Shawn Kemp had to overcome numerous hurdles in his 14-year-long NBA journey. The first one arrived in the form of earning the trust of his rookie season head coach, Bernie Bickerstaff. More than three decades later, the former Seattle SuperSonics star reflected on this time while recalling his endeavors against Charles Barkley.
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Kemp recalled how Bickerstaff initially used to limit his role on the court in his recent appearance on the All The Smoke podcast. During a game against the Philadelphia 76ers, the latter urged the then-rookie to bring his A-game to the floor. Looking back on this period, the 54-year-old mentioned,
“One night he came to me and he was just like, ‘Well, s**t, I’mma let you loose tonight, baby boy. All that sweet finger roll s**t you’ve been doing, I wanna see all of that s**t tonight… Don’t f***ing embarrass me out there’… That would have been against Charles Barkley”.
The situation circled the SuperSonics’ to one of the two clashes against the 76ers in the 1989/90 season. Considering the might of Barkley, Bickerstaff had to take a decisive call to mitigate the risk of the Alabama-born. But the dynamics of the roster gave him limited flexibility to do so. This, in turn, prompted the then-head coach to keep faith in a 6’10” rookie.
Later, also Kemp mentioned how he registered a career-high 20 points against the 76ers on that occasion. However, judging from the historical data, the NBA icon likely confused the timelines. After all, his 20 points and 10 rebounds game against Barkley occurred during his second season with the franchise. Additionally, K.C. Jones had replaced Bickerstaff as the team’s head coach by then.
Nonetheless, his two rookie season appearances against the Eastern Conference giants remained commendable. Despite featuring for merely 8 minutes, Kemp registered 6 points and 2 rebounds while aiding his team win the initial home clash.
This summarized how the Indiana-born had to fight an uphill battle ever since stepping into the league. In hindsight, these early obstacles from within and outside the team made him who became – an undisputed king under the rim.
