Minnesota's Wally Szczerbiak believes the addition of Latrell Sprewell could be the final piece to the Timberwolves' championship puzzle. Szczerbiak said Minnesota has as much talent as anyone other than the Lakers.

"Shaq is always going to be a big obstacle, but other than that, we stack up very favorably with anyone in the league," Szczerbiak told The Post. "Position by position, we've upgraded our roster. We made our team much stronger and now we got the horses to do the job. We just have to check our egos at the door. It's going to take a little bit of time."

Sprewell and Szczerbiak had some fierce, trash-talking battles matched up against each other. But the Cold Spring Harbor native, said, "I hope [Sprewell] has nothing but respect for me just like I have for him. We just happened to match up and have good battles. It's nice to go to war together. I think he'll be ready to come to a title contender now with these guys. Hopefully it's a place he'll be really happy."

Sprewell could not be reached for comment. Knicks GM Scott Layden and Don Chaney left messages that weren't returned. Even the 'Wolves hadn't made contact yesterday with Sprewell. "His agent said Latrell's on vacation, on his boat in Lake Michigan," Minnesota team spokesman Paul Thompson said.

But Sprewell's publicist, Marvet Britto, told The Post, "He'll give 100 percent for the Minnesota organization the same way he gave it to the Knicks. It's exciting for him to join a player of Kevin Garnett's caliber. This is exciting for him. It's a new start in a new city. He looks forward to joining a consistent playoff contender."