detail regarding a lack of communication between the two teams concerning those players, it would’ve been a major coup for Phil Jackson; imagine having someone beside Kobe capable of manufacturing his own shot. Opponents (and some Lakers) were praying it was true as well;
Cassell is one of the only players capable of keeping the ball out of Kobe’s hands for long stretches.
Naturally, any and all proposed Laker deals had to be false; the deadline on the West Coast was noon. Jerry Buss couldn’t have given his approval; he doesn’t wake up that early.