Video: Shawn Kemp Thinks He Was a Better Dunker Than Blake Griffin

I’m shocked that 99% of the posters said Kemp. I completely agree but it’s still a shock nonetheless. Kemp was just fierce

@PalmSquad: the 48″ is pretty accurate imo since they do measure vertical jumps at the pre draft combine. and Kemp’s vert was 40″ and you have to take into account that’s off 2 legs and pretty much everyone jumps 4 inches better at their best since there isn’t anything special about that combine to get their juices flowing so players get personal bests or even come close. and I don’t think there was another big to get to 40″ in the predraft combine. and SK was also a great leaper of one foot so you could argue that it’s not a stretch for him to jump 48″ at his best (I read a long time ago during the 90′s that he had a 44″ of 2 legs and 49″ off one). Blake’s very good off two legs – probably also around 44″ – but I doubt he’s better taking off two. but Kemp was a little longer so he didn’t always have to jump 40″ in order to throw it down on somebody. as far as bodytype Kemp was like a combination of KD and BG, not as long and skinny as KD, and not as big as BG – somewhere in the middle.
Also Kemp used to dunk on the best shotblockers in the history of Basketball. Olajuwon, Mourning, Mutombo, Robinson, just to name a few. And those guys used to challenge all his dunks, not like today’s average centers who just get out of BG’s way. You say he dunked on Mozgov and Perkins? they barely lifted their arms and tried to stop him. BG didn’t even ran them over. instead he looked as if he just hit a wall and that’s why he went up so high. Kemp was running over the guys who tried to defend like Perk and Moz. Remember Lister? I bet he still has nightmares to this day about that dunk. there’s also another white dude from Sacramento in Kemp’s highlights that tries the Mozgov defense and gets run over while Kemp completes a dunk – not a throw in. that right there shows that BG isn’t anywhere near as strong as the reignman. go check youtube and watch Kemp throw down a left handed dunk over Alonzo, and then a monster alley-oop on his had, during the same game. and both times Zo challenged his dunks. also there’s another game where he throws down 2 dunks on Deke while being challenged. there’s really only one guy these days in the league that BG has to dunk on – and dunk on really bad – in order to start being mentioned in the same category as SK. and that’s Howard – a guy who came close to being on the Westbrook poster at the ASG, only he didn’t want to have any of that (the Kobe dunk during his rookie season was priceless but that doesn’t count since he wasn’t the talk of the league back then and only an average defender)

Griffin might be a more explosive two-footed leaper. That is pretty much the only thing that can be given to him. Nothing more. There has never been a big man with the combination of athleticism, power, style and swagger that Kemp had. This debate is not even close.

damn shawn woke up and had a tall glass of hatorade that morning

Kemp’s dunks are great, he’s more ferocious than Blake, but I’ll take Blake over Kemp. He’s only 2 years into his career and he’s stronger than Kemp. Sure Kemp “bends the rim”, but Griffin powers thru defenders when they’re trying to push him away. I don’t think there’s anybody with as much hops and strength combined as Blake.

*I mean I think Blake has the best combination of strength, hops and agility. Ever.

how come they don’t compare BG to Stromile Swift?

well Stro had mad hops and he did some serious dunks back in his nba days. now if he played in the NBA the way he plays in China then he would probably be in the conversation. but still the guy could dunk on anybody. there was also a guy who could have been in this conversation had he played in the NBA – Conrad McRae aka McNasty. he killed everyone in Europe back in the 90′s. 6-9, 230 power dunker, doing in game windmills. you need to look him up on youtube. he was the only reason I watched European ball back then (and Dominique playing for a couple seasons)

agreed, he did more moves in the air, blake definitely jumps higher tho

@alexrows somewhere in that block of text, you said “Blake is better taking off two legs but I doubt he’s better taking off two.” <—- ish dont make sense brah

Shawn Kemp!!!

Whoa, now that’s a debate to have.
We’d have to look at quality duos. Decide if we’re going to list Bird as a power forward or small forward.
Can’t forget about Barkely and KJ too.
Or Duncan and Parker.
Billups and Garnett.
Did Oscar Robertson play with Bob Petit for a while?
Good discussion to have.

Dear Slam, thanks for not fixing the issues with the comments section. This problem has only persisted for something like 5-6 years now.

@Just Sayin: thanks for pointing that out. I meant that I doubted he’s as good jumping off one leg as he’s jumping off two. In fact I don’t remember seeing him do to many dunks off one. he just did one in the ASG and he barely dunked it with 2 hands after taking it coast to coast. now try and compare that to Kemp’s monster dunk on “Budha” after dribbling the length of the court against the Lakers in ’94

No way that is the real AllenP if he can’t decide whether Bird was a SF or PF or listing Billups and Garnett as a possibility