<font size="12">SPREE'S TALKING LIKE END IS NEAR http://nypost.com/sports/knicks/30316.htm February 12, 2003 -- It sounded like his farewell address. "I just want to be known that I played hard, did what I had to do to help the team win," Latrell Sprewell said when asked how he'd like to be remembered as a Knick. "Anyone who's seen me play here pretty much understands that." Tonight, Sprewell could be playing his final Garden game as a Knick. The clubs embarks on its dreaded six-game West Coast trip following tonight's home match vs. Golden State. Next Thursday's trading deadline will come and go with the Knicks in the Bay Area. Whether Sprewell, 32, is on the Cablevision charter on the return from Sacramento a week from Sunday is the great Knick unknown. The Knicks are trying to get younger and longer, and obtain shorter-term, sub-maximum contracts to avoid further luxury-tax hell. It's why the 6-foot-5, 32-year-old Sprewell playing out of position at small forward is the leading candidate to end up like his buddy Marcus Camby - shipped out of New York. Sprewell was asked if he had fully repaired his battered image in New York after arriving in 1999, months after being suspended for choking Warrior coach P.J. Carlesimo. "I was fortunate that I was put in the situation where we were able to get into The Finals, the year after we were in the Eastern Conference Finals," Sprewell said. "So we got deep in the playoffs. People got an opportunity to see more of me off the court and on the court. "It went by fast," Sprewell added. "It doesn't seem like five years. I like to think I'm the same person. Obviously you grow as you get older. We're all human. We're all going to grow and learn from experiences. You learn certain things and that hopefully makes you better as a person." Sprewell knows if he got traded, he probably wouldn't be embraced with the same affection Knick fans afforded him. "I don't think it would be the same way," Sprewell said. "The Garden is a special place. I don't know if I'd be accepted as [much] as I would here. You never know until you are in the different situation. "I don't really care either way," Sprewell said about a potential trade. "Wherever I'm at, I'm going to play and play hard. That's just me." </font>
there have been a lot of trade rumors these days, but i hope that after this westcoast trip, spree will remain a knick
