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The Bizarre Spree Chronicles

by Chad Ford

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Also Below: Bulls' guard feud won't go away | Jordan cashes in | Yao makes a big first impression | Turf Wars update | Peep Show

Where to begin? Where to begin?

The ongoing Latrell Sprewell-Knicks feud turned from surreal to bizarre Monday on several different fronts.

Should we start with his unauthorized press conference that he skipped? (This isn't practice Spree.)

Should we discuss his $40 million lawsuit against the New York Post for running a story that claimed he broke his hand in a fight? (That was Spree's real jab.)

Or maybe the spotlight should be on Knicks president Scott Layden, who suspended Spree Monday after learning that Spree took his hand splint off two days early. (Memo to Layden: Let it go before James Dolan lets you go.)

Wait . . . this just in. There may be a problem brewing in New York.

"We are very disappointed that we have to take these steps with Latrell, but his actions with regard to his rehabilitation have left us no choice," Layden said in a statement on Monday. "It is essential that Latrell follow the rehabilitation program developed for him by our medical and training staffs so his injury heals and he gets back in playing shape as soon as possible, and to date, he has not done that."

Wasn't it Layden who told reporters over the weekend that he wasn't giving any more Spree updates?

And what happened to Spree's "contrite" statement in which he took personal responsibility for his actions? Here it is folks.

"Everybody's pointed the finger at me and said look at what I've done since I've been here; look at them and what they've done," Spree told the New York Post, referring to Layden and the Garden executive Steve Mills. "You've all dug up my past. Look at Scott's track record since he's been here."

Coach choker versus team choker. It's almost too ugly to be true.

You almost wonder whether Layden is smarter than he comes off here. Perhaps Spree's right. Maybe Layden's pulling a classic "wag the dog" strategy by focusing the media on Spree and off a team that looks like a train wreck with Spree let alone with out him.

So where are we? Spree was suspended for just one preseason game. Layden said he'd like to meet with Spree to discuss reinstatement on Wednesday. Spree said he still wants to play for the Knicks and, in a bit of a shocker, said his hand is ahead of schedule on the rehab and he should be ready to go in the next two weeks. Something has to give and Spree is ready to press the issue.

"I'm just at the point where it's like, hey, suspend me and tell me not to come around," Spree said. "But don't tell me to come around at 3 o'clock when you know the team has practiced at 10:30 or so and you just don't want me around the players. I think that's unfair.I think at this point, they either have to let me start coming back or they just have to tell me to stay away."

Can there be a reconciliation? "Yeah, I would hope so," Spree said. "But how long has it been? I don't know if they're trying to make that so. I think they need to start communicating with me. They're not doing anything to make it better. I don't think they have to apologize. Just stop keeping me away from my teammates."

Others aren't so sure. N.Y. Daily News columnist Mike Lupica writes that it's time for the Knicks to make a decision.

"Here is a bulletin for the people running the Knicks now at the Comedy Garden, James Dolan and Steve Mills and Scott Layden: If they are this desperate to get rid of Sprewell, then get rid of him. Trade him now, and be happy with whatever you can get for him. Don't fine him for his finger, don't suspend him from preseason games, don't tell him to go away because he's been bad once too often. Or before the Knicks ever play a game this season, they will officially become the kind of joke organization the Nets used to be."

The N.Y. Times' Selena Roberts also has her doubts. "In a town where Spree Love is epidemic, the general manager who stares without blinking is acting without thinking. He cannot win this fight, not against a player who is as savvy as Sprewell. No one is as ambidextrous as Spree, able to act carelessly with one hand, while grabbing forgiveness with the other."

Sprewell Chronicles: Gibes and a Lawsuit

Chris Broussard / New York Times

Spree: I could return in 2 weeks

Marc Berman / New York Post

Spree vs. Knicks: Guess it was funny bone

Mike Lupica / New York Daily News

It's a Game the Knicks Cannot Win

Selena Roberts / New York Times

Soap Opera Has Become a Turnoff

Shaun Powell / Newsday

Bulls' guard feud won't go away

The Knicks aren't the only team that's managed to stay in the headlines for all the wrong reasons.

The Bulls were hoping for a smooth training camp after last season's debacle that saw Charles Oakley challenging management and Tim Floyd pulling his hair out. This fall, the spotlight has stayed fixed on the Jamal Crawford-Jay Williams camp war for the starting point guard position.

After rotating his starting point guard through the first six preseason games, coach Bill Cartwright started Williams at point guard for the second straight time Monday night. Was it a signal that Williams had finally won the starting job?

Apparently not. Cartwright attributed the move in part to Williams' tender groin, saying that starting the rookie would keep the aggravated area loose following warm-ups.

Neither player stood out. Crawford was 0-for-4 from the field and handed out three assists. Williams shot 2-of-7 from the field and dished out seven dimes.

Ironically, the Bulls played the T-Wolves. Minnesota has been rumored to be one of the teams interested in Crawford and forward Marcus Fizer.

GM Jerry Krause continues to insist that Williams and Crawford can co-exist. "They'll make each other better," Krause told the Chicago Tribune. "We had Pippen and Jordan at basically the same position and they made each other better."

However, the Chicago Sun-Times, citing a league general manager and a Bulls source, reported that Krause definitely wants to trade Crawford and is looking for frontcourt help in return.

Guard drama goes

K.C. Johnson / Chicago Tribune

Crawford on the block?

Roman Modrowski / Chicago Sun Times

Jordan cashes in

Does Michael Jordan really need the money, or was it just a coincidence that Jordan happened to make his first preseason appearance of the season in Denver?

Nuggets assistant GM Dave Fredman negotiated a contract with the Wizards that factored in whether or not Jordan played. The contract reads that Washington would get $200,000 if Jordan played and $50,000 if he didn't.

Jordan played, but the move may have backfired for the Nuggets. Because of Jordan's last minute announcement, the Nuggets only drew 10,221 fans.

"I talked to Dave Fredman," coach Doug Collins joked to the Rocky Mountain News. "If there's a bounty on Michael playing, then that goes to me. It's a coach's incentive. David Fredman and I cut a little side deal."

"Michael was ultra-sensitive." Collins said. "He did not want it in any way to look like he was playing [because] money is involved."

Said Jordan, "I would never do things for the sake of money. My decision to come back is merely for the sake of getting my timing back. I could care less what was being paid."

Jordan scored eight points in 15 minutes on 3 of 8 shooting. "I moved well," Jordan told the Washington Post. "I don't think I favored anything. Obviously my timing is off. It's going to take some time to adjust."

In a possible preview of things to come, Jordan played shooting guard and Jerry Stackhouse moved over to small forward.

"It's a little adjustment," Stackhouse said when asked about playing for the first time with Jordan. "We've got to keep working through it. When MJ is in there, we're going to do a few things different. That's just the way we're going to play as opposed to playing with other guys. When you score 30,000 points, they've got to cater to you a little bit."

Jordan Gets a Tuneup

Steve Wyche / Washington Post

Nuggets official worked hard to produce Jordan

Chris Tomasson / Rocky Mountain News

It's a sad sight when the Air has gone out of a legend

Bernie Lincicome / Rocky Mountain News

Yao makes a big first impression

Yao Ming's first practice as a Rocket got him off on the right foot.

"I don't think he could have had a better workout, considering he didn't know anything about our system coming in," coach Rudy Tomjanovich told the Houston Chronicle. "It's all new, and there's so much detail. We have numerous plays and terminology, and one word can change a whole play around. It's a learning process that's going to take time. We just have to be really careful not to throw the weight of the world on him."

Yao did have one scary moment when he landed on a teammate and tweaked his left foot, the same foot he sprained during the finals of the Asian Games last week. Rockets trainer Keith Jones said although the foot was a little tender, Yao was OK.

Yao is just happy to be playing.

"I'm not very tired. I'm excited, really excited," said Yao, who felt no ill effects from his foot or Sunday's 15-hour trans-Pacific flight. "When the coaches were first teaching me, everything was abstract. Now, it makes a lot more sense."

He's also got to be pretty pleased with the financial agreement his representatives reached with the Chinese.

The Wall Street Journal reported in today's edition the details of Yao Ming's financial agreements with the Shaghai Sharks and the Chinese Basketball Association. If Yao returns to China within three years, the Sharks get nothing. If he plays as long as 12 years, they will get between $8 million and $15 million of his salary and endorsements. The CBA will get around 5 percent of Yao's earnings.

That's still a pretty big cut of Yao's contract, but given the endorsement opportunities and previous reports about the government taking all of his money, it will do.

Yao quickly grasps basic system at first practice

Janny Hu / Houston Chronicle

Turf Wars update

Celtics: Coach Jim O'Brien announced his opening night starting lineup Monday. And the Celtics' starters for the regular season are ... Antoine Walker, Paul Pierce, Eric Williams, Tony Battie and Tony Delk. "Our starting lineup, and I don't anticipate this changing before the first game, is what you see us starting with now," O'Brien told the Boston Globe. "That's our best basketball team. That's the group that's proven themselves the best in preseason, offensively and defensively. They have been told." No real surprises here, though Vin Baker being left out has to be a disappointment to GM Chris Wallace.

Pistons: Coach Rick Carlisle hasn't made a commitment to a starting lineup, but it appears Zeljko Rebraca will start at center, Ben Wallace at power forward and Michael Curry at small forward. Richard Hamilton apparently will be the shooting guard and Chauncey Billups the point guard, the Detroit Free Press reported. Corliss Williamson, Cliff Robinson, Chucky Atkins and Jon Barry figure to round out the nine-man rotation. Mehmet Okur and Tayshaun Prince are also pressing for minutes.

