- May 23, 2012
- 15,495
- 14,231
- AFL Club
- Collingwood
- Other Teams
- Tottenham Hotspur, New Orleans Pels
- Thread starter
- #51
The "Walking Meme" All-stars
#1 Chris Kaman
Dude, can I trade my All-star jersey for two Metallica tickets?
Taking the final spot on the list of whose only involvement at All-star weekend should be as a prop for dunk contestants to jump over, is everyone's favourite wild man, Chris Kaman.
Most NBA fans know the top five picks of the 2003 Draft off by heart. If you can name the sixth pick... then you probably should be writing this thing instead of me. Chris entered the league on a young Clippers team that needed a centre after the Michael Olowokandi Experience. He wasn't Shaq, but he was... something.
I entered the NBA Draft? Damn, I meant to enter the World of Warcraft competition.
As a big man, Chris had a few tricks. A couple of scoring moves, a decent mid-range shot, grabbing his share of boards, blocking the odd shot - The Cave Man could do all that. Unlike his fellow 2003 alumni Darko Milicic, there seemed to be enough raw material to work with in Kaman's case.
Unfortunately, despite a couple of decent seasons - he put up 15 & 12 in 2008, and 18 & 9 in 2010 (his All-star year) - there was never really much evidence that Kaman's numbers ever made that much of a difference. In eight years with the Clippers (and yeah it was the Clippers, but still) they only made the playoffs once, in 2006, on the back of a near-MVP level season from Elton Brand.
Let it rain! Chris channeling his inner Philip Seymour Hoffman.
After leaving the Clippers in 2011 in the famous Chris Paul trade, Kaman spent the latter part of his career bouncing around as a role player - a big man who could provide the odd bucket and a nice bushy beard. But again, he rarely seemed to make any of his teams better - he was in many ways the 2000s version of Rony Seikaly.
The point of contrast here of course is Rudy Gobert, a player who may not score as many points per game, but undeniably makes a difference on the court. Even playing in an era with a relative dearth of dominant bigs, it's tough to make a case for Kaman as a legitimate All-star. Of course it's also fair to say that Chris did deserve some kind of reward for putting up with "violations" like this on the court...
Chris may be the forgotten 2003 Draft star (and a forgettable All-star), but he will be long remembered in our hearts for making the league a stranger place.
And so whether his next stop is the Hall of Fame or the Halls of Valhalla, for this we salute the Cave Man.
#1 Chris Kaman
Dude, can I trade my All-star jersey for two Metallica tickets?
Taking the final spot on the list of whose only involvement at All-star weekend should be as a prop for dunk contestants to jump over, is everyone's favourite wild man, Chris Kaman.
Most NBA fans know the top five picks of the 2003 Draft off by heart. If you can name the sixth pick... then you probably should be writing this thing instead of me. Chris entered the league on a young Clippers team that needed a centre after the Michael Olowokandi Experience. He wasn't Shaq, but he was... something.
I entered the NBA Draft? Damn, I meant to enter the World of Warcraft competition.
As a big man, Chris had a few tricks. A couple of scoring moves, a decent mid-range shot, grabbing his share of boards, blocking the odd shot - The Cave Man could do all that. Unlike his fellow 2003 alumni Darko Milicic, there seemed to be enough raw material to work with in Kaman's case.
Unfortunately, despite a couple of decent seasons - he put up 15 & 12 in 2008, and 18 & 9 in 2010 (his All-star year) - there was never really much evidence that Kaman's numbers ever made that much of a difference. In eight years with the Clippers (and yeah it was the Clippers, but still) they only made the playoffs once, in 2006, on the back of a near-MVP level season from Elton Brand.
Let it rain! Chris channeling his inner Philip Seymour Hoffman.
After leaving the Clippers in 2011 in the famous Chris Paul trade, Kaman spent the latter part of his career bouncing around as a role player - a big man who could provide the odd bucket and a nice bushy beard. But again, he rarely seemed to make any of his teams better - he was in many ways the 2000s version of Rony Seikaly.
The point of contrast here of course is Rudy Gobert, a player who may not score as many points per game, but undeniably makes a difference on the court. Even playing in an era with a relative dearth of dominant bigs, it's tough to make a case for Kaman as a legitimate All-star. Of course it's also fair to say that Chris did deserve some kind of reward for putting up with "violations" like this on the court...
Chris may be the forgotten 2003 Draft star (and a forgettable All-star), but he will be long remembered in our hearts for making the league a stranger place.
And so whether his next stop is the Hall of Fame or the Halls of Valhalla, for this we salute the Cave Man.
Last edited: