I always say, 'When things are quiet, you know something is going on.'
Shawn Kemp
I'm no dummy. I have a good sense of the business end of this game.
When a person gets to the age of 35 and you go to jail, it either makes you or breaks you. It made me identify what I wanted.
People, when they sent me to Cleveland, what they expected was for Shawn to go to Cleveland and us to lose, you know what I'm saying? It's not going to happen.
People enjoy the game of basketball, so if you're not smiling, the fans are not going to smile. You can't go around mean-mugging everybody at every game.
I started jogging, jogging and jogging. I ran this weight off.
I get excited after I dunk. I yell and scream, but it's not yelling and screaming at other players to show them up. It's the way I play. What I do is have fun on the court.
You have to challenge yourself and things happen from there.
There is no positive outlook about Shawn Kemp in Seattle. When that name is mentioned, it brings nothing but negativity.
When I got into the NBA, the thing of it was, if you won, you got a new arena. But if you lost, you had to work to get the arena.
I don't always have to dunk the ball.
I won so many years in Seattle and then to go to Cleveland... I had a pretty nice year the first year I got there and then the last two years, we just weren't able to make it to the playoffs.
I remember when I was a rookie, there was an article in 'USA Today' that said, 'Larry Bird, he's lost a step.' That night I went out to guard him, he scored, like, 47 on me.
When I was younger, I was a guy who always wanted to get to the rim and attack the rim and just dunk the basketball.
I love Karl Malone.
When I walk into a gym full of kids, I could be having the worst day possible, but once you see the kids smile it changes your whole day around.
I feel I've proved I can rebound, block shots, get steals and pass the ball, too.
I learned so much from the people in Seattle. They taught me everything from community to business relationships.
I actually felt bad because I was dunking the ball so much. I led the league in dunks one year, and they told me that was the wrong thing to do.
I would never let myself go back there to play another 82-game season in Seattle. I think the team deserves better and the fans deserve better.
I never went to the Sonics and asked for more money. I didn't ask for another dollar.
Trust me, I have had my days where I don't feel great about myself. You have those days where you kind of get down. But for the most part, I have been able to stay focused and happy and use my time wisely.
Anytime you're playing with a team that's losing, the main guy is going to take a lot of the heat.
I always found it a great challenge playing against Michael Jordan, to play against Magic Johnson, to play against Larry Bird, to play against all those good players because it's something that you can take away from it.
It was just one of those things that, you know, you get to the NBA and have success and you just wanna play against the best, you don't wanna play with the best.
I'm all for doing positive. I've worked in the community. My wife, she's spending her life basically giving back to the community. That's something that we take pretty seriously, man.
I've got some kids out there; it's no secret. I've never been late on payments. I've handled it as best as I possibly can. There's no lawsuits. I try to stay on top of it.
You don't work your butt off for 90 yards of a 100-yard dash and then just quit.
The best feeling is when you dunk on a big guy bigger than you, then you can give him that look. It shrinks him down a bit!
I guess the all-American presentation of what a player is supposed to stand for is not what I am.
The NBA fits my game.
When I was younger, I used to dunk and they criticized me for the dunk. They said I couldn't be an All-Star because I dunked too much. So in order to get the respect from the people, I felt like I had to change my game.
Money means a lot of respect. It means a lot of accomplishment and a lot of hard work.
I will be Shawn Kemp regardless of whether I have money or not. The only thing money does is show who you are.
We need the Sonics back.
I don't know when, or how, but I feel it: Basketball will come back to Seattle.
I've been married 23 years now. Gone from spending all of my time on the road to being a husband and father.
I was known for a lot of dunks, but my first big dunk really came here in New York. I had some others back then, but my first major dunk came against the Knicks and Kenny 'Sky' Walker. So, you know, New York has a lot of meaning to me.
In the NBA, you always have to make the right decisions. You should feel free to live a normal life, but you really can't.
I came into the league fighting, and it looks like I'm going to go out fighting.
I've been called so many names and been written off by so many people who just say, 'Whatever happened to this guy?'
I'm not going to sit here and tell anybody I haven't had difficulties in my life, haven't made any bad decisions. But to sit back and consider myself a bad person or not doing something positive, it's so untrue.
I'm not trying to come back and change the perception of what people think about me. They can think what they want to, man.
My lifestyle is probably not quite what people would expect it to be.
I don't just want to be the best player in the NBA, I want to be the highest paid.
When things don't go right, people are always trying to protect themselves.
When you watch the old NBA, one thing is for sure, you will see more fights, a little more talking, bigger guys, bigger bodies.
My love for the game is very, very high.
I'm not coming back to play basketball for any financial reasons.
My hopes and dreams are to be in the Hall of Fame one day.
