The Perpetual NBA Thread

**kimpOy** · December 7th, 2005 12:21 PM

22 NOV 2005
By Eric Johnson

HOUSTON - He knows he screwed up. And he knows what you think the moment you hear the name "Shawn Kemp".

He grew up right before our very eyes -- we met him when he was just 18. We watched a supernova of raw talent explode, and then collapse back into itself like a black hole.

We saw him turn his back on Seattle, and then ultimately on himself.

He can't take it back. It doesn't work that way. But he desperately wants to change the last chapter; the final act.

And that's why Shawn Kemp is back.

"When all that stuff was going on, I never got a chance to talk to anybody... no one really asked me... there was so many things written about me that wasn't true... talked about me that wasn't true... and that's the thing as a person that bothers me the most," Kemp said.

"Like I said, when you're in that spotlight, and when something like that happens, you get sent off to this rehab place... all these people talking about you as a drug addict... what you find is you kind of go into a shell. You don't want to talk about it because you already know what the person is thinking about it."

Do you remember what it was like before he left? Or have you forgotten that the Reign-Man, the man-child, did things on a basketball court that few, if any, ever did before -- or since.

If you loved what he was, then you were disappointed by what he became: overweight, overpaid, and then overnight, just over.

The last time we saw him was in a courtroom. He'd been picked up in a car with a friend, and a bag of marijuana, a little cocaine, and a loaded pistol.

"I've definitely learned from this," Kemp said. "It's not a place I'm familiar with, and you shall not see me back in this position again."

Today he swears he didn't know about any of the drugs, and promises the incident changed him forever.

"I had already planned to get in shape; I was already working out at that time. And then that happened...

"Of all the things I've done -- been out drinking, used drugs... to never be caught, then all the sudden to be caught when you're not doing something... if that don't change you, nothing will ever change you."

And so he dropped everything 6 months ago and moved to Houston with a trainer. No drinking. No partying.

Just sweat and resolve -- and oatmeal 3 times a day.

He's lost 55 pounds.

"If you're a professional athlete and you've been to the top, you...you know how to get back there," he said.

Still larger than life, Shawn talks openly now about things he's kept locked up for years.

Like cocaine.

"If anything I could do all over again, I probably should have come out and talked about it a little bit more," he said. "Maybe been a little bit more open. The drug problem has never been that bad. I'm not gonna say I've never done drugs, because I have. But I think my personal demons were more of just my life... mismanaging my life, not just with drugs."

Back when everything was falling apart, Sports Illustrated did a cover story that claimed he had 7 children with multiple women.

Shawn said nothing.

"I mean there's no doubt about it, I have kids. I'm not gonna sit here and deny that," Kemp said. "But I never talked to S.I....they never called me to ask any questions. They put that story in the magazine without getting contact or anything, so...

"I'm sitting her in front of you guys and I'm gonna tell you this: Man, when you're growing up as a kid and they tell you this, they say, 'Hey, if you get in trouble and you have a lot of people around, 10 friends, people close to you and you think they're gonna help you out if something goes sour, everybody goes away.' Yeah...and I mean that."

To see him walk on a basketball court now, is to believe that he can make it back to the top of the mountain.

His face lights up; he grins like a kid, plays hoops like a kid. He's changed.

He's the Reign-man again.

Very soon, he'll work out for a handful of NBA teams. The motive is not money. Shawn's been wise -- he's financially set.

He turns 36 next week, and he says the comeback's not about reputation or redemption. It's strictly between the man and his game.

"I'm shooting for the Hall of Fame Eric; that's what I'm going for," Kemp said. "Obviously I owe something to the game of basketball at this point and that's what I'm gonna try to do.

"You live and you learn...that's what I've learned. I can't go back and change things...or change myself. But I accept things for what they are, the mistakes I've made, the good things I've done...I'm just a kid that grew up and uh, I'm a grown man now and I mean that, I've strived to get where I'm at now, and I'm gonna try to get better."

He's in great shape, he's cleaned up his messes, and he's happy again.

And believe this: whether he ever plays another minute in the NBA or not, the Reign-man is back.

well at 37 he can still deliver some juice in the game...
the last time i know he was a 300 pounder so minus 55 thats 245...

**empy** · December 7th, 2005 12:46 PM

i was watching TNT when Ernie and Kenny reported that George Karl was talking about signing Kemp to the Nuggets...

....di makasalita si Barkley...mangiyak-iyak na sa kakatawa :bwahaha:

**ILuvDetailing** · December 7th, 2005 12:54 PM

IMO wala ng pagasa si Kemp, somethings missing in his noggin', ever since the lockout shortened 1999 season he's spent more time in the kitchen instead of the gym... he wasted some all star years he had left when he signed with Cleveland where he had only one good season making a lame excuse that he packed all the weight because he needed the extra beef or fat to play down low, He never needed that in Seattle.

