Kemp’s Spin Move Looking Positive Embattled Forward Saying All The Right Things

In his first appearance with the Cavs, Shawn Kemp said all the right things.

Not only that, he was on time.

So far, so good.

Kemp comes to the Cavs with a chance to reinvent himself, to capture the faithful following of basketball fans who have felt lost ever since the demise of the Larry Nance-Mark Price-Brad Daugherty team in the early 1990s.

It won’t take much for Kemp to become an immediate favorite. Remember, this is a sports town that embraced Albert Belle.

Kemp is far more engaging than Belle, and feels more comfortable with the fans. The Cavs are counting on Kemp, 27, to walk his talk - and it was hard to argue with anything he said Friday.

He insisted he really wants to play for the Cavs: “In fact, I told my mother about three weeks ago that I thought I was coming to Cleveland.”

Coach Mike Fratello’s slow-down offense?

“Mike told me that he plans to open it up,” Kemp said. “But I can play either way, up-tempo or half-court. I’ve played in the NBA for eight years and I’ve never had a problem with a coach.”

Kemp didn’t even take the opportunity to bury his old team.

“A lot of stuff went on in Seattle last year,” he said. “Some fair, some unfair. But it doesn’t matter. I just want to thank them for trading me to Cleveland. I promised myself that when I was traded, I would not say anything bad about the (Seattle) organization.”

And he didn’t.

A new contract?

‘I don’t want to talk about that,” he said. “I’ll leave that to my business people.”

If he performs this season as he did in Friday’s news conference, Kemp will easily make his sixth All-Star team.

He also can make this his team. He is the biggest-name player, the only member of this revamped roster to ever make an All-Star team.

“I am not a savior,” he said. “I can’t take this team to a championship (by himself), but we can be a mix of young and old, a very interesting team.”

This can be a very good situation for both Kemp and the Cavs, but it’s up to Kemp to make it happen.

The Cavs seem to be prepared to give him everything he wants.

The only real whopper Kemp told was when he said, “I didn’t leave Seattle over my contract.”

Really?

Then the Cavs can just hold him to the three years he has left on his deal - $3.3 million (1997-98), $3.6 million (1998-99) and $14.2 million (1999-2000).

Obviously, Kemp would not like that.

The Cavs know it, and plan to deal immediately with the situation.

“We will talk about an extension, a re-do or whatever works,” said owner Gordon Gund.

Given some of the deals of late, whatever works probably will cost the Cavs more than $100 million.

Kemp said money wasn’t an issue in Seattle (“I just felt uncomfortable there,” he claimed).

No, it was all about money.

Money was why he missed virtually of all last year’s training camp. Money induced his funk when Seattle signed center Jim McIlvaine to an outrageous five-year, $33 million deal.

Cavs insiders tell you that they understand Kemp’s frustration of being on the same team with a stiff such as McIlvaine - and earning far less money.

But that still is no excuse for Kemp missing flights and buses and being late for practices.

“We don’t think Kemp is a bad person,” insisted general manager Wayne Embry. “I believe he is a good kid, who has had to grow up in the NBA (because Kemp never played in college).”

The Sonics also have reworked Kemp’s contract twice in the last five years, and claimed that no one forced him to sign the current deal that has since made him so unhappy.

Even Kemp admitted, “You learn from your mistakes.”

The Cavs are counting on it.

They’ll now make him the franchise foundation.

They see Kemp as a guy at the critical point in his career. After he receives his new contract, they hope that winning becomes his passion.

Kemp insisted that already is the case.

“I just hate losing,” he said.

He has been on a team that has averaged 58 victories over the last four seasons. He has been fed by an All-Star guard in Gary Payton.

The question is how Kemp will react to being in the same starting lineup with Sherman Douglas, Bobby Sura, Vitaly Potapenko and Danny Ferry or Henry James.

Even if Kemp has a stellar season, the Cavs will be lucky to win more than half of their games.

The Cavs hope the new contract and being the center of attention will be enough for Kemp, while also buying time to find more talent to surround him.

“I think you lead by example,” Kemp said.

And where he leads, the Cavs will follow.