I'm working in the Emerald City this week, and Kemp has a 30 minute show on KJR with SquishySofty and Ian Furness (yes, Ian Furness is still alive, and he still sucks). Kemp said today that Clay Bennett and OKC called him during first round and asked him to sit courtside for one of the playoff games against Denver. Kemp refused, saying it wouldn't send a good message, since he still believes that Seattle will get another NBA team. On a related note, all NBA talk was centered on how much the fans here hate OKC, and want them to lose.
Kemp has a good heart. No one says he's a genius, but never forget how he gave back almost $30M to Paul Allen because he hadn't performed up to his big contract. Would you give up a third of your net worth to an employer because everyone says you're too fat?
Yeah i forgot about that! Kemp does have a great heart. Man it sucked that his career went to shit. I truly enjoyed watching him and GP tear shit up.
Perhaps rather than the weight it was the cocaine? Good heart? Fool was a heavy drug user who threw away fame and fortune. Pardon me if I don't fondly look back on how he helped create a mess for our franchise.
Good for him, Bennett is a bbbitch. Thou shall not Judge. You couldn't imagine in a million years what it was like to be in his shoes. Don't blame Kemp for the mess our management created.
So, did any former Sonic "greats" take Bennett up on his offer? I can't imagine why they would. None of them have any connection with this current OKC team. And, I no longer associate this team with Seattle. Collison and Durant are the only players on their roster that ever played for the Seattle Supersonics, and Durant was only there for one lame duck season. Brooks never coached in Seattle. The uniform is different, the team name is different. I no longer associate this team with Seattle any more than I associate the Wizards with Chicago or the 76ers with Syracuse. BNM
Cocaine is a helluva drug; it changes the chemistry in your brain so that the pleasure centers react to no other chemical. It becomes literally the only thing that makes you happy.
Collison did too, and last I heard still lives in Queen Anne in the off-season. I vaguely remember some OKC sports radio host trashing him for that and Collison's comments about how he loved Seattle.
I hate misleading thread titles. Refusing a ticket and telling them to eff off are two different things. And yes, Im aware my Blazers/Lakers/Magic trade thread was misleading but that was because I misinterpreted the rumor so it wasn't intentional.
Sounds like Gary Payton may have taken them up on the offer. According to Kemp, he didn't sit courtside, though, but was in a suite.
Not the way Kemp told it. He didn't even return their call and couldn't wait to talk about dissing OKC. But, thanks for the post. I'm sorry I hurt your feelings when you completely misunderstood the Oden/LMA for Howard/Gasol trade.
That video is actually disappointing to someone who watched Kemp a lot. It shows his leaping ability, but not his quickness. I hope there's a video out there of him faking out people in order to get to the hoop. He wasn't a great dribbler due to small hands, so he had to dribble in there really fast, but once he arrived, if the defender was ready for him and too strong to overpower, he sometimes had to throw very quick fakes. Great quickness is what distinguishes him from history's other very muscular, yet high leapers, and there aren't many, even in the less quick variety. Wally Walker could have had Karl Malone for Kemp, but he chose Vinny Baker due to age and cheaper contract in the log run. Kemp was better than Malone when in the game, but Malone stayed out of foul trouble and Kemp didn't.