The National Basketball Association has suspended All-Star player Latrell Sprewell for assaulting his coach twice during a practice. After a background report, Elizabeth Farnsworth discusses the unprecedented suspension with sports experts.
KWAME HOLMAN: Yesterday the National Basketball Association suspended Latrell Sprewell from the league for a year for attacking his coach on Monday. It is the longest suspension ever handed out by the NBA. A day earlier, the Golden State Warriors terminated the $32 million contract of the three-time All-Star Guard and leading scorer on the team. During a practice on Monday Sprewell had a verbal confrontation with warriors Coach P. J. Carlesimo and afterward attacked him twice over a period of 20 minutes and threatened to kill him.
In a statement announcing Sprewell's suspension, NBA Commissioner David Stern described the incident this way. "First, he choked him until forcibly pulled away. Then after leaving practice, Mr. Sprewell returned and fought his way through others in order to commit a second and this time clearly premeditated assault. A sports league does not have to accept or condone behavior that would not be tolerated in any other segment of society." Before the league acted, the 27-year-old Sprewell spoke to a San Francisco area television station.
An apology to friends, family and fans.
LATRELL SPREWELL, Suspended NBA Player: First of all, I want to apologize to my fans and my family and friends of mine who saw this, and there's definitely not something that I condone but it did happen, this mistake I made, and, you know, I'm just trying to move forward right at this point.
KWAME HOLMAN: Teammate Brian Shaw, who witnessed the incident, also spoke prior to the suspension.
BRIAN SHAW, Golden State Warriors: Yes, he made a mistake, and yes, he should pay for the mistake that he made, but, you know, termination of a contract after a two-day period, when the incident happened, you know, that's like getting into a fight and then giving, you know, the death penalty.
KWAME HOLMAN: Converse athletic shoes also canceled its endorsement contract with Sprewell this week after originally saying it would not. P. J. Carlesimo is a former major college basketball coach. He coached another professional team before taking over the Warriors. Several players at both levels have said they've experienced difficulties with Carlesimo. The NBA Players Union said it will appeal Sprewell's suspension and the termination on his Warriors contract.
Violence in NBA not unprecedented.
While Sprewell's act is unprecedented, violent confrontations are not new to professional basketball. In last year's NBA playoffs a bench clearing brawl erupted between players for the New York Knicks and Miami Heat. Nine players were suspended from selected playoff games. Also last season, the Chicago Bulls' Dennis Rodman head-butted a referee who had just ejected him from a game. Commissioner Stern suspended Rodman for six games for that incident and for 11 games later in the year after Rodman kicked a photographer. Veteran NBA player Buck Williams has been coached by P. J. Coach Carlesimo and several other coaches. Williams says today's young players are different from his teammates of years ago.
BUCK WILLIAMS, NBA Veteran: Now it's a different way. It's a different player. And I think what's happening, you know, in our environment, in our society, is sort of--it just reflects what's happening in NBA. I mean, a lot of the players are young and sort of misunderstood. And it takes a very special coach, and it takes quite an understanding organization to try to deal with the new athlete.
JIM LEHRER: And now to Elizabeth Farnsworth in San Francisco.
ELIZABETH FARNSWORTH: For more on the latest incident and the larger questions it raises we are joined by C. W. Nevius, a sports columnist at the San Francisco Chronicle and Paul Hewitt, head basketball coach at Siena College in Albany, New York. He's a former college player who's also been assistant coach at Villanova and at the University of Southern California. Thank you both for being with us. Tell me, Chuck Nevius, fill this out for us. What led up to it and fill out the facts of the incident a little bit.
Sprewell and Carlesimo: an aggressive player and a demanding coach.
C. W. NEVIUS, San Francisco Chronicle: Well, I think the important thing to point out, it's been building for quite a while. Latrell Sprewell and P. J. Carlesimo had had a series of problems. There had been a confrontation. He'd been late for practice. He'd been benched. All these things that happened, it built up. P. J. Carlesimo is a very demanding coach. These players have spoken to this over and over. And frankly, Latrell Sprewell had had the run of the organization a year ago. He had a very lax system, took more shots than anyone. He was basically in charge of the team. This was a huge change for him. He badly wanted to trade. So things were working at odds. This incident at practice was not a huge surprise for it to happen. The fact that it went from verbal abuse to physical confrontation is what made it different.
ELIZABETH FARNSWORTH: And just describe a little bit more about what happened in the incident itself.
C. W. NEVIUS: They were doing a shooting drill. P. J. suggested that he put some more pep on the pass. It was a very minor thing, but he said, "I don't want to hear that from you." And Carlesimo saw this as a challenge and began to advance to him, to talk to him. And Sprewell said, "Stay away from me. Don't come up on me." And when he did, it--the two of them began to go back and forth. Sprewell put his hands on his throat, and there was a confrontation at that point. He was pulled away, was told to leave practice. He did, was gone for 20 minutes, changed clothes, come back, and took a swing at the coach, missed him. But that's the thing that David Stern was talking about, is this second one couldn't be called passion or heat of the moment. This was definitely premeditated. And that's what I think concerned everyone. There was some concern P. J. Carlesimo was telling friends, he was afraid that he'd gone back to get a gun. So I mean, it's a panicky situation. As it turns out, that was not the case, but even so, Sprewell had said, "I'll kill you." So we're talking about a very serious situation that really disturbed everyone. And I think the league felt at that point they had to make a very strong stand. And that's what they did.
