Kemp Believes He Need Not Fill A Symbolic Role

Shawn Kemp doesn’t intend to ever be the NBA’s savior, if for no other reason than he doesn’t think the league needs saving.

“I won’t ever take over any mantle,” said Kemp, a forward for the Seattle SuperSonics, who host the Toronto Raptors in KeyArena tonight at 7.

“I will just remain myself. If you start changing and trying to be something different, you will have an identity problem with yourself. I will stay the same.”

Kemp spoke in response to a reporter’s query of whether Kemp had heard about the remarks last week of Utah Jazz forward Karl Malone. Malone said he feels the younger generation of NBA players, some of whom he calls knuckleheads, isn’t connecting with the fans the way Michael Jordan and Charles Barkley and other veterans now are, and predicted dire times ahead for a league that has experienced unprecedented growth the past 15 years.

“It’s going to be interesting in three or four years, when the older guys leave the league, to see what this league is like,” Malone said.

Malone almost seemed to be challenging some of the younger players in the league to take over and continue what the likes of Jordan and Barkley have started.

Some figure the 27-year-old Kemp could be one of those guys.

Kemp’s popularity is evident in the voting for the All-Star game next month, which, while hardly scientific, has always helped point out those players fans most seem to know and like.

Through last week, Kemp had the fifth-most votes of any NBA player, behind only Jordan, Scottie Pippen, Grant Hill and Barkley, and more than Shaquille O’Neal, Hakeem Olajuwon and Malone.

“I think as long as you have someone who is working hard and carrying themselves in the right manner, someone who is helping the team win and the team get better, you can’t have any problem with that,” Kemp said.

Notes

Forward Terry Cummings went through his first practice Tuesday, and Sonics coach George Karl said he plans on playing him tonight… . Each team will wear retro uniforms tonight as part of the NBA at 50 celebration. The Sonics will wear uniforms from 1972.