Vermes explains Kempin loan and says OKC may have to wait for some help

When it was announced that Jon Kempin would be going on loan to San Antonio, most people were caught by surprise. The conventional wisdom assumed that Kempin would be headed back to Oklahoma City to play for the Energy and be coached by Jimmy Nielsen.

Wrong.

So why did Sporting Kansas City manager Peter Vermes send the young Home Grown keeper to a team that is not an affiliate? Vermes explained after practice Friday.

It all comes down to who needs him most

"Oklahoma (City) suffered a little bit of an injury to one of their keepers early on so Jimmy had to go right away in preseason and get a guy that was more number one-ish. Kempin has the ability to go in and be the number one right away in San Antonio."

And where he will get playing time

"The thing is if he's going to go somewhere, I want him to play. It is not a contract that he will play, it's as long as he does his job, he's the guy.

And be challenged

"I also think that going away to where he has no familiar faces is a good thing for him. Not just for him it's for any player. When you go to uncharted territory, you have to find your own way. I think that's a good thing."

San Antonio a good choice

"I'm happy that he's going to a club like this, they were good last year. I think they're trying to do the right things."

What about the other loans to affiliate Oklahoma City?

"Jimmy and I have talked and I let him know that I'm going to be a little bit late in sending whatever I'm sending to him. It doesn't preclude me from sending guys other ways too because he may have guys that are going to play a lot in certain positions."

What about Fluminense loan agreement?

"It has to be a situation that make sense, it has to be right because of certain situations. Not only does the financial situation make have to make sense, the position has to make sense and the player has to make sense. Right now we're just not a situation where we both feel it makes sense. They went through some changes on their side so I don't want to say it's on hold, it's not. The deal is still there but right now it  is good. We just don't have a player that it makes sense. We did have a player but they had to pull them back because they needed to keep him."

Trying to find the right fit

"We have to evaluate what is going on with our cap, what we can and cannot do. Is it going to be worth it in where the player is going to be in the pecking order. We didn't bring in Igor to be a starter. Is he going be a starter or are we bringing him in to be a guy that's going to get some games here or there. We brought him in to be a guy that's going to get games here and there and bring him along. Almost like we did with Uri. Then all of a sudden everybody goes down and he's the starting guy for I don't know how many games. So when you think that way the budget numbers going to be a lot lower because he wasn't meant to be the starter."

The new Salary cap and CBA affecting what they can do also

"We would always like to fill a spot but right now with the way the salary cap came out with the CBA, right now it seems like almost everybody is on hold in teams because there were some different expectations and what was going to happen. So now you're trying to maneuver within those rules and they are not going to really take shape until the summer or even the winter window. It happened last time this way too."