Shawn Kemp arrested once again for possession of drugs

[tobynosker]

Former Seattle SuperSonics forward Shawn Kemp was charged Friday, April 29th with marijuana possession, after deputies searched the truck and found a black leather bag containing a loaded 9mm handgun registered to Kemp and about 1.2 grams of cocaine.

As an admitted younger fan of the NBA, Shawn Kemp was one of the guys I grew up with, and along with Gary Payton in Seattle formed one of the dominate one-two combinations during the mid-90's (along with Stockton-Malone, Jordan-Pippen, Drexler-Olajuwon, Hardaway-O'Neal).

Kemp averaged 14.6 ppg and 8.4 rpg, while shooting 49% from the field for his career. Kemp was a three-time Second Team All-NBA selection, and earned five-straight All-Star Game apperances, including four-consecutive starts from 1994-1997.

His most impressive season was the 1995-1996 seasons, where Kemp and Payton helped lead the Seattle SuperSonics to the NBA Finals against the rebirth-Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls. Kemp averaged 19.6 ppg and 11.4 rpg while shooting 56% from the field that season (he averaged 23.3 ppg, 10.0 rpg against the Bulls in the 1996 NBA Finals)

Kemp finished his career in Seattle as the teams all-time leader in blocked shots (959 blocks), while also finishing second in team history in all-time rebounding (5,978 rebounds) and fourth in all-time scoring (10,148 points).

Kemp was traded from Seattle to Cleveland in 1997, where he became the first-ever Cleveland Caviliers All-Star game starter. The following season, he suffered injuries that kept him out of fourty-regular season games. After a three-year stint with Cleveland, Kemp was again traded to Portland and eventually would finish his career as a free-agent signee with the Orlando Magic.

During the latter-stages of his career, Kemp battled with drug issues. Kemp missed the final eight games of the 2000-2001 season, taking a leave of absence from the Portland Trail Blazers and entering a substance abuse program. The following season, Kemp was suspended for five games for violating the anti-drug policy, and during his first year in Orlando was suspended without pay for violating the league's anti-drug policy for the third time.

It's a shame that Kemp has had to battle these personal demons, but instances like these continue to show that professional sports have neglected to help these players fight their issues with substance abuse. I can understand if the league feels it was a personal choice and a personal mistake that Kemp made, but when organizations like the NBA (or any other profesisonal sports league) continue to make money off of these players after they have screwed up several times, the league has to prove to me that they care about the welfare of their players.

Would Major League Baseball have earned support in their current steroid issue if they had tried to help players like Ken Caminiti, rather than just dismissing players who will forever-be recognized as a Majore League Baseball player? Organizations like the NBA and MLB accept these players, and accept their actions. They ought to accept some responsibility too.

[davematthews3]

It is said to see a great talent like this have to struggle I feel bad for Kemp he really could have been a special player for longer then he was. I agree with you that the major sports don't help there athletes enough just look at Strawberry he would have been elite is sad to see this stuff happens. But this reminds us that Athletes are humans too.

[Shawndo]

I'm not sure what you would want the league to do to better assist players with drug problems? He entered a substance abuse program. If he would rather snort coke than be a superstar athlete, there's only so much you can do to help, you know?

[doublee]

There is an old saying that goes: "You can only help those who want to be helped." Kemp clearly does not want to be helped. Look at how many times celebrities like Robert Downey Jr. and Scott Weiland have bounced in and out of court mandated rehab only to be arrested a few months after getting out. There comes a point in time where you just realize that you are wasting time and money on someone. As callous as that may sound, but typically addicts need to have some life altering experience before they decide they need to get help.

[BlueBaron]

It is a shame that things like this happen, but they do happen. He never was one of my favorite players but I still hate to see this. Maybe some time in the clink will straighten him out.

[Marc]

I don't know whether to feel sorry for this guy or brush it off as just another idiot athlete who wasted his talent and threw so much away by making wrong decisions. Like toby, I grew up watching Kemp being the high-flying Reign Man with Payton in Seattle, and it's sad how far he's fallen.

[Tarkus]

I think it's a shame how some fall to the excesses in life but I don't agree that it's the sports teams that should be chasing down wayward millionaire athletes to help them sort their lives out.

Programs are in place in sports, some better than others but available nonetheless, that are there to help out athletes. I don't buy into the "I'm an addict but what's the teams excuse" mentality.

You dance....You pay the Piper.....

[tobynosker]

I'm not sure what you would want the league to do to better assist players with drug problems? He entered a substance abuse program. If he would rather snort coke than be a superstar athlete, there's only so much you can do to help, you know?

Let the record show, that when Shawn Kemp took a leave of absence from the Portland Trail Blazers and entered a substance abuse program, he did that on his own, fearing a suspension from the NBA. By entering himself into the program, he was still able to receive a paycheck and didn't have to meet criteria set by the league before he could be released from the program. So the NBA didn't place him into the program.

