My favorite NBA player of all tim. As a youth, I used to see him driving through Magnolia with the top down in his all-white Mustang GT convertible. Fuck Wally Walker. Ruined Kemp's career and the Sonics franchise, and it all started with the horrendous McIlvaine contract.
That McIlvaine thing might have cost Seattle a NBA title
100% agree. By 1998, the Bulls were running on fumes. Lucky for them they faced an old Jazz team that couldn't run in the Finals.
Some people have looked at me like I'm crazy, but if George Karl put Gary on MJ the entire series (in '96), the Sonics would have taken that to 7 games.
I went to a game in that era. It was the first year back in key arena after being in Tacoma. Bulls were up with under a minute to go and had the ball. Jordan was dribbling up by half court, Gary was on him. Gary straight went at Jordan and took the ball and went down and made the layup. Was the craziest shit I've seen in key arena.
I don't know that we would have taken them to 7, but we were the only team that decade that had the cockiness and confidence to beat the Bulls.
The Blazers blew a 17 point 3rd quarter lead in game 6 of 1992, or that series would have gone 7
My favorite NBA player of all tim. As a youth, I used to see him driving through Magnolia with the top down in his all-white Mustang GT convertible. Fuck Wally Walker. Ruined Kemp's career and the Sonics franchise, and it all started with the horrendous McIlvaine contract.
That McIlvaine thing might have cost Seattle a NBA title
100% agree. By 1998, the Bulls were running on fumes. Lucky for them they faced an old Jazz team that couldn't run in the Finals.
Some people have looked at me like I'm crazy, but if George Karl put Gary on MJ the entire series (in '96), the Sonics would have taken that to 7 games.
I went to a game in that era. It was the first year back in key arena after being in Tacoma. Bulls were up with under a minute to go and had the ball. Jordan was dribbling up by half court, Gary was on him. Gary straight went at Jordan and took the ball and went down and made the layup. Was the craziest shit I've seen in key arena.
I don't know that we would have taken them to 7, but we were the only team that decade that had the cockiness and confidence to beat the Bulls.
The Blazers blew a 17 point 3rd quarter lead in game 6 of 1992, or that series would have gone 7
Which goes right into my "cockiness and confidence" comment. Portland were Pussies.
My favorite NBA player of all tim. As a youth, I used to see him driving through Magnolia with the top down in his all-white Mustang GT convertible. Fuck Wally Walker. Ruined Kemp's career and the Sonics franchise, and it all started with the horrendous McIlvaine contract.
That McIlvaine thing might have cost Seattle a NBA title
100% agree. By 1998, the Bulls were running on fumes. Lucky for them they faced an old Jazz team that couldn't run in the Finals.
Some people have looked at me like I'm crazy, but if George Karl put Gary on MJ the entire series (in '96), the Sonics would have taken that to 7 games.
I went to a game in that era. It was the first year back in key arena after being in Tacoma. Bulls were up with under a minute to go and had the ball. Jordan was dribbling up by half court, Gary was on him. Gary straight went at Jordan and took the ball and went down and made the layup. Was the craziest shit I've seen in key arena.
I don't know that we would have taken them to 7, but we were the only team that decade that had the cockiness and confidence to beat the Bulls.
The Blazers blew a 17 point 3rd quarter lead in game 6 of 1992, or that series would have gone 7
Which goes right into my "cockiness and confidence" comment. Portland were Pussies.
Nobody had more cockiness and confidence than the early 90s Pistons and Knicks. Jordan eventually conquered them all
Kemp was good, but not great. It seems Seattle overrates their athletes worse than any city.
He was legitimately great against the Bulls in 96. His peak was extremely high (lol!), but far too brief.
KEMP FINISHES A CLOSE SECOND IN MVP VOTING Terry Armour and Sam Smith CHICAGO TRIBUNE Shawn Kemp made a strong bid to become the just the second player ever to be awarded the MVP and play on the losing team in the Finals. In 27 years of awarding a Finals MVP, only the Lakers' Jerry West in 1969 in losing in seven games to the Celtics was named MVP. Since then the MVP has been from the winning team every year.
