One-Hit Wonders - Tim Kempton

The 1997-98 Toronto Raptors can only be described as a turnstile for NBA players. Timothy Joseph Kempton was one of the many to have found himself dressing in the horrific pin stripe uni's before hitting the Skydome floor. Brought in December 1, Kempton was signed the same day that another One-Hit Wonder, Ed Stokes, was released. Kempton lasted until 1998....well.....January 6th, 1998, the same day the Raptors received permission from the league for a hardship rule to sign another player having seen the roster eaten alive by the injury bug.

Kempton, like a number of One-Hit-Wonders was a big man. From Notre Dame, Kempton was 6'10" and 255 lbs. He took this large frame to the court during 5 games during which he totalled 32 minutes. During this half-hour of game time Kempton was hardly efficient scoring 4 points while shooting .286 from the floor. Having played pro ball for 10 years prior to joining the Raps it was apparent that Kempton was not going to develop into a contributor in this life time. Drafted in 6th round of the 1986 draft by the LA Clippers perhaps Kempton should have felt fortunate to have even cracked an NBA line-up for 1 game. 6th round?! In all fairness however, Kempton did play in 280 NBA games with the Hornets, Clips, Denver, Phoenix, Cleveland, Atlanta, Spurs and Magic. In those 280 games Kempton averaged 4.5 ppg and 2.8 rpg in 13 minutes of action. Toronto was his last NBA stop.

Although not a huge contributor to any of his many NBA teams Kempton's NBA career can only be viewed as a success considering he only posted 6.5 ppg in his last season with Notre Dame. In fact Kempton was a member of the Phoenix team that went to the NBA Finals.

Kempton is now the analyst KTAR's Phoenix Suns broadcasts alongside Al McCoy. Kempton is also highly active in the Phoenix community helping out with Suns basketball camps. One has to wonder how a guy from NJ, who played college ball at Notre Dame, and played all over the NBA came to find his niche in Phoenix. This is perhaps even more surprising considering Kempton and Mr. Sun Kevin Johnson had a heated exchange aka fight, during one Suns practice. Kempton is the son of former NCAA star Vince Kempton, the only St. Joseph's player to hit more than 50% of his field goals in both of the Hawks final four games in 1961.