Every one remembers
Shawn Kemp - that is: every one who cared about basketball in the 90s. Widely considered as the most spectacular player at the time, he brought his Sonics team to the finals against the Bulls in 1995-1996, for what remained my all-time favorite basketball season, as my two favorite teams and my three favorite players (Kemp, Jordan, Pippen) faced each other in the finals.
Kemp was not just an outstanding dunker, he was also one of the three best power forwards in the league for years, together with Karl Malone and Charles Barkley. Kemp was a fantastic rebounder, shot blocker and always had a very high field goal percentage. His only shortcoming was his propensity to be in foul trouble. He was too often considered as the second best player in the Sonics squad behind Gary Payton, which I always thought was unfair.
Kemp played at a great level for another two years after the 1996 finals, earning starter spots at the 1997 and 1998 all-star games.
Then there was the 1999 lock out, which was fatal to Kemp: the once slender and explosive player arrived to the Cavs training camp completely overweight. He couldn't even jump anymore. He argued at the time it wasn't such a bad thing, as he needed to be able to defend on big guys like Shaq. It's true that Ilgauskas, already the Cavs starting center in the late 1990s, was starting a long series of injuries at the time, but still... Then he was traded to the Blazers, went on drug rehab, etc... He finished his career two years ago with the Magic.
I particularly remember a horrible image of Shawn Kemp by the end of his career: he had the ball under the basket, elevated to dunk but couldn't jump high enough, so he just hit the ball hard on the front edge of the rim. He had lost much of his jumping ability. He was what? 32? Can't believe he spoiled his last years like that.
Anyway, he's been struggling unsuccessfully to make a come back in the past two seasons, and he will thus make an apparition at the Berto Center this October to try and impress the Bulls staff and maybe earn the final team spot:
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/sports/15544540.htm.
His former Cavs teammate Andrew DeClercq will make an attempt at the Bulls roster as well. The difference between today's 36-year old Shawn Kemp and the pathetic - but younger - Kemp from the early 2000s? Well, granted, he's not getting younger, but he claims he is even thinner now than in his early years.
All that reminds me of
Dennis Rodman desperately trying to make a come back to finish his career on a more elegant touch than the Mavs episode, when he was laid off by Don Nelson. Rodman was 38 at the time - it was in 2000 - and he still managed to grab more than 14 rebounds per game over 12 games. Amazing... But his weird temper got him fired. Rodman's now 45 but I'm sure he could still grab more rebounds than Shaq if he were to play in the NBA again. After all,
Mutombo just turned 40, but many think he is actually 50, and he can still play.
Kemp may not be able to have such an impact, but he is definitelly more disciplined than Dennis Rodman when it comes to abiding by team laws. When it comes to exercise, food diet and drug use, that's another problem: Dennis was much more disciplined in this area. This will be the big challenge for Kemp: if he can stay fit, he may be able to play for another year with this very promising Bulls team that I have been supporting for 14 years. I'd really like him to finish with the Bulls - and beat the Heat in the Eastern Conference finals if possible.
