In predicting a Knick playoff berth, owner James Dolan said his club is better off without Latrell Sprewell, questioning his character while calling him not a "real strong team player."

Dolan's remarks were in response to Sprewell's dig that he had "nothing to say" to management, accusing Dolan of forcing the trade. "His character on the court was extremely strong," Dolan said before last night's hideous 77-60 preseason-finale loss to Utah in which the Knicks (2-6) shot 24.6 percent. "I don't know I'd characterize Latrell as being a real strong team player.

"Scott (Layden's) put a premium on the character factor of his players. You're seeing that evolution. Every man on the team is a man of character. That's going to serve the team well. It will help us be a team more quickly."

Dolan said he did not order Sprewell-for-Keith Van Horn because of Spree's offcourt transgressions. "Latrell was a popular player, our most flamboyant player, showed the most personality," Dolan said. "For that reason, the fans identified with him. They either loved him or didn't like him at all. He didn't give them too much in between.

"Some people think Latrell was the character of the team. I would suggest to you, you're actually going to see the character of the team. Last year you saw more individual character. This year you should see team character."



Dolan indicated Don Chaney and Layden desired change. "I could not like Latrell at all and if Scott and Don said to me Latrell's an important part of the team and needs to stay, that's what would happen," Dolan said. "It was a good move for the team. We got bigger and younger."

Asked why Sprewell is bitter at him, Dolan said, "He misses being in New York. There's no place like New York. I'm sure it's very nice in Minnesota but it's not New York."

Dolan also guaranteed McDyess will come back in All-Star form. "We're going to see the Antonio that we saw at the beginning of last season," Dolan said. "The public hasn't seen it. New York is the place to showcase that talent. I think his disappointment at that injury was not only about not playing, but not being able to take the surprise out of the box for New York about the player he is. He's going to take it out of the box this year."

But, he added, "It's not like we fall off the face of the Earth without Antonio."

Despite being selected 12th out of 15 East teams by Sports Illustrated, Dolan said, "I'm certainly expecting we're going to make the playoffs as long as we stay relatively healthy."

Dolan said if Layden can't make a 2-for-1 trade by Monday to get to 15 players, "we'll have to eat a contract." (Travis Knight and Othella Harrington are candidates).

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McDyess said his CAT-Scan Wednesday showed "full healing."...Charlie Ward didn't play because of a sprained wrist but it's not serious...Allan Houston, in second outing, shot 4 of 15.

man, dolan should'nt have opened his big fat mouth. now the december meeting with minny is going to be really over the top. that also proves that dolan is an idiot. "team character". wtf? he did not mention the fact we were dead last in almost the league and only won one game until spree came back and elevated our "team character" to the point that we were in the playoff hunt until the last couple of weeks of the season. spree had nothing to do with that? damn, give the man credit. he helped our team for 4 yrs. with the exception of the 01-02 season ( everybody was lethargic that season), he played with full energy. now in december, watch him score 35 pts. against our team and stick up the middle finger towards the owner box.

I hate the use of the word "charater" here. Spree wasn't a good corporate citizen (no one ever could have predicted that when we got him, huh?). Yes, he came to practice late and never told the team about his injury and missed training camp and loads of other things that surely did hurt the team. But these aren't character flaws. Let's not make a moral issue out of this.

And even with his lack of "character" flaws, Spree played with more heart than any Knick since Patrick and Starks. He'll be missed big time.

But it was the right move to trade him. And not because he couldn't handle the 3. Because he was declining. He belongs on a team that can take advantage of what he's got left over the next few years and has a shot to make some noise in the postseason. That's not the Knicks.

All that said, don't know what Dolan gets out of slamming Spree now that he's gone. Ripping a past employee in public after he's already moved on shows a questionable character.