Free Agent: Shawn Kemp?

[TDMVPDPOY]

dude is around 270lbs now 37yr old, would he come here for LLE or Minimum?

[Chief]

i don't think any of the spurs have trouble making babies do they ? why would they need shawn kemp ?

[ata]

i don't think any of the spurs have trouble making babies do they ? why would they need shawn kemp ?
:lmao :lmao :lmao :lmao :lmao :lmao

[Gummi]

No way. I'd rather have Oliver Miller if we're trying to sign a former fat NBA player.

[Texas_Ranger]

He can not play like he played before, so no thanks. He should go back to Sonics.

[WalterBenitez]

dude is around 270lbs now 37yr old, would he come here for LLE or Minimum?

Did you see Spurs' avg age?

[Basketball Jones]

Spurs need to get younger.

[Beaverfuzz]

No way. I'd rather have Oliver Miller if we're trying to sign a former fat NBA player.


Kevin Duckworth's available.

[midgetonadonkey]

Damn some of these threads are getting fucking ridiculous.

[WalterBenitez]

Damn some of these threads are getting fucking ridiculous.

Please, take a seat and wait :hat

[JamStone]

Well, Kemp does have 14 kids in Texas. He could be close to them for once in their lives. His other 29 kids have spent enough time with him over the years.

[ashbeeigh]

I'll take E20 before Shawn Kemp.

[ATX Spur]

How about Shrek? I bet his wingspan is great.

[jman3000]

I know some on the Lakers board were getting excited over him...

[spurs=bling]

How about Shrek? I bet his wingspan is great.
:lmao

[dknights411]

How about Shrek? I bet his wingspan is great.

You know what, let's go ahead and sign Lil' Bow Wow too.

(I had to take my little cousin out to see that movie. And BOY, did it suck!)

[milkyway21]

Shawn Kemp is currently auditioning for the Nuggets. Slimmed down, acc to them but;

he's 36. I don't think he'd fit the Spurs if we want to add younger players.

[SequSpur]

Shawn Kemp sucks.

[milkyway21]

now that he's old, almost retired and had a drug-related problem.

but he was once a good player.

but I agree he now sucks :lol

I wonder what's George Karl thinking?
they even had a bad coach-player relationship before.

DENVER (AP) -- Nuggets coach George Karl can see a different Shawn Kemp -- not just a slimmer version of the former All-Star, but a wiser one.

"He seems clearer, stronger," Karl said Monday after Denver's three-day camp for free agents. "His words are older. They have some wisdom to them. It's the most grounded I've seen him."

The 36-year-old Kemp, who reportedly ballooned to 340 pounds in recent years, has been out of the NBA for the last three years but he wants to play again. Kemp said he hired a trainer and dropped 75 pounds, helping trim his body fat to 11.5 percent.

The former "Reign Man" said he didn't go on a special diet and simply lost the weight the old-fashioned way -- hard work.

"I started jogging, jogging and jogging," Kemp said. "I ran this weight off."

Given his past relationship with Karl, he wouldn't mind making a comeback with the Nuggets. Karl coached Kemp from 1991-97 when both were with the Seattle SuperSonics.

"He challenged me a few years ago to become one of the best players in the league, and I accepted the challenge," said Kemp, a member of Dream Team II. "That's one of the reasons why I wanted to come here. I knew he (Karl) wouldn't take it easy on me. He hasn't taken it easy on me since I've been here."

In scrimmages over the last three days, Kemp held his own against younger post players and blocked a shot by 6-foot-11 Geoff Husted with authority as Husted entered the lane.

"I ran better than most of the big guys here," Kemp said. "I'm a little more advanced than I thought I was."

Kemp said there are other teams interested in his services, but the Nuggets are definitely on his radar.

"I look forward to hearing from them [Denver]," Kemp said.

Kemp averaged 14.6 points and 8.4 rebounds a game during his 14-year career with Seattle, Cleveland, Portland and Orlando. And while Kemp's best days may be in the rearview mirror, Karl thinks he could still contribute.

