Shawn Kemp HOF?

[TheReal Kendall]

I feel like he should make it eventually.

Y'all keep talking about off the court stuff but that has nothing to do with his play on the court and what he did.

I was just wondering cause Gary Payton is about to get inducted.

[Owl]

As a Sonics fan, I would love to see Shawn Kemp in the HOF. As a basketball fan, No. Shawn should not be in the HOF. I just don't think that he had a HOF career. If we let Shawn into the HOF, who is next; Larry Nance? Brent Berry? Purvis Short? Truck Robinson? Brad Davis? No on Shawn Kemp and the HOF.

An disparity in the level of talents there.
Nance is a strong two way player at consistently high standard for 11 years (rookie and final year at a lower but still okay level). I'd say he has a good case for the number two PF of the 80s. Better than many peripheral HoFers including recent inductees Rodman and Mullin. Also a good teammate. He's the only guy that's roughly equivalent to Kemp, but I'd say a bit better.

Then a huge falloff.
Robinson struggled to get on with teammates (notably Hayes and Maravich), shot poorly for a PF (from the field and the line), turned the ball over too often, was never significantly better than average by any advanced metrics. Davis was a solid starting PG for a few years. Short was a prolific scoring SF in an era when they were common, not a top 10 player at his position in his decade so again nowhere near HoF. Barry was a tremendous shooter and smart ballhandler who didn't (couldn't?) create his own shot. On a good team he was best suited to a 3rd guard role.

[Sharmer]

Kemp better than Pipen.

[G-train]

He gets my vote. He was pretty much a top 2-3 PF in the league for a reasonably decent stretch.

Personal off-court issues (like the children or getting overweight toward the end of his career) should not count as a vote against him.

We should only look at what he did and accomplished as a player, and he was hella good.

Even when past his prime and starting to get fat I remember him carrying my Cavs to the playoffs on his back w/ practically no help.

He was also arguably the MVP of the Sonics team that almost beat MJ's Bulls in the finals.

Decent post.
6 time allstar. 3 time all nba second.
Played well in 96 finals.
Fantastic rebounder and shot blocker. Good scorer.
He has a case, has been eligible for 4 years.

I think he will sneak in at some stage, but I personally wouldn't put him in. He is on the edge though.

[Lakers Legend#32]

The Sonics Jack Sikma deserves to be in the HOF before Kemp

FU Jokelahoma Sh1tty.

[ihatetimthomas]

He's peripheral. His peak is good enough, though not legendary.

In a vacuum I'd take his career over Chris Mullin's. But Mullin was a DTer, inspirational and disciplined (overcame alcoholism, was a gym rat). Kemp was a DTIIer, didn't seem to overcome his demons and fathered a lot of children.

So fair or not Mullin is in wheras Kemp will at at least have to wait a while.

That said Rodman made it in with, I don't know what to call it, "attitude issues"? Kemp was a better player for roughly the same stretch (don't want to do the whole Rodman debate but he was never even vaguely MVP contention, 2 All-NBA 3rd teams and 2 ASG, if we ignored age, the idea that Kemp at his apex would be traded for Rodman would have been, well it wouldn't happen) so he's certainly got a shot.

In a vacuum, Mullins career was much better than Kemp. Mullin had a decorated college career. And while Kemp didn't play, college accolades are def considered in the bball HOF. He also had 2 gold medals. He had success in college, NBA and in the Olympics. While I would consider Kemps peak better, Mullins basketball career was much better.

[bizil]

Kemp's peak value was that of an HOF caliber PF. U can't FOR SURE name 15 better power forwards peak value wise than Kemp in my book. I think Kemp is even arguably a top 10 PF ever peak value wise. But I don't think Kemp will make the HOF anytime within the next ten years. At his best, he redefined the PF position

[hateraid]

As impressive as he was to watch as a player, his body of work does not indicate HOF status. I think we remember the highlights, not the accomplishments.
Put his resume on paper and look at it without Shawn Kemp beside it. Looks pretty meh.

