Top 75 Shawn Kemp Quotes

I always say, ‘When things are quiet, you know something is going on.’

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’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.

My hopes and dreams are to be in the Hall of Fame one day.

I’m afraid that if they bring the Sonics back, what kind of team are they going to put on the court? Are they going to put the effort out? If they bring the team back, are they going to really put a good team out there? Or do we just want any team?

I learned so much from the people in Seattle. They taught me everything from community to business relationships.

I’m not coming back to play basketball for any financial reasons.

My love for the game is very, very high.

You can’t be a losing team and get a new arena. That’s not fair. That’s not fair! That’s how I see it.

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.

You don’t work your butt off for 90 yards of a 100-yard dash and then just quit.

I see myself as a winner. I’m not one of those guys who say, ‘Let’s come back next year and maybe give it a better shot.’ The shot is now.

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.

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 like to try to get around the younger generation to just encourage them. But I’ve always been afraid of coaching because I was always hard on myself as a player.

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’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.

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.

I started jogging, jogging and jogging. I ran this weight off.

I’ve always enjoyed playing in the summer.

I just want to get as far away from Indiana as possible.

I’m no dummy. I have a good sense of the business end of this game.

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.

I’ve made my share of mistakes, but I’ve learned.

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.

I never want to be considered a guy who made a lot of money who didn’t earn it.

I feel I’ve proved I can rebound, block shots, get steals and pass the ball, too.

I came into the league fighting, and it looks like I’m going to go out fighting.

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.

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 stuff happens to you, it just makes you tougher, man.

I’m drug-free. I don’t drink.

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 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.

I played so many years without having a big contract, to have the big contract and not win and not have the appreciation, it hurt.

Money means a lot of respect. It means a lot of accomplishment and a lot of hard work.

I think most young players who take off from the start are usually put in a situation where they are surrounded by good, veteran players.

I make sure I stay in full contact with the kids. It is my responsibility to make sure these guys are taken care of and loved. That’s what I have to do and will continue to do.

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.

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.

Every summer, no matter what happens to me in my life, I’m going to work out every day.

A lot of times, the spectacular play the fans see is not always what I tried to do. It just happens.

Anytime you’re playing with a team that’s losing, the main guy is going to take a lot of the heat.

I guess the all-American presentation of what a player is supposed to stand for is not what I am.

You never let what someone says bring you down. If you do that, you’d be a chump in this world.

You don’t play eight years and all of a sudden let your game go down just for a trade.

I’ve always thought I could shoot from the outside.

I love Karl Malone.

I’ve been married 23 years now. Gone from spending all of my time on the road to being a husband and father.

People are always going to be negative when they mention my name, but I can accept that and that’s what makes it easier for me to go on.

It’ll be a challenge for me to come in and fit with a team that’s already good.

Basically take care of your game, and your game will speak for itself.

I’m relentlessly aggressive.

I’m just getting wiser as I get older.

If I read an article and believed everything a guy said about me, I’d believe I was the best person in the world or the worst person in the world, so I can’t go off what some guy says about me. I only go off what happens to me.

When you lose you try to learn from your mistakes and build on them.

You get a chance to play, you get a little more comfortable out there on the court, and you just try to make the most out of the time you get.

Sometimes I don’t realize the things I do on the court.

I wasn’t in the right place at Kentucky, and I don’t think I ever would have been comfortable in college.

I have always been able to handle situations well once they’ve happened to me.

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.

Anytime you struggle, people are always going to say something.

There is no positive outlook about Shawn Kemp in Seattle. When that name is mentioned, it brings nothing but negativity.

I’m not U.S.A. Olympic image. I didn’t go to college. I came from a different route.

I’ve played eight years and gotten better each season.

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.

I don’t go out looking to make spectacular plays. I just try to come in and be a physical presence inside.

You know, I’m not going to be on a losing team. That’s just not going to happen.

My game hasn’t changed at all. I don’t call it flair or whatever. It’s just the way I’ve always played.

I just hate losing.

I don’t know when, or how, but I feel it: Basketball will come back to Seattle.

If you have a goal, you have to step forward and try to get it accomplished.

I never went to the Sonics and asked for more money. I didn’t ask for another dollar.

When you watch the old NBA, one thing is for sure, you will see more fights, a little more talking, bigger guys, bigger bodies.