"Older players kind of have a sense and know how to win basketball games," Karl said. "I think Shawn is in that category. He's an old pro now that isn't going to probably get the slam dunks and the great lobs. He understands he can help a team as a role player, 10-15 minutes off the bench. If he can continue to regain some of his talents, then maybe more."

Kemp's biggest nemesis has been himself in recent years. In April 2005, Kemp was arrested for possessing small amounts of cocaine and marijuana in his truck. In 2001, he checked into a rehabilitation clinic for cocaine use.

Kemp was also featured in a story by Sports Illustrated in 1998 detailing athletes with out-of-wedlock children. The article said he reportedly fathered at least seven children by six different women.

"That was a little part of my life," Kemp said on the subject of his checkered past.

Kemp acknowledges that his past may become an issue for his future employer. However, he is serious about a comeback, which would be at least his fourth. The rapid weight loss showed that.

"You have to see it in a person's eyes and hear it in their voice and feel it from them before you become a believer," Kemp said. "That's what most of these teams are going to do -- talk to me and feel it from me."

It wasn't all love and roses for Karl and Kemp in Seattle. The two had confrontations about Kemp's tardiness to practice, contract issues and missing team flights in 1997.

But Karl won't hold the past against Kemp.

"I think he's done a great job of getting in shape," Karl said. "He went through five practices at a very hard level, and survived. He had moments where he was very impressive.

"He's got to regroup and regain some of the specialness that he had. Can he do that? All those things have got to be answered over a two-month period, not a two-day period. If he wants to keep pushing it, hopefully he can be successful."

These days, Kemp will work hard again for basketball. He's rediscovered his fondness for the game.

"I've always appreciated basketball," Kemp said. "I never tried to disrespect the game. That's why I stepped to the side a couple years ago to get my focus back to see if I really wanted to put the effort into basketball."

Kemp discovered the effort was worth it.

"I'm tired right now," Kemp said after Monday's workout. "I have to work on my moves inside a little bit, and on my shooting a little bit. Other than that, I was happy."

In his absence, though, the game has changed on him.

"It used to be where the bigger guys were inside," Kemp said. "Now most of the bigger guys are on the outside, shooting jumpers. The game's not the same. It actually favors me a little bit since I was more of a speed guy on the outside anyway."

As for his advancing age, Kemp doesn't think it's an issue.

"I'm a well-rested 36-year-old," Kemp said with a grin.

[milkyway21]

i can see Kenyon Martin leaving the Nuggets next season.

[clubalien]

kemp has MAJOR HOPS. I don't think we will sign him

[DirkAB]

That is a nice article, I hope he can find a team to contribute on. Hell, I wouldn't be all that opposed to him playing for the Kings, if we can get rid of Kenny Thomas this off-season, otherwise there would be a logjam at that position. If he stays clean I bet he has a good season or two left in him.

It is just sad to think of what he could have done, he had hall of fame talent. That dude was on course to be one of the most dominant PFs ever, before drugs took it all away. I'm still rooting for the guy, I love a good comeback story.

[Please_dont_ban_me]

Uh, no.

Unless he can knock people on there asses. Doing it while lunging for a doughnut does not count.

[polandprzem]

TPark would sign him !

[ChumpDumper]

Kenny is only 7 months younger and actualy costs more.

I do like him as a player though.

[Nbadan]

If I was putting together a team of scrubs to beat NY's multi-million dollar line-up, I'd take Kemp, but POP won't.

[ChumpDumper]

I think Shariff signed for a full midlevel deal last season, so there should be four more years on it.

I think having both is a pretty good thing, you just need a real shotblocker now.

[Nbadan]

Kenny Thomas knows body positioning. Sac Town needs to trade Bibby, who had a terrible series against Parker, for a scorer like Jason Terry.

[ducks]

Performance in Nuggets camp surprising to Kemp

By Aaron J. Lopez, Rocky Mountain News
June 6, 2006

Shawn Kemp no longer is trying to corner the market on deadly sins.

