#Spike lee knicks books free

“I never see a picture of myself with a smile on my face. In December 1997, when he spoke to the press for the first time after the incident, Sprewell said he had been “vilified.” “Every time I look at a clip, it’s always a picture of me looking mad and being aggressive,” he said. I don’t care about his background, he’s making $8 million a year to play a game, he should control himself,” the Los Angeles Times’ Peter H. “The typical commentary-and sports radio has been filled with nothing but for eight days running now-goes something like this: This guy is an animal, a hoodlum, a gangsta, a cancer. Nevertheless, a villain for the common fan was spawned. ” Sprewell’s punishment was eventually reduced to 68 games in arbitration.

Drummond lamented, “Sprewell stumbled over a trip wire and set off a 50-kiloton explosion of society fears about the African-American male. Writing for the San Francisco Chronicle, William J. Originally, Sprewell’s contract was voided and he was suspended for 82 games. The season prior, Sprewell had been banned for attempting to choke out his coach, P.J. Grunfeld then dealt Starks, age 33, for Latrell Sprewell, a 28-year-old with as much baggage as promise. 2 overall pick in 1996 who had led the league in blocks the previous season. He started with the draft-day trade of Oakley, the then-34-year-old anchor of New York’s pugnacious defense, to Toronto for Marcus Camby, the no. After a 43-win season that ended with the Knicks getting bounced from the second round in five games, Grunfeld, the team’s lead decision-maker throughout most of the decade, began refurbishing the roster around Ewing. Yet by the 1998 offseason, the team’s core was on the wrong side of 30. It wasn’t always smooth, and sometimes it bordered on boxing, but it was effective. 1 overall pick since the NBA-ABA merger, and John Starks, an undrafted prospect turned franchise cornerstone, generated points while Charles Oakley and Anthony Mason scrapped for every inch of the court. On the other end, Patrick Ewing, the franchise’s only no. A stout defense powered New York into the playoffs every season that decade, and was the key to pushing the Houston Rockets to seven games in the ’94 Finals. “To me, they were just such a hard-nosed, gutsy team that defined the way New Yorkers think of basketball.” “I think fans here have been chasing the feeling and attitude of that team ever since,” New York radio personality Peter Rosenberg says. The Knicks of the future may very well be better, but it’s tough to imagine any team mirroring the spirit of the city the way the Knicks of 1999 did. As then–Knicks coach Jeff Van Gundy jokes, “one Allan Houston shot saved jobs and altered lives.” With so many close finishes and hot-and-cold stretches, a sold-out game at Madison Square Garden in 1999 could feel like an acid trip. And they did it all with a postseason leading scorer who was fresh off the longest suspension in NBA history. They demoted their general manager, Ernie Grunfeld, in April they vanquished bitter rivals the Indiana Pacers in June. They fielded the most expensive roster in the league, more than doubling the salary cap. Following a lockout that lasted until mid-January, the Knicks won six of their last eight games just to make the playoffs, then became the first and only no.

Even at their very best in recent history, the Knicks were a beautiful mess.Īs chaotic as it would be to have Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant in New York’s media fishbowl, any team will have a hard time topping the wild ride of the Knicks’ 1998-99 season.

#Spike lee knicks books free

Their league-worst 15-62 record could spring a generational talent in this year’s draft, and their heaps of cap space could, as owner Jim Dolan recently boasted, lead to “a very successful offseason when it comes to free agents.” There’s still much ground to cover before that fantasy matches reality, but the amount of organization and long-term planning by the franchise is startling. After years of bloated contracts and draft debts and disappointment after disappointment, the Knicks, ostensibly, have a plan. Oddly enough, it may also be the high-water mark for hope among the fan base in decades. Seven days from now, the New York Knicks will conclude their worst season in 73 years of existence.