Shawn Kemp has choosen his greatest player of all time, and the choice is very interesting, to say the least.
Seattle Super Sonics legend Shawn Kemp picked Bill Russell as the greatest basketball player of all time while talking to Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson on the ‘All The Smoke’ podcast. He explained how influential Russell was as a do-it-all big man.
“The best to ever play the game is not going to be the leading scorer. He’ll be the one in the middle doing a lot of different things because he’s going to help people out. Bill Russell was the first one blocking shots and keeping the ball in play. Sh*t, we were blocking shots and throwing them up 17 rows in the stands. He was actually blocking shots and they were getting f***ing layups off of them.”
Kemp further explained why he views Russell so highly given the cumulative accomplishments he can boast from his career.
“As I look through the years of basketball, I think Wilt Chamberlain was a beast. But sh*t, Wilt Chamberlain was wearing his ass out. So let’s keep it real, if you talking about the all-around best player in the game, how many championships they won, and how long they did it for, he’s gotta be up there.”