Top 100 NBA Players: #62

Shawn Kemp

(Simmons: #89, BBR: #76)

Shawn Kemp was one of the most dominant forces of the 90's, bringing down the house with thunderous dunks and leading the Sonics to multiple division titles and an appearance in the NBA Finals, but it all came crashing down too early, but there were signs that it was coming before most people noticed.

During Kemp's last four seasons in Seattle, there were very few players who could compare to him. He, along with Gary Payton, led Seattle to the NBA Finals, where they lost to Michael Jordan and the 72-win Chicago Bulls in 6 games. When he was traded to Cleveland, he continued to score in similar quantities and still made an All-Star team, but if you look at the other big-man stats, you'll see that the signs of his decline were already there.

Kemp (1993-1997) - 18.8 pts, 10.8 reb, 1.5 blk, .538 FG%
Kemp (1997-2000) - 18.5 pts, 9.1 reb, 1.1 blk, .441 FG%

The two rebounds per game drop certainly doesn't look good, but what is most alarming was the nearly 10% drop in shooting percentage, which means that he had to waste a much greater number of possessions to get himself up to the same number of points he was accustomed to scoring.

Kemp was probably the #2 player on that Finals team, although he and Payton were basically even, but he was the best player on the team that nearly made the Finals three years earlier, when they lost in game 7 to the Phoenix Suns, who went on to lose to Chicago in the Finals. Sadly, he let jealousy and drugs get in the way of a career that could have been truly memorable, and not just another in a long list of What Could Have Been's.

Kemp didn't have the prolonged playoff success of Billups, but a quick glance at this chart tells you that Kemp was a much better player in the regular season. His top 3 seasons all rank above anything Billups ever put up, and he did maintain a high level of play for just as long as Billups, which is enough for him to stay above the smaller man on this list.