Heat: Coach Pat Riley said forward Malik Allen has been his most consistent performer and will likely be the team's starting power forward if he's healthy. Allen injured his right knee last weekend, but said he'll be ready to go on opening night. "I don't think there's any doubt that he probably would have earned a starting spot," Riley told the Miami Herald. "He's been our most consistent scorer. And he's been playing the game very well, making plays and making shots. That's what the two years [on the bench] has been for."

Raptors: Coach Lenny Wilkens said that for the immediate future, he will start Antonio Davis against smaller opponents and newcomer Jelani McCoy against bigger foes at center. "It depends on your opponent and what type of defense you're playing," Wilkens told the Toronto Star. "If you've got good defence where you can trap, rotate and double-team, you're not so reliant [on a dominating center]. It can be an advantage to use a smaller lineup where you can run, trap and rotate players. Our flexibility has been real good and that's what you want. We've got a few guys that can play two or three different positions."

Cavs: Milt Palacio and Bimbo Coles are still battling for the starting point guard position, although Palacio has played more minutes during the exhibition season. Palacio, who started against Utah Friday, is averaging 8.5 points and 3.3 assists in three preseason games. Coles is averaging 3.2 points and 2.3 assists in two games. "Milt has gained some ground on Bimbo but they're running neck and neck," coach John Lucas told the Cleveland Plain Dealer. "Don't be concerned about who starts. What matters is who's in there during the last five minutes."

A case of fits and starts

Shira Springer / Boston Globe

Carlisle tweaks Piston rotation

Perry Farell / Detroit Free Press

Allen gets good news: knee injury not bad

Israel Gutierrez / Miami Heral

Raptors trying to develop versatility

Michael Clarkson / Toronto Star

Wagner stays behind as Cavaliers head to West Coast

Branson Wright / Cleveland Plain Dealer

Peep Show

Pacers: Reggie Miller is still coping with the ankle injury he sustained at the World Championships in August. "I still feel I'm two steps behind everyone conditioning-wise and with foot speed," Miller told the Indianapolis Star. "It's nowhere near 100 percent, but sometimes you have to play a little gimpy. That's what I'll probably be doing unless something dramatic happens."

Clippers: Quentin Richardson told the OC Register that he will be ready for the regular-season opener Oct. 30. Elton Brand said he hopes to be ready by then, too. Meanwhile, Michael Olowokandi said that he hopes to be pain free by next week but if not he said he would play through the pain when the regular season begins. Trainer Jasen Powell reported Monday that Lamar Odom's rehab is going better than expected and he's on target to return by late December.

Kings: For the first time in awhile, Peja Stojakovic showed no effects from the sore right foot that had troubled him. "I'm feeling all right," he told the Sacramento Bee. "My foot is better. It's not 100 percent healed, but it doesn't bother me when I run or jump. It's still at the point where I'm careful where I step. But I don't have any pain, so it's getting better each and every day. It's been like five days I'm practicing now since I sat out, so it feels good."

Blazers: The team is still waiting on Arvydas Sabonis to get back into playing shape. "Working out today, I felt much better," Sabonis told the Oregonian. "But it's one [exhibition] game. What good would that do now? We'll wait until the season starts." Said assistant coach Jim Lynam: "The most important thing with Arvydas is that he get healthy. He hasn't done this stuff in over a year, so it's been a little touch and go. "

Hornets: P.J. Brown and Baron Davis could play in Friday's game, and coach Paul Silas said the swelling in Jamal Mashburn's knee has gone down, the Times Picayune reported.

Nets, Sixers: Coach Byron Scott just won't leave Keith Van Horn alone. He defended the trade of Van Horn to the 76ers again on Monday. "You can teach guys to play defense. You can teach them how to defend certain things," Scott told the N.Y. Daily News. "But you can't teach a guy how to close out on a guy who's much quicker. Certain things you can't teach. When a team is isolating a guy on the wing, you can teach where your help is and things like that. But you can't teach quick feet. It's just like you can't teach size." Scott said Jefferson's emergence last season was one of the main reasons the Nets were confident enough to make the deal. "Richard is a better athlete, a better defensive player," Scott said. "A lot of games I had Richard and Kenyon [Martin] in there at the end because they were better defensive players."

Warriors: Unorthodox and obsessed with winning, new Warriors head coach Eric Musselman is doing his best to exorcise all of the bad karma of Warriors past. "I feel like I'm on a new team," Troy Murphy told the Contra Costa Times. "The outlook, the approach, the whole organization. By look and feel, it's like a different team. Everything's changed from last year."

Wizards: The team exercised the option on forward Etan Thomas's contract to retain him for a fourth year.

To sit or not to sit

Mark Montieth / Indianapolis Star

Clippers workload must stay heavy

Art Thompson III / OC Register

Stojakovic says his foot is feeling better

Martin McNeal / Sacramento Bee

Sabonis won't play tonight, hopes to be ready for opener

Jim Beseda / Oregonian

Musselman laying a solid foundation

Matt Steinmetz / Contra Costa Times