I guess my biggest problem with the NBA (and other sports, for that matter) is their drug-testing policy. It wasn't until 1999 before they began testing for marijuana use (a little late fellas). Everyone covered by the policy (that includes players, head coaches, trainers, etc.) is tested at least once during the four-week preseason. Rookies are tested three more times, randomly and without notification, each season. And veterans are tested during the preseason only.

So by 1999, Kemp was considered a veteran. If it's obvious to everyone that there is a legitimate problem, does it make sense to only test veteran players during a four-week period that they know is coming?

[buckeyefan78]

Yeah poor Kemp.

I'm tested for drugs once a year, get fingerprinted, wear an ID card everyday, and can do something I find perfectly professional and get canned for it at the drop of a hat if a student or other employee is offended ( at the very least go through a big ordeal if someone wants to push the issue). All this and I made $20,000 my first year doing something society considers important. AND I am in one of the strongest unions our nation has ever seen, historically speaking.

Oh yeah, poor poor Kemp.

[Pimpbot]

Kemp had it all and blew it. No sympathy from me.

[doublee]

buckeye not to mention you can also get fired if you rub a parent the wrong way let alone a teacher or fellow employee. Parents seem to be the ones educators have to watch out for these days.

[tobynosker]

I hope you are not mis-reading what I was trying to say. I'm not offering sympathy to Kemp. Like Buckeye said, most of us would be without jobs if we screwed up once. And I believe that's the way it should be.

But Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig is all excited about a tougher steroid policy, that would give players two opportunities before being banned on the third offense.

League's like the NBA and MLB are telling players that you can continue to screw up and continue to make money (while honestly, it's the league looking to make money off of these players). While the player's are screwing up on their own (and I truly believe it's the players who have screwed up), they don't have employers like we do telling us that you screwed up and have to suffer the consequences of your actions.

And by the league not helping the player's deal with their personal issues when they immediately arise, they dismiss them. So once those players retire, the league's have to deal with the Ken Caminiti's dying, the Shawn Kemp's getting arrested, and the Jose Canseco books bringing a black-eye to sports. And then they tell us they've done the best they could.

[buckeyefan78]

I'm not sure they are telling us they did the best they could toby. I understand the argument, but don't see what a private business can't run things the way they want. Sure it is sad, but unless the fans demand a change (cause they equal $), I don't see things changing anytime soon.

Off topic...doublee...

Agreed on parents, but brass is still my biggest problem. Got called in the office the other day. Told I'm flunking too many kids, nearly 40%. I can't make it any easier for them. What the hell do they want me to do? Do their homework for them. Whatever. Ending it here before my head explodes.

[Shawndo]

Originally posted by buckeyefan78

Agreed on parents, but brass is still my biggest problem. Got called in the office the other day. Told I'm flunking too many kids, nearly 40%. I can't make it any easier for them. What the hell do they want me to do? Do their homework for them. Whatever. Ending it here before my head explodes.

My guess is it might be your negative attitude. If you spend most of the time looking for the students to fail and focusing on that, that is what you're going to find. Try focusing on the students that are promising and encouraging creative thinking, and watch your flunk rates go down. You create your own reality. Watch 'What the Bleep do we know?"

[buckeyefan78]

Shawn...

Since this is off topic now, I'll go ahead and respond. First, it is 40% of my regular students. My two advanced classes are doing fine. So, I guess I'm flunk closer to 30% of my kids TOTAL.

If you want to blame a negative attitude for motivation, I guess I could buy that. But you don't see me in a classroom, so that would be a judgement call. I don't know how much "positivity" can change the fact that kids don't care and their parent's don't as well.

"Creating my own reality" doesn't change the fact that the Mekong River Delta was the scene of heavy fighting during the Vietnam War, NOT the Mississippi River Delta. No matter how "nice" I look at that answer, I can't mark it right.

[Shawndo]

Buckeye, I was just trying to help.. yes, this is way off topic now but I think everything anyone had to say about Shawn Kemp has already been said, so I don't have a problem with it veering.

I don't see you in the classroom, true. But I have read your posts over the last couple of years now and I'm familiar with your way of thinking. It usually strikes me as focusing on the negative aspects of things, and I just thought that if you tried a different approach- looking for things to be positive about, it might help your situation and translate into a lower flunk rate.

I shouldn't have jumped directly into 'creating your own reality'... I should probably have started it off with a suggestion toward the movie: Dead Poets Society. A classic portrayal of a great teacher inspiring his students, and one of my all time favorite films.

You have to start with that little spark. I hope that helps, really. I have the utmost respect for teachers and for a teacher to lose that spark of inspiration, I would imagine could turn the best job in the world into the worst job in the world.

There is always a positive way of looking at any situation, and by focusing on that instead of the negative, you are in position to let your spark be infectious and your students turn into kindling.