Kemp averaged 23.3 points and 9.7 rebounds
"When you lose you try to learn from your mistakes and build on them," said Kemp, who was runner-up to Michael Jordan for MVP. "I think I became a smarter player and made better decisions. Making it to the Finals was the hardest work. You have to go out and play the physical and mental game. We realize that."
That's what made Wally World hurt so bad. Sam Smith was/is a noted MJ honk and he thought Kemp was great
My favorite NBA player of all tim. As a youth, I used to see him driving through Magnolia with the top down in his all-white Mustang GT convertible. Fuck Wally Walker. Ruined Kemp's career and the Sonics franchise, and it all started with the horrendous McIlvaine contract.
That McIlvaine thing might have cost Seattle a NBA title
100% agree. By 1998, the Bulls were running on fumes. Lucky for them they faced an old Jazz team that couldn't run in the Finals.
Some people have looked at me like I'm crazy, but if George Karl put Gary on MJ the entire series (in '96), the Sonics would have taken that to 7 games.
I went to a game in that era. It was the first year back in key arena after being in Tacoma. Bulls were up with under a minute to go and had the ball. Jordan was dribbling up by half court, Gary was on him. Gary straight went at Jordan and took the ball and went down and made the layup. Was the craziest shit I've seen in key arena.
I don't know that we would have taken them to 7, but we were the only team that decade that had the cockiness and confidence to beat the Bulls.
The Blazers blew a 17 point 3rd quarter lead in game 6 of 1992, or that series would have gone 7
Which goes right into my "cockiness and confidence" comment. Portland were Pussies.
Nobody had more cockiness and confidence than the early 90s Pistons and Knicks. Jordan eventually conquered them all
Did you forget about the 1995, 1990 and 1989 seasons? Hell even 1994 without Jordan they win over 50 games.
edit: Maxwell an x factor, he was an assassin and had zero fear of Jordan
And Maxwell was the weak link against Seattle. The Glove could get him to lose all focus.
Those were great times and interesting match ups.
As Houston went for the three peat they got swept out by the Sonics
Peyton is probably under rated even though players of his era know how good he was
And to the OP
Barkley tortured Kemp when Shawn was a baby in the league. He get three fouls on him in about 2 minutes holding up a finger for each one
Barkley had to use his wits because Kemp was so talented. By the 96 playoffs Barkley was on the Houston team the Sonics swept
If Gary Payton had played in his prime for the New York Knicks, he would be hailed as one of the top five players of all time (whether true or not)
Defense first players are always underrated. If he was as good offensively as he was defensively (top 3 of his era) and as good defensively as he was offensively (top 20 or so of his era) he’d have won multiple MVPs. But defense doesn’t get the credit it deserves.
Kemp had overall talent and athleticism that hadn’t been seen yet. He was truly great. Unfortunately the only time that I saw him live was in his way past washed up days in Portland. He was truly horrible that night.
He couldn’t jump anymore and couldn’t hold onto the ball. I didnt really think or care much about the Blazers back then but his gross play led to me to yell at him from the top of the 100 level. And it almost ended up in a fight in the mezzanine with a fan who disagreed! with my assessment. He was truly stealing money at that time of his career.
My favorite NBA player of all tim. As a youth, I used to see him driving through Magnolia with the top down in his all-white Mustang GT convertible. Fuck Wally Walker. Ruined Kemp's career and the Sonics franchise, and it all started with the horrendous McIlvaine contract.
That McIlvaine thing might have cost Seattle a NBA title
100% agree. By 1998, the Bulls were running on fumes. Lucky for them they faced an old Jazz team that couldn't run in the Finals.
Some people have looked at me like I'm crazy, but if George Karl put Gary on MJ the entire series (in '96), the Sonics would have taken that to 7 games.
I went to a game in that era. It was the first year back in key arena after being in Tacoma. Bulls were up with under a minute to go and had the ball. Jordan was dribbling up by half court, Gary was on him. Gary straight went at Jordan and took the ball and went down and made the layup. Was the craziest shit I've seen in key arena.
I don't know that we would have taken them to 7, but we were the only team that decade that had the cockiness and confidence to beat the Bulls.
The Blazers blew a 17 point 3rd quarter lead in game 6 of 1992, or that series would have gone 7
I believe they had a 12 pt lead with like 6 minutes left of that game as well. That game 7 would have been in Portland.