Having said that I bought his jersey in 95

[chocolatethunder]

Kemp's peak value was that of an HOF caliber PF. U can't FOR SURE name 15 better power forwards peak value wise than Kemp in my book. I think Kemp is even arguably a top 10 PF ever peak value wise. But I don't think Kemp will make the HOF anytime within the next ten years. At his best, he redefined the PF position

I'm a kemp fan but ill try that
Barkley
Malone
Garnett
Dirk
Duncan
McHale
Bob Petit
Elvin Hayes
Webber
Rodman
Stoudemire

That's off the top of my head

I thought you only said 10 so here are five more who are on par with him. Maybe not better but def on par career wise
Tom Chambers
Larry Nance
Larry Johnson
Otis Thorpe
Kevin Willis
Buck Williams

[NewYorkNoPicks]

Will he eventually make then HOF?

Is he considered HOF worthy?

There's a lot of players in there that's not worthy.

Are you kidding me?

Why? Because he was a great dunker?

Let's induct Kenny Walker then...or Darryl Dawkins

Why? Because he averaged 20 ppg ONE TIME his entire career?

So many weaknesses in this guys game. The most overrated player on ISH...

[L.Kizzle]

I seriously doubt he makes it. Zo has a better chance than he does.

He didn't play great early in his career coming out of high school, and he had a stretch of dominating All-NBA team years, but it didn't last long. Similar to T-Mac, who I doubt will ever make the HOF.

I think he was an All-Star by his 3rd season ... how is that not great early on? He avg 15 and 8 his 2nd season. For a ten year stretch, he avg about 18/10 with 2 assist and 1.5 blocks.

[Owl]

In a vacuum, Mullins career was much better than Kemp. Mullin had a decorated college career. And while Kemp didn't play, college accolades are def considered in the bball HOF. He also had 2 gold medals. He had success in college, NBA and in the Olympics. While I would consider Kemps peak better, Mullins basketball career was much better.

To clarify, I was talking pro career (though Kemp has his own gold, and whilst Mullin was a star in college, which advances his HoF credentials, Kemp was the better player at age 22). Mullin has more awards/achievements, but if they were in a draft I'd take Kemp.

I'm a kemp fan but ill try that
Barkley
Malone
Garnett
Dirk
Duncan
McHale
Bob Petit
Elvin Hayes
Webber
Rodman
Stoudemire

That's off the top of my head

I thought you only said 10 so here are five more who are on par with him. Maybe not better but def on par career wise
Tom Chambers
Larry Nance
Larry Johnson
Otis Thorpe
Kevin Willis
Buck Williams

Hayes didn't have Kemp's peak, he was never an efficient scorer and the metrics reflect that.

Rodman probably didn't have Kemp's peak either. Most people I've heard tend to describe Pistons' defense oriented Rodman as his peak. It's a long way off Kemp's peak on paper and though Rodman's D certainly narrows significantly the gap it's not like Kemp was a slouch on D himself, so unless the team was already set for scoring I'd think apex Kemp was better.

[Real Men Wear Green]

You have to completely disregard the importance of longevity to let Kemp in. At his peak he was who Blake Griffin should bebut it wasn't long enough. Plus his decline was the kind of decline that people will hold against a player. It wasn't some injury that he can hold no blame for, it was substance abuse and for most people that keeps him from being a sympathetic figure. He partied his way out of the league.

[sportjames23]

I would love for the Reign Man to be in the Hall, but I dunno if he'll be inducted.

[Thorpesaurous]

I'll just start off saying I wouldn't vote for him. He was an awesome player, just not a HOFer. You can actually make the case that some other quick peak burn out guys had better careers even. Derrick Coleman lasted longer, although his peak wasn't quite as good. Larry Johnson's got a similar peak, maybe shorter, and was a better contributer after that peak, and has a HOF college resume.

That said, his skill set is a little hard to quantify. His primary skill was changing ends at his peak, which doesn't necessarily show up statistically the way one always hopes.

There's a lot of names in this thread. Mullin deserves to be in, but I'd put him toward the lower end of the threshhold. I know no one wants to count titles for much, but Rodman was a key piece on five title teams, and had a definitively unique skill set. Much better case than say Robert Horry, and totally belongs in in my opinion. Cool to see Nance's name in here. He's another really cool player who's on the cusp for me. I also believe Jack Sikma is right on the fringe. A really good player with a specific skill set, in that he's huge and can really shoot it.