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Re: goodbye oh selfish one...



I know I must be on something to think I want to go after a point from a
Noah post (forgive me Michael), but this give and take has me bothered. 
Noah as you so often put it, what evidence do you have that shows that Kemp
had anything more than an off-handed aggreement, not even a true
gentleman's aggreement, with Wally Walker Ackerly or anyone with the Sonics
to redo his deal?  I travel to Seattle all the time on business and can get
KJR the sports radio and team station in Seattle at my home near Portland. 
Kemp was the subject for near 24/7 for months and not once was an agreement
of any type ever refered to in any formal terms.  It also was never
reported in the PI/Times until Kemp brought up his impression after the
fact.  

What Kemp had was a burning want for more money and respect, but at best
what you and probably most outside of Seattle refer to as an agreement was
actually posturing by Kemp and his agent.  The same exact thing, and I mean
virtually 100% exact thing, happened with Clifford Robinson and his agent
with the Blazers, in that CR and his agent went to the media to talk about
some deal they thought they had with Trader Bob, which wasn't the case. 
When they went to media, the called Bob a liar, and Trader basically went
to the station and bought Uncle Cliffy a one way ticket out of town.  Kemp
thought he had a deal, with the post-Trader Bob Boys and when he was proven
to not, (he could not renogotiate until the end of his deal because they
were over the cap and he had already renoged once, and once is all you
could get from the old/current CBA) he did his 4 year whine and cry dance
right out of town.

Now was Kemp due more money, based on performance and dollars paid to Jim
Mc et al?  Probably, but again his AND the teams hands were tied until
after his renogiated deal was up.  To say he flat out got shafted or lied
to is just not true.  Period.  Whether Baker is better or near equal to
Kemp, probably not, but this team is much happier, and has much better on
court chemistry without Kemp in town.  Of course winning games would help,
but don't forget that with Kemp they blew up at least twice before, most
notably against the Nuggets.  His career playoff performance is at best a
B+.  

Sorry to rant on a non C related matter +/-, but as we have been want to do
around here, innaccuracy must be pointed out.

Thanks,
Greg

----------
> From: Noah P. Evans <ishbak@conknet.com>
> To: John Lyell <Jlyell@concentric.net>; 'Ryan Lee'
<Ryan.Lee@parexel.com>; celtics@igtc.COM
> Subject: RE: goodbye oh selfish one...
> Date: Thursday, July 09, 1998 10:37 PM
> I'll even debate that point. Shawn had an implicit agreement to
renegotiate
> his contract which was violated by the sonics organization(by signing
> Mccillvane--which filled up the Sonics cap, making it impossible to
> renegotiate Kemp's contract). When that agreement was violated, Kemp was
> (rightfully) angry and decided he wanted to be traded(to a team,
cleveland,
> that could restructure his contract). So his action was hardly sudden
> greed(i.e. a me first action).
> 	Moral justifications aside, Kemp's also a pretty good team player on the
> court as well. While he still gets his shot blocked and turns the ball
over
> too often, Kemp provides an Oakleyesque toughness that any team
requires(and
> the sonics now lack, Baker isn't nearly the defender Kemp is).
> 	What really makes Kemp a great player is his performance in the
playoffs.
> His singlehanded effort in the NBA finals a few years ago, and his
> performance vs Indiana this year were eloquent rebuttals to his
detractors.
> 
> Noah