In the midst of making millions of dollars as an NBA All-Star, he lived an indulgent lifestyle that derailed so many promising players before him.

Alcohol, drugs and women were at the root of his self-destruction, and a subsequent weight problem ultimately ushered him out of the NBA at age 33.

With his weight once again manageable and his body free of illicit drugs, Kemp was happily out of breath Monday as he completed another step toward an improbable career comeback.

Kemp, now 36, gave himself a positive review after wrapping up a three-day free- agent camp with the Denver Nuggets.

"I came here a few days ago and I wanted to make it through every drill, through every play and not come up hurt, not take any plays off - and I was able to do that," he said. "I actually surprised myself with my speed. I ran better than most of the big guys here. I was really surprised at my conditioning. I'm a little more advanced than what I thought I was."

Kemp, listed at 6-foot-10 and 272 pounds, by far was the oldest and most accomplished player to take part in the free-agent camp at the Pepsi Center.

A six-time All-Star for the Seattle SuperSonics and Cleveland Cavaliers, Kemp averaged double figures in points and rebounds six times during his career and helped the SuperSonics reach the 1996 NBA Finals.

He will attend the Finals again this year as a guest of the Dallas Mavericks. Dallas coach Avery Johnson showed a strong interest in Kemp as a possible injury fill-in two months ago, but the Mavericks were denied a roster exemption by the NBA.

The Mavericks and Nuggets are among a handful of teams interested in signing Kemp, who retired in 2003 after his weight ballooned to 320 pounds.

Kemp has spent the past three years losing weight and trying to shake his bad habits. Only 14 months ago, he was arrested in suburban Seattle after a police officer found marijuana and cocaine in his pickup truck.

Kemp, who violated the NBA's substance-abuse program three times during his career, later pleaded guilty to attempted possession of more than 40 grams of marijuana.

"Drugs and stuff like that, that was a little part of my life," Kemp said. "My deal was more of just control - self-control with what I wanted to do and being happy and accepting things for what they are."

Nuggets coach George Karl, who coached Kemp in Seattle from 1992 to 1997, said it is too early to make any predictions about Kemp's future, but he was encouraged by what he saw over a three-day period.

"He went through five practices at a very hard level - at the two-a-day mentality - and survived and had moments where he was very impressive," Karl said. "He's got to regroup and regain some of the specialness that he had.

"Can he do that? Is his body going to hold up? Can he sustain the discipline to keep himself in shape? All those things have to be answered over a two-month period rather than a two-day period."

Because he has 14 years of NBA experience, Kemp would draw a minimum one-year salary of about $1.18 million, with the league picking up more than $430,000 of the cost as part of the collective-bargaining agreement.

The Nuggets' interest will depend, in part, on whether they re-sign free-agent big men Nene, Francisco Elson and Reggie Evans.

"I'm sure they want to look at some other players, and that's fine with me," Kemp said. "I want to talk to a couple other teams. Me and George and (Nuggets director of player personnel) Mark Warkentien have worked together before, so we know each other pretty good.

They'll be in touch with me and let me know what they think. I look forward to hearing from them."

ETC.: Karl said he still has not spoken with Kenyon Martin since the power forward was suspended two games into the playoffs. "There's a lot of time," Karl said . . . Warkentien leads a contingent of Nuggets personnel who will attend the NBA's predraft camp in Orlando, Fla., today through Saturday. He will be joined by Karl and assistant general managers David Fredman and Jeff Weltman . . . Nuggets center Marcus Camby on Wednesday will present four East High School students with $5,000 in college scholarship funding. The students are the first graduates of Camby's mentoring program . . . Karl said 18-year-old prospect Ricky Sanchez looked "rusty" during the three-day camp. "He probably took too many weeks off since the last time he played basketball," Karl said. Sanchez averaged 8.0 points and 3.6 rebounds for the Idaho Stampede of the Continental Basketball Association last season, his first as a pro.