Top 100 NBA Players: #71

Latrell Sprewell

(BBR: #154)

Latrell Sprewell's off-the-court problems often overshadowed his on-the-court success, which is a reason that many wouldn't call him one of the all-time greats, but when he was letting his play on the court do the talking, he was among the elite.

Sprewell started his career in Golden State, and was an immediate impact player for the Warriors. In just his second year he averaged 21.0 points per game while leading the league in minutes played and was named to the All-NBA First Team. What's strange is that it was the only time in his career that he would be voted All-NBA.

After a couple of subpar seasons, Sprewell put up a masterpiece in 1996-97, setting career highs in scoring, assists, and steals, causing the Warriors to feel like he earned the huge contract they had just given him. Although the Warriors failed to make the playoffs, he did get voted to the All-Star Team and started to look like one of the league's new superstars. Let's look at the numbers he put up that year.

Sprewell - 24.2 pts, 4.6 reb, 6.3 ast, 1.7 stl, .449 FG%, .354 3P%, .843 FT%

A lot was expected from Sprewell coming off a season like that, but after a disappointing start to the season, the incident for which he is most famous occurred, and only those who knew him well could have seen it coming. When his coach asked him to "put some mustard" on his passes, Sprewell lost it and choked his coach. After his teammates pulled him off, he left for a few minutes, then returned throwing punches before leaving for good. It turns out that this was not an isolated incident. Teammates reported other violent incidents, including once when he came after Jerome Kersey with a 2x4. He was suspended for the remainder of the season, then traded away as soon as the suspension was over.

He made his comeback with the New York Knicks in 1999, proclaiming himself a changed man, and his play and demeanor seemed to show that. He came off the bench in his first season there, playing an important role on a team that barely made the playoffs, but in the postseason he took over, becoming the best player on a team that surprised everyone and advanced to the NBA Finals, where they lost to the San Antonio Spurs.

That performance was enough for New York to give him a starting job the next season, and he once again put up quality numbers, and once again led a run deep into the playoffs, this time getting only as far as the Eastern Conference Finals. It appeared that Sprewell had really changed, but few realized that his time as an impact player was nearly over.

After a few more less successful years with the Knicks, he was traded to Minnesota, where he joined Kevin Garnett on a team that was primed for a playoff run. He adjusted well to being the sidekick to that season's MVP, and he once again saw his team advance to the Conference Finals, losing just one step short of the NBA Finals.

After that season, Minnesota offered him a contract extension worth $7 million a year, but having made nearly twice that during the season, he felt that he was being disrespected, despite the fact that his skills had obviously declined. It was at that point that he made one of the most ludicrous statements of all time, stating that he wouldn't accept that offer because he had "a family to feed." When his contract expired the next year, Minnesota let him walk, and with no other team willing to offer him more that $1 million per year, Sprewell never made it back into the league, feeling that taking less money was below him.

While his off-the-court troubles overshadowed a lot of what he did on the court, there is no doubting that he was a great player, especially during those glory years when he joined the Knicks. While he definitely could have been a little higher on this list if he had been able to better control his temper and his pride, he still deserves to be remembered for what he did accomplish.

Other than a couple of peaks and valleys from Sprewell, his career and that of Grant followed pretty similar paths statistically. While Grant may have experienced more playoff success in the form of 4 championships, he was just a good member of those teams, while any time Sprewell's teams made a deep playoff run, he was either the main reason or the #2 guy. Grant was never that guy on a team that went very far, which is why Sprewell gets the jump on him (figuratively, of course).