**ssaloon** · December 7th, 2005 12:55 PM

file pic:

screenshot from article:

**kimpOy** · December 7th, 2005 01:10 PM

wait till he gets posterized by AMARE, Dwight Howard and Nate Robinson (no kidding)

**theveed** · December 8th, 2005 09:42 PM

This is just stupid

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=2251724

Union files grievance over fines for long shorts
By Chris Sheridan
ESPN Insider

Have the NBA's fashion police gone too far?

The players' union thinks so, and it wants an arbitrator to decide whether it was fair to fine 13 players $10,000 apiece for wearing their shorts too long.

David Sherman/Getty Images
Jermaine O'Neal is one of the players fined $10,000 for long shorts.

The union filed a grievance Wednesday over the league's renewed infatuation with fabric lengths, asking the new arbitrator -- Calvin Sharpe of Case Western Reserve University -- to hear his first case.

"We think they're being too puritanical about the whole issue," union director Billy Hunter told ESPN.com. "The fines and their whole attitude appear insidious and draconian."

The league has been on the lookout for violations of the rule that states a player's shorts cannot extend below 0.1 inch above the knee. To date, $10,000 fines have been handed out to New York's Nate Robinson and Stephon Marbury; Philadelphia's John Salmons, Kyle Korver, Allen Iverson and Kevin Ollie; Indiana's Jermaine O'Neal, Stephen Jackson and Jamaal Tinsley; Jeff McInnis of New Jersey; and Voshon Lenard, DerMarr Johnson and Andre Miller of Denver.

On top of the player fines, the teams were fined $50,000 for each violation.

The league acknowledged receipt of the union's grievance and said it had cited more than twice as many violators as it did a year ago.

"There are rules, just as there are rules with other parts of our game," NBA deputy commissioner Russ Granik told ESPN.com's Darren Rovell. "It just seems like this year, there has been laxity on the part of some of the teams."

In its grievance, the union argued that the players were being unfairly penalized for wearing uniforms manufactured by Reebok, the league's official uniform provider, and issued by the teams.

When a team is deemed to be in violation, it first gets a warning. If the NBA deems the effort to shorten the shorts to be insufficient, only the team gets fined first. Then, after a third violation, the team and player get fined.

Many teams have privately complained that the league gave no warning in the offseason -- or even the preseason -- that it would be scrutinizing the length of shorts so closely. Violation notifications began when the regular season started.

Nathaniel S. Butler/Getty Images
These shorts might as well be too long on the Knicks' 5-9 Nate Robinson.

And because standard procedure requires teams to make their uniform orders more than six months before the following season, acquiring shorter shorts apparently isn't as simple as calling in a rush order. While waiting for new shorts to arrive, several teams have been forced to send out the shorts they have for tailoring.

Some clubs have complained, furthermore, that the league could have made things easier by giving Reebok guidelines to help make sure all players were in compliance. A common protest from veteran players is that they're simply wearing the shorts they get from the teams -- and the same-size shorts they've been wearing for years.

"They need to back off," Hunter said. "To penalize a guy $10,000 when the uniforms are manufactured by someone else. Maybe we should bring a suit against the manufacturers and seek some kind of relief from them."

The league has observers at every NBA arena, and staff members logging game videotapes at NBA Entertainment headquarters can keep an eye out for uniform violations if they're asked to do so by the league office in New York. It was unclear exactly who or what was driving the league's latest crackdown on long shorts, but many -- including O'Neal -- were quick to accuse the league of trying to sanitize and/or eliminate hip-hop style.

"I understand the need to appeal to a fan base who buys tickets, but sometimes I think it's like throwing the baby out with the bath water," Hunter said. "Too much scrutiny is going on, and what's it's doing is interfering with the play."

The union filed a similar grievance three years ago after several players were fined for wearing their shorts too low, but a settlement was reached and the case never made it before an arbitrator.

**empy** · December 8th, 2005 10:43 PM

have you guys seen any Heat games this season?

Antoine Walker is total GARBAGE. he's probably worth negative points to the team.

**ILuvDetailing** · December 9th, 2005 02:12 PM

Antoine Walker is total GARBAGE. he's probably worth negative points to the team.

kaya nga drinop ko siya sa EBNC

on a more serious note, I think James Posey is a better fit for the Heat. They already have Jason Williams and Dwayne Wade, and to some extent Gary Payton to handle the ball, the last thing they need is another player who needs the ball in his hands to be effective. Well its too early to call, lets see what happens come March - June when it all matters

**theveed** · December 9th, 2005 07:56 PM

Hehe, sa Boston lang sya may kwenta kahit papano kasi walang tumutulong kay Pierce dati, now that Davis is there, di hamak na mas may value si Ricky kesa kay Shimmy Toine...

Boy did I hate watching him live for 4 years grr...