It took awhile, but every NBA free agent eventually found his way to a team. Curry is with the Knicks, Allen is with the Sonics, Johnson is with the Hawks, and free agency is pretty much over. Wait...I'm forgetting someone. Hey, where's Latrell Sprewell? Yes, Minnesota's separation of Cassell and Sprewell has gone so well that Sprewell isn't even in the NBA right now. In fact, he might never come back.
Just how bad was Sprewell's season last year: how about no-job bad. In a Marketing Evaluations Q-rating for sports athletes, Spree was dead last, that's right, the worst. First came his quote about having to feed his family with a $14.6 million salary. Then there was an incident where he cursed out a Clippers fan within earshot of television cameras. Finally there was the chemistry issues mixed with his T-wolves teammates and his horrible production that kept Minnesota out of the playoffs one year past from having the best record in the league.
Sprewell had the absolute worst year of his career last year, suffering career-lows in Points, Rebounds, Assists and Minutes Per Game. Combine that with his unforgettable altercation with P.J. Carlisemo and the high contract he'd surely demand, and the Nuggets, Clippers and Lakers have all stopped taking phone calls. And lets face it; Spree is the one guy (who if he were still playing) that has a worst reputation than Ron Artest. Except, Sprewell doesn't act as innocent as Artest does.
Hold on a minute; maybe we're being a little too quick to jump the gun. Let's let Sprewell speak for himself: "I stopped at Cub Foods for the first time since 1991 and picked up six packages of Pork Ramen for 78 cents. I barely had enough for the 58-cent box of Best Yet Mac and Cheese, but we'll just pinch our pennies for the next day or so." Now that was pretty moronic, but let's see if we can go a step higher: and I quote: "One of my boys got teased by a sixth grade girl on the bus, that stupid little whore." There we go. And yet, people don't seem to like him. A real head-scratcher.
Overall, Sprewell might not play at all this season, and he deserves no excuses. Choking a coach is more than enough to get you thrown out, but he got a second chance. Sure he did okay at first in New York, but he's really collapsed since then. A guy as separated from the real world as anyone, Spree turns 36 in 2006. Getting paid millions of dollars to play basketball is a hell of a privilege, and Spree has worn out his welcome. No team will dare pick him up, because of the negative press they'd receive. Not only that, but it was Latrell Sprewell who monopolized those stupid rim-spinners on cars (AKA Sprewells). Add it all up, and that $7 million extension the Wolves offered him a year ago is starting to look awfully good now, especially if he never plays again.
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