ESPN.com - NBA - Cavs worried that fat men like Kemp can't jump

COMMUNITY
	Letters to Editor Send a letter
BACKSTAGE
	The Magazine ESPN Radio


		ALSO SEE NBA West: No joke, Nuggets are legit NBA East: Michael, come out and play Aldridge: Odom talks, plays like veteran NBA East: Western dominance obvious NBA Power Rankings

ESPN.com
NFL

Wednesday, December 8
Cavs worried that fat men like Kemp can't jump

By Jeffrey Denberg
Special to ESPN.com

ATLANTA -- If you've seen Shawn Kemp lately, you know why Cleveland Cavaliers management is nervous about all the weight he is carrying around.
Shawn Kemp tries to eat the ball as Damon Stoudamire dangles it.

The Cavs have even expressed the real fear that Kemp won't be able to play out his contract, because fat men who make a living running and jumping tend to break down before their time.

Maybe this is why Kemp talks about retirement when his $100 million contract expires in the spring of 2004.

My Cleveland source told me that Kemp reported to camp at about 320 pounds. That made him the heaviest Cavalier since George Karl brought up Geoff Crompton from the CBA in the winter of '84-85 and had to weigh him on a truck scale. Crompton could not play until a seamstress sewed two pair of shorts together. Nowadays they can dial up a XXXL for Shawn.

Coach Randy Wittman is overly kind to Kemp, who never lost all the weight he gained last winter when he said he couldn't find a place to work out, but knew were all the restaurants were. Boy, was he surprised when they decided to have that 50-game season.

"I think playing the more physical nature of the Eastern Conference game is one of the reasons why he put on some weight," Wittman said. "But I think he understands that he's got to continue to lose weight if he wants to continue his career into his 30s (Kemp turned 30 two weeks ago). He understands that he's not where he's going to be in the future, because there's no question he can't continue to carry that kind of weight.

"It's got to be a thing that he thinks about. As you get older, the chance of injury does increases. And if you have that added weight on top of it, it increases even more."

Kemp says no one in the organization has said anything to him about his fitness.

"They don't dare come up to me and say anything like that. They're doing the right thing, saying it to you guys (the media). They don't come up to me and say anything."

Kemp is averaging 19.7 points and 10.9 rebounds, but is shooting 38.7 percent from the field and committing a team-high 3.7 turnovers, because he can't get inside and dunk the way he used to. He says Mike Fratello never criticized him.

Yeah, not to his face. Fratello has always been a stickler for conditioning and commitment. How can Wittman and GM Jim Paxson react differently?

Besides, the way I hear it, Kemp put on all that weight as a gesture of farewell to former GM Wayne "The Wall" Embry, who is in his last year with the team.

Around the league

Headline: Kid, 20, picks fight with coach, 59.

Is there a bigger joke in the league this week than Larry Hughes?

The second-year swingman belongs in college, where he would have had a chance to grow physically and intellectually before playing head games with Larry Brown, one of the three best coaches in the NBA.

Before the season Hughes made news saying he did not want to be a point guard or a shooting guard or a small forward. He wanted to be the league's Everyman.

All Brown wants Hughes to do is come in ready to play and do his job. When he cut back Hughes' minutes, the kid didn't get it. They met privately with Hughes' agent Jeff Wechsler and assistant John Calipari last week in Miami, and Hughes still didn't get it.

"It's no secret that me and coach are not getting along," Hughes said, describing their relationship as "shaky."

Calipari described the meeting as "a to-the-point, air-our-differences meeting, in which we said we want the best for you, but this is what you have to do. Very upbeat, not mean. No sugarcoating. We told him we know how good he can be."

Brown describes Hughes as "a 20-year-old kid who needs to grow up."

After going 5-for-14 for 11 points in 31 minutes in Monday's loss to Denver, Hughes is averaging 11.8 points and shooting 41.4 percent in 23 minutes a game. He should thank Brown for not leaving him out there any longer than that.

Gee, I guess I overlooked David Aldridge's spot on the NBA's All-Star selection panel. Had I known, I would never have taken issue with the decision to leave Jamal Mashburn off the ballot. No one has a higher regard for Mr. Aldridge as a writer and TV journalist than I do. At one time I basked happily in his reflected glory.

[Editor's Note: In his column last week, Aldridge defended how players are selected for the All-Star ballot, in response to remarks Denberg made in his previous column.]

So Vince Carter scores a career-best 39 and the Raptors thrill 18,455 with an upset victory over the Spurs. Here's the catch: they were 1,400 short of a sellout that night, and they haven't sold out a game this season in the splendid new Air Canada Centre. Although the Raptors are creating excitement all over the league, they are down 1,000 fans a game back home.

As for Carter, Spurs coach Gregg Popovich was incredulous over his performance. "He made some shots I still can't believe," Pop said. "He took some shots we wanted him to take and he stuck it right down our throats."

Jeff Van Grumpy has a new policy in regard to Patrick Ewing's health. He pleads ignorance. New York writers thought Ewing might have been back last weekend, because JVG is confident he can go eight minutes at a clip. But no. The guy who counseled Marcus Camby to ignore team doctor Norman Scott and sit down with tendinitis isn't going to ignore his own medical advice and return prematurely.

Ewing is so angry with Scott, who did not predict his Achilles tear, that he refuses to share his Gold Club Bucks with the noted physician.

Remember when word of Glenn Robinson's 10-year, $68 million contract was met with outrage? How about the Bucks' decision to lock up their guy through 2004-2005 at an extra $12 million? How about agent Charles Tucker's assertion that Robinson should have demanded a trade to get more money, except he's such a loyal Milwaukee guy now.

Here are a couple of trades that can't happen:

J.R. Rider to anybody. The way Rider is playing, he is going to be a Hawk for a long, long time. Unless he does something really stupid, Rider will be signed to a lucrative contract with the Hawks next summer. Lenny Wilkens, GM Pete Babcock and club president Stan Kasten love his talent.

Rod Strickland can't go anywhere before Feb. 2, because until that date the Wizards can only take back half his $10 million salary. That means only the Bulls and Clippers could take him. After Feb. 2, Washington can take back $7.5 million, not likely to make a deal happen, either. And who would want Strickland at the current low ebb of his game?

Jeffrey Denberg, who covers the NBA for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, is a regular contributor to ESPN.com.


		ESPN INSIDER Copyright 1995-99 ESPN/Starwave Partners d/b/a ESPN Internet Ventures. All rights reserved. Do not duplicate or redistribute in any form. ESPN.com Privacy Policy. Use of this site signifies your agreement to the Terms of Service.