19.9 PPG, 1.7 APG, 7.3 RPG, 55 FG%, 80 FT%
“If ever there were a player who possessed the ideal physique for the game of basketball, it was Kevin McHale. With his incredibly long arms and legs, McHale presented an unforgettable image on the hardwood. He used his physical gifts to excellent advantage during his 13-year career with the Boston Celtics, becoming one of the best inside players the game has ever seen and forming, with Larry Bird and Robert Parish, one of the greatest front lines the NBA has ever seen.
“He became the most difficult low-post player to defend — once he made the catch — in the history of the league,” contended former NBA coach Hubie Brown in the Boston Globe. “He was totally unstoppable because of his quickness, diversification of moves and the long arms that gave him an angle to release the ball over a taller man or more explosive jumper.”
McHale had all of these qualities, coupled with an uncanny ability to get to the free-throw line or nail the high-percentage shot in the clutch. He retired in 1993 as the fourth-leading scorer and sixth-best rebounder in Celtics history. A two-time winner of the NBA Sixth Man Award and a six-time member of either the NBA All-Defensive First or Second Team, McHale ranks ninth in the NBA in career field goal percentage (.554). Teaming with Bird and Parish, “The Big Three” led the Celtics to three NBA Championships in the 1980s.” [Read]
[Note: RSS readers, there is a video within this blog]
[Sources: NBA.com, YouTube, Basketball-Reference.com]
