The car sped into the driveway of the Knicks' practice facility in Greenburgh, N.Y., abruptly swerving away from the security gate and the parking lot and pulling to a stop alongside a waiting group of reporters. It was Oct. 21, 2002, and Latrell Sprewell was going to have his say.

He had arrived for the first day of training camp two weeks earlier with a broken pinkie on his shooting hand, an injury incurred back home in Milwaukee, and he had not alerted the team until he took his physical that day. After a series of late arrivals, it was the last straw in the eyes of management.

Banished from the team, he was breaking the order to remain silent. It was typical Sprewell, taking some of the blame for his actions that had gotten him in this latest predicament, but handing out a healthy dose to those with whom he was battling. For 20 minutes that day, he pondered his place in the Knicks' organization.

The final goodbye came last night, after a week of rumors that stretched back two years, as Sprewell was finally traded. He is heading to Minnesota in a four-team deal that brought Keith Van Horn to the Knicks from Philadelphia. But if there was a defining moment for Sprewell during his five-year tenure in New York, it might have been that 20-minute monologue.

"I could come out here and say Scott's this, Steve has done this," he said, referring to the Knicks' general manager, Scott Layden, and Madison Square Garden's president, Steve Mills. "But hey, I want you guys to look at those guys and everything they've done, look at their decisions since they've been here. Everybody's pointed the finger at me and say look at what I've done since I've been here. Look at them, and what they've done."

That might be the epitaph on Sprewell's tenure with the Knicks. They missed the playoffs the past two seasons and a change was made. But you can be certain that the 32-year-old Sprewell will have the last word, even if it comes on the court. The Timberwolves might be a perfect fit to refuel his ambition.