That was a bigger meltdown than even the 2000 Game 7 of the Laker series imo.
Although Portland didn’t give birth to Jordan in 1992 like they did Shaq and Kobe in 2000.
Kemp had overall talent and athleticism that hadn’t been seen yet. He was truly great. Unfortunately the only time that I saw him live was in his way past washed up days in Portland. He was truly horrible that night.
He couldn’t jump anymore and couldn’t hold onto the ball. I didnt really think or care much about the Blazers back then but his gross play led to me to yell at him from the top of the 100 level. And it almost ended up in a fight in the mezzanine with a fan who disagreed! with my assessment. He was truly stealing money at that time of his career.
The Throbber had corporate season tickets right behind the visiting team's bench in Kemp's rookie season. 'Forgot" to give them to clients about 35 times.... He didn't play all that much but when he did, holy shit. He had one break away vs. Detroit when they were prime bad boys - and got called for a travel -quite possibly the most violent jam I have ever seen.
Kemp got better the next couple seasons, then the Throbber changed jobs and didn't have access to the corporate tickets any longer. FML
My favorite NBA player of all tim. As a youth, I used to see him driving through Magnolia with the top down in his all-white Mustang GT convertible. Fuck Wally Walker. Ruined Kemp's career and the Sonics franchise, and it all started with the horrendous McIlvaine contract.
That McIlvaine thing might have cost Seattle a NBA title
100% agree. By 1998, the Bulls were running on fumes. Lucky for them they faced an old Jazz team that couldn't run in the Finals.
Some people have looked at me like I'm crazy, but if George Karl put Gary on MJ the entire series (in '96), the Sonics would have taken that to 7 games.
Pretty sure Gary wasn’t fully healthy in that Finals and that had a lot to do with it ... that’s the story I have heard
My favorite NBA player of all tim. As a youth, I used to see him driving through Magnolia with the top down in his all-white Mustang GT convertible. Fuck Wally Walker. Ruined Kemp's career and the Sonics franchise, and it all started with the horrendous McIlvaine contract.
That McIlvaine thing might have cost Seattle a NBA title
100% agree. By 1998, the Bulls were running on fumes. Lucky for them they faced an old Jazz team that couldn't run in the Finals.
Some people have looked at me like I'm crazy, but if George Karl put Gary on MJ the entire series (in '96), the Sonics would have taken that to 7 games.
Pretty sure Gary wasn’t fully healthy in that Finals and that had a lot to do with it ... that’s the story I have heard
Interesting, I haven't heard that. Would explain it though.
Comments
Terry Armour and Sam Smith
CHICAGO TRIBUNE
Shawn Kemp made a strong bid to become the just the second player ever to be awarded the MVP and play on the losing team in the Finals. In 27 years of awarding a Finals MVP, only the Lakers' Jerry West in 1969 in losing in seven games to the Celtics was named MVP. Since then the MVP has been from the winning team every year.
Kemp averaged 23.3 points and 9.7 rebounds
"When you lose you try to learn from your mistakes and build on them," said Kemp, who was runner-up to Michael Jordan for MVP. "I think I became a smarter player and made better decisions. Making it to the Finals was the hardest work. You have to go out and play the physical and mental game. We realize that."
That's what made Wally World hurt so bad. Sam Smith was/is a noted MJ honk and he thought Kemp was great
GP was perfect in Seattle in Karl's system. Dude could create off the break with some of that Oak-town swag.
He couldn’t jump anymore and couldn’t hold onto the ball. I didnt really think or care much about the Blazers back then but his gross play led to me to yell at him from the top of the 100 level. And it almost ended up in a fight in the mezzanine with a fan who disagreed! with my assessment. He was truly stealing money at that time of his career.
That was a bigger meltdown than even the 2000 Game 7 of the Laker series imo.
Although Portland didn’t give birth to Jordan in 1992 like they did Shaq and Kobe in 2000.
Jordan already had a ring.
Kemp got better the next couple seasons, then the Throbber changed jobs and didn't have access to the corporate tickets any longer. FML
I don't know if Chicago could have slown Hakeem down.
I'm 100% sure that nobody on Houston was slowing down MJ though.