From Sixth Man to the Hall of Fame, Interview with Celtics’ Great Kevin McHale

ROSEMONT, Illinois – Given the perception of the modern era athlete, what Kevin McHale did in the 1980s may seem like a farfetched tale drafted by a Hollywood screenwriter. The third overall pick in the 1980 NBA Draft, McHale spent his first five seasons with the Boston Celtics coming off the bench. Keeping with the perception of a “bench player” in the case of McHale, he is one of the top 50 players ever in the NBA.

A record-setter for points (1,704) and rebounds (950) at the University of Minnesota, McHale (6-10, 210) found himself in a unique position once in Boston. The Celtics got power forward Larry Bird on the roster in 1979, drafted in ’78, and had another beloved player at small forward in Cedric Maxwell. Bird, as we all know, is in everyone’s top 10 all-time NBA players and Maxwell was the NBA Finals MVP in 1981.

McHale spoke about the early days on the court with that robust Celtics team.

“I came to a very veteran team,” McHale said. “I was the third pick in the draft. Larry and I were the only two young guys on the team and everybody else was veterans, and, so, I came off the bench.

“Red Auerbach was always good about saying, ‘I want one of my top players coming off the bench. (John) Havlicek did it and Frank Ramsey.’ So, it’s a long history of that in Boston.

“Red just said, ‘Hey, I want you to come off the bench.’

I said, ‘I’m just glad to play.’

“We won a championship my rookie year and I learned more great lessons that rookie year playing with all those vets.”

The lessons learned were expanded upon.

“As a lot of my friends that were my age got into the league, they were learning how to play in the NBA,” McHale shared. “I was learning how to win the NBA, which is a completely different thing than playing in the NBA.”

For what Jerry West did for his teams as an executive, that was Auerbach for the Celtics. Auerbach knew talent, winning nine NBA titles in Boston (1957, 1959-66) as a head coach and won seven as an executive (1968-69, 1974, 1976, 1981, 1984, 1986).

Before the 1980 draft, Boston had the top overall pick but traded the rights to the Golden State Warriors. In that trade, Boston gave up another pick but got Robert Parish from the Warriors and their third pick. The foresight of Auerbach created one of the best front courts ever in the NBA; what would become the “Big Three”.

As for the Warriors, they took Joe Barry Carroll with that top pick in 1980.

The respect McHale had among other players in the NBA, even in the role of a reserve with starters’ minutes, led to an All-Star selection in 1984 and Sixth Man of the Year honors in 1984 and 1985.

The Celtics ended up trading Maxwell to the Los Angeles Clippers, moving McHale into the role of a starter.

Being a reserve or being a starter, it didn’t matter to McHale.

“I played a lot coming off the bench and played a lot when I started,” McHale stated. “So, I didn’t bother me starting or coming off the bench. It never was a very important thing to me.

“Red said, ‘You know, I tell you who the coach trusts, who he finishes with.’ And I finished a lot of games.”

Each era seemingly has their guy; before Tim Duncan was the “Big Fundamentals”, McHale was the “Torture Chamber” because of his footwork, touch around the basket, and defensive abilities.

At the end of the 1983-84 campaign, McHale was averaging 18.4 points and 7.4 rebounds per game. The following season, he was just shy of that 20 per game milestone posting 19.8 each night out.

As a starter, McHale jumped up his averages to 21.3 ppg and 8.1 rpg. The ’85-86 season started a five-year run of 20 or more points per game.

Helping push the Celtics through the playoffs to hang banners, McHale was clutch in the playoffs throughout his career. Of the 13 years McHale competed in a playoff game, he averaged 19 or more points eight times.

During McHale’s time with Boston, the Celtics appeared in five NBA Finals winning three. Other greats of the game he went against during that time included Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, James Worthy, Karl Malone, Patrick Ewing, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Moses Malone, Hakeem Olajuwon, Charles Barkley, and Dominique Wilkins just to name a few.

After being in all those pinnacle moments for the franchise and league, McHale was asked about NBA memorabilia he collected from his years in the game.

“I’ve got some stuff that I have, its mine, though. It’s just different things that teammates of mine have signed and stuff like that. There was no trading, nothing with the other teams. I never actually talked to the guys on other teams much.

“There were no trading jerseys in my era. You had one jersey, and you washed it yourself. There were no trading jerseys. (Laughs) I should have traded Larry’s all the time.”

Playing in 971 career regular-season games, all with the Boston Celtics, McHale averaged 17.9 points per game and 5.3 rebounds.

McHale famously announced his retirement after Boston was swept out of the 1993 playoffs by the Charlotte Hornets on the court after the game in front of reporters.