Both players were superstars for just a short period of time.
Rankings are subjective, but I pick Jermaine because he was better on defense, while being great on offense too. O'Neal was considered one of the better post defenders in the league, mainly because of his shotblocking.
O'Neal finished 3rd in MVP voting in 03-04 and he deserved it. Just found out he shot just 43% but he was great that season and so were his Pacers. He was a true go to guy, eventhough his percentages were never great...
Kemp could run the floor better and shot higher percentages. He was also a slightly better rebounder. Still though, he didn't score as much as prime O'Neal and was less good on defense.
It's pretty much a toss up, I pick Jermaine though. Kemp was awesome and I'm a bigger Kemp fan, but still...
Kemp scored 4 less ppg, on 13 percentage points higher in terms of FG%. I'm inclined to believe that if he attempted as much as JO did, he'd score more on better efficiency. Kemp in 98 had GP, Hersey Hawkins, Detlef all scoring over 15ppg, with GP and Detlef over 17 ppg. And as great as JO was defensively, Kemp was slightly worse as a post defender, but was more versatile because he could defend the perimeter as well. I'd say they were, at the very least, equal defenders.
Kemp scored 4 less ppg, on 13 percentage points higher in terms of FG%. I'm inclined to believe that if he attempted as much as JO did, he'd score more on better efficiency. Kemp in 98 had GP, Hersey Hawkins, Detlef all scoring over 15ppg, with GP and Detlef over 17 ppg. And as great as JO was defensively, Kemp was slightly worse as a post defender, but was more versatile because he could defend the perimeter as well. I'd say they were, at the very least, equal defenders.
Kemp scored 4 less ppg, on 13 percentage points higher in terms of FG%. I'm inclined to believe that if he attempted as much as JO did, he'd score more on better efficiency. Kemp in 98 had GP, Hersey Hawkins, Detlef all scoring over 15ppg, with GP and Detlef over 17 ppg. And as great as JO was defensively, Kemp was slightly worse as a post defender, but was more versatile because he could defend the perimeter as well. I'd say they were, at the very least, equal defenders.
you mean 95-96
you definitely have a point here. Kemp was more effencient and JO's percentages were below average (for a big). However, Kemp ran with GP and a bunch of other scorers on a good team and the defensive attention was divided between them.
The Pacers were deep too, and had good team defense, but in the year they won 61 games, Artest was 2n in scoring with 18, Harrington 3rd with 13..
JO carried the team in the post.
After Kemp left the Sonics for Cleveland, his percentages dropped. He became the (only) go to guy. In his 3 years there he averaged:
18.0 on .445
20.5 on .482 (ok that was pretty solid..)
17.8 on .417 (here's when the personal decline kicked in)
As I said, it's a toss up. I like Jermaine better in a halfcourt set (solid turn around) and on defense too. So I give him a slight edge.
It's hard to blame the young guys on this thread. They saw a lot of BAD FAT Kemp. That'd be hard to get out of your memory when you tried to go back and look at old games.
Yeah and he went to CLE and he did Great. He gained weight and got less explosive but he definitely upped his offensive arsenal. He had sick fadaways, turn around jumpers, the Game's best Baseline spin move, Up and under to switch hands, I mean God Damn people we're sleepin on him in CLE. He even lead that mediocre squad to the playoffs! Too many people focus on his Dunks and forget about his all around game which by 96 was rivaling MJ's. At one point i felt as if the Kemp fade away was more effective than Jordan's. You couldn't block Kemp's and he nailed it all the time. It's Shame what drugs and Food can do for a career.
Re: Shawn Kemp -vs- Jermaine O'Neal: Who U Got?
but he was great that season and so were his Pacers. He was a true go to guy, eventhough his percentages were never great...