ELIZABETH FARNSWORTH: Paul Hewitt, what's your reaction to this incident?
PAUL HEWITT, Basketball Coach, Siena College: (Albany, NY) Well, you know, it's obviously unfortunate, but I don't think Latrell Sprewell left the Warriors or the NBA any other recourse. I don't think that they acted in concert. I thought the Warriors did what they had to do in terms of firing a player who was breaking down the chain of command and the system that you have in place, set in order to feel the successful team. He blatantly challenged the authority of P. J. Carlesimo, and I think what David Stern, the commissioner of the NBA, had to do was, he couldn't afford to have somebody who did something so drastic hook on with another team in the NBA, possibly one of the teams that could contend for the title, and that would give him the largest stage in basketball in the world, if he were to hook on with a team like say the Chicago Bulls or the Miami Heat or the San Antonio Spurs, and was in the championship round in June. I just think that would be a huge black eye for the league.
ELIZABETH FARNSWORTH: And, Mr. Hewitt, what about the criticism that this is such an extreme punishment when the Lakers--Kermit Washington broke another player's jaw and just got a 60-day suspension?
PAUL HEWITT: Well, there's a big difference in the Kermit Washington case. I think what happened, if I remember correctly, in the Kermit Washington situation there was an all out fight between the Houston Rockets and the Los Angeles Lakers, and Kermit Washington was in the middle of a millet when Rudy Tom Janovich, the player he hit, ran up suddenly behind him--and it was almost a reflex action--he turned around and struck Rudy Tom Janovich in the face. That is a heat-of-the-moment type reaction. I think what Mr. Sprewell did by leaving practice and coming back to attack Coach Carlesimo again is totally different, and especially when you're talking about a player versus a coach.
ELIZABETH FARNSWORTH: Chuck Nevius, you heard Buck Williams say that the players, that this is a different situation now. Is it--has--have professional sports changed, is it just more violent?
"You can't attack your boss."
C. W. NEVIUS: Well, I think they have changed, but I think I'm reluctant to jump on the bandwagon with the idea that it's simply money. I think all the coaches are going to make less money than the players. It's just a fact of life in professional sports at this point; that coaches have to be able to handle the players and motivate the players, and put them together as a team and make them work together as a team. And I don't think that'll ever change. That's going to have to happen. There is a dialogue to be entered, which was that P. J. Carlesimo is extremely demanding; he has been somewhat abusive. There are players of his who have said this. That would be a point we could make. At the University of Colorado we had Lou Campanelli. The players felt that he was going beyond his bounds as a coach. There were complaints. It was a process. He was removed as coach. Unfortunately, that dialogue was thrown out the window as soon as Latrell Sprewell put his hands on the coach. And then it became a simple employee/employer, you can't attack your boss.
ELIZABETH FARNSWORTH: But I'm asking more generally, is it true that the sports are more violent?
C. W. NEVIUS: I don't think that they are more violent. I think that the biggest change is what we're doing right now, television. I think it's videotape. I think we're seeing these incidents. When we saw Mike Tyson bite the ear of Evander Holyfield, when we saw Michael Westbrook, the Washington Redskins football player, repeatedly pounding a player who was unconscious or laying on the ground, defenseless, it enraged everyone. If we had a videotape of this incident, I'm sure things would have happened much more quickly. And that's what I think happened here, is there was such an outcry nationally that the original punishment was only a 10-game suspension. As this became a bigger issue nationally I think the Warriors suddenly realized we've got to do more, and they did.
ELIZABETH FARNSWORTH: Mr. Hewitt, do you think these kinds of incidents are more common?
An isolated incident or an increasingly common occurrence?
PAUL HEWITT: No, I think this is totally an isolated situation. I think generally that people involved in athletics in our country--you know, they practice good sportsmanship. I think they listen to the coaches because they understand that in order to have a successful organization or a successful team, you know, everyone's got to have roles defined and the person who defines those roles is the coach. But I don't think this is the trend, or something that is becoming more commonplace in American sports. I think this is completely an isolated situation.
ELIZABETH FARNSWORTH: Mr. Hewitt, how do you explain the fact that this has become such a big story, the story about the Warriors?
PAUL HEWITT: Well, I think C. W. pointed to it. I think there is so much coverage when you talk about, you know, all the other--you know--outlets that are covering this story--the CNN's, the ESPN's, you know, all the local stations that are covering it--it's become nation-wide and I'm sure a global issue by now.
ELIZABETH FARNSWORTH: And, Chuck, what happens next? What options are open for Sprewell now?
C. W. NEVIUS: Well, it's going to be very interesting. I think
that the Warriors are not exactly sure of their legal footing, to be honest. The idea of firing a player is not really--the by-laws aren't really set up for this. So I think the question of what will happen with the $22 million that he's still owed is going to be very interesting. He'll serve a one-year suspension. At the end of that time I don't think there's any question that a team will pick him up. He's a very, very--he's a three-time all star. He's a terrific player. Some team will pick him up. But I don't think he'll ever make the kind of money he was making with this contract, with a four-year, $32 million guaranteed contract. This will follow him. His endorsements have gone down. It'll be a problem for him. So I don't think it's going to--people are suggesting he'll get off scot-free after a year, and I don't think that's the case at all. It will definitely stay with him.
ELIZABETH FARNSWORTH: Well, thank you both very much.
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