Latrell Sprewell recently spent some time talking with Michael Rapaport about the NBA on his live podcast. The 45-year-old Sprewell, who was the New York Knicks‘ late-90s premier player, spoke for 90 minutes and opened up for the first time since being out of the public eye for years.
Sprewell was known for giving candid interviews to the media at the time and said it was because New York appreciated genuine people, seeing through anything other than the truth.
“It was me being honest and open, and when you’re genuine, people have a tendency to see it. And you know how New Yorkers are…the New York fan base, you know there’s a belligerence there. They see through any BS. I was always genuine and I think they always appreciated that.”
Sprewell was a part of the 1999 Knicks team that lost to the San Antonio Spurs in the NBA Finals, which included taking down a tough Indiana Pacers team in the playoffs.
Even in years passing and the battles left to thought and reflection, Sprewell didn't have nice things to say about Pacers star Reggie Miller.
“Reggie is a talker. The thing I hated about him is he was a flopper. He’ll just flop and I am like, ‘Stop flopping, man.’ You can’t touch him, he’s always at the free-throw line. But you have to respect Reggie, he’s always running around screens, and if you left him open, he’s going to knock down shots. You just have to be careful how you guard him because if you touched him, he’s going to act like he got shot out of a cannon.”
Defeating the Pacers in the Eastern Conference Finals and finally making the NBA Finals only to lose in five games has always been troubling for Sprewell – and it's one of his only regrets as a player.
“You never get over it. You work so hard and you are right there. I still think about it…Getting a championship is something you dream about as a kid. To get so close, you never get over it.”
Speaking of regrets, ironically Sprewell doesn't regret probably the biggest incident in his career, which was choking Warriors coach P.J. Carlesimo.
Some things never change.
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