Kevin McHale shows off his freakish standing reach

[SinceGatlingWasARookie]

I remember Bill Simmons once called Anthony Davis an evolutionary Kevin McHale. Which sounds stupid, and maybe it is, Russillo or whoever Bill was talking with, said, wtf are you talking about, Davis cant play in the post at all. (It was before Davis had post game). But Bill countered - well, that is evolutionary part, that is how game is played now.

Maybe implying that if Kevin was born in this era, he would have been more like AD? I think McHale being a great post player, overshadows the fact he was a defensive player. I didnt know he was great defender at first either, I was not familiar with 80s NBA, I knew Kevin McHale as white guy who dominated in the post, it took me years to catch up with history to find out his defensive capabilities.

McHale had a decent stroke from 3 late in his career, at least for a while. It's easy to imagine that, had he grown up in this era, he'd have had every skill Kristaps Porzingis has on offense, plus post scoring better than Jokic's (but not passing near the Walton/Sabonis tier, let alone the Bird/Jokic one).

McHale was alledged to be a decent 3 point shooter in closed practices. McHale hit some 3s on TV pre-game. McHale had good form on his free throws and fall away jumpers from a
2 feet inside the free throw line.

McHale shot 3s at 26 percent for his career but half of those shots were desperation 3s and nobody shoots desperation 3s well.
MCHales average per season was shooting 3 for 12 at 3s for the whole season. Curry averages 4 for 9 3s per game over his whole career.

McHale’s best 3 point shooting season at age 33 he was shooting 0.5 3s per game so shooting a 3 every other game and hitting 0.2 3s per game so hitting a 3 every 5th game for a good 40% rate on 3s in the better of his only two good 3 point shooting years age 32 abd age 33 when he shot a decent percentage on 3s but at extremely low volume.

[Fencer reregistered]

I remember Bill Simmons once called Anthony Davis an evolutionary Kevin McHale. Which sounds stupid, and maybe it is, Russillo or whoever Bill was talking with, said, wtf are you talking about, Davis cant play in the post at all. (It was before Davis had post game). But Bill countered - well, that is evolutionary part, that is how game is played now.

Maybe implying that if Kevin was born in this era, he would have been more like AD? I think McHale being a great post player, overshadows the fact he was a defensive player. I didnt know he was great defender at first either, I was not familiar with 80s NBA, I knew Kevin McHale as white guy who dominated in the post, it took me years to catch up with history to find out his defensive capabilities.

McHale had a decent stroke from 3 late in his career, at least for a while. It's easy to imagine that, had he grown up in this era, he'd have had every skill Kristaps Porzingis has on offense, plus post scoring better than Jokic's (but not passing near the Walton/Sabonis tier, let alone the Bird/Jokic one).

McHale was alledged to be a decent 3 point shooter in closed practices. McHale hit some 3s on TV pre-game. McHale had good form on his free throws and fall away jumpers from a
2 feet inside the free throw line.

McHale shot 3s at 26 percent for his career but half of those shots were desperation 3s and nobody shoots desperation 3s well.
MCHales average per season was shooting 3 for 12 at 3s for the whole season. Curry averages 4 for 9 3s per game over his whole career.

McHale’s best 3 point shooting season at age 33 he was shooting 0.5 3s per game so shooting a 3 every other game and hitting 0.2 3s per game so hitting a 3 every 5th game for a good 40% rate on 3s in the better of his only two good 3 point shooting years age 32 abd age 33 when he shot a decent percentage on 3s but at extremely low volume.

Not exactly conclusive evidence of his prowess, I freely agree.

McHale played the way he learned to play before the pros, then kept doing it at the highest level. He actually had his high school coach present him at the HoF, because that's who taught him proper post play.

Hence my emphasis on the hypothetical that he would have been trained differently. He seemingly had the coordination from his hands all the way down to his feet to be a good shooter.

[SinceGatlingWasARookie]

McHale had a decent stroke from 3 late in his career, at least for a while. It's easy to imagine that, had he grown up in this era, he'd have had every skill Kristaps Porzingis has on offense, plus post scoring better than Jokic's (but not passing near the Walton/Sabonis tier, let alone the Bird/Jokic one).

McHale was alledged to be a decent 3 point shooter in closed practices. McHale hit some 3s on TV pre-game. McHale had good form on his free throws and fall away jumpers from a
2 feet inside the free throw line.

McHale shot 3s at 26 percent for his career but half of those shots were desperation 3s and nobody shoots desperation 3s well.
MCHales average per season was shooting 3 for 12 at 3s for the whole season. Curry averages 4 for 9 3s per game over his whole career.

McHale’s best 3 point shooting season at age 33 he was shooting 0.5 3s per game so shooting a 3 every other game and hitting 0.2 3s per game so hitting a 3 every 5th game for a good 40% rate on 3s in the better of his only two good 3 point shooting years age 32 abd age 33 when he shot a decent percentage on 3s but at extremely low volume.

Not exactly conclusive evidence of his prowess, I freely agree.

McHale played the way he learned to play before the pros, then kept doing it at the highest level. He actually had his high school coach present him at the HoF, because that's who taught him proper post play.

Hence my emphasis on the hypothetical that he would have been trained differently. He seemingly had the coordination from his hands all the way down to his feet to be a good shooter.

You don’t want foul drawing 60% shooting 26 point a game scoring peak (prior to braeking his foot) 1987 McHale to do anything on offense other than inside score even if he could shoot 3s at 40%.

[Sothron]

He's one of the best players ever. Seriously. I'm old enough to have watched him from his rookie season to his last. Before that foot injury he was one of the best perimeter defenders in the NBA because he had the foot speed and the insane wingspan to contain wing players. It lets Bird play "free safety" before the NBA tightened up the illegal defense rules. He's actually my favorite Celtic of all time, even over Larry Legend.

[GSWFan1994]

Those Celtics teams were really stacked. Arguably the best player in the league in Bird and a former Finals MVP in Dennis Johnson, McHale, and Parrish. They even had Walton for a year in a bench role.

Lakers were also stacked during that era. It's easy to see why those teams dominated the 80s. Maybe the Rockets have a chance of Sampson doesn't get injured. I think Olajuwon and Sampson could have created problems for either of these teams.

Right on.

I often wonder how the landscape of the league would be if Bird and McHale weren't hit by injuries in their early 30s, and also obviously the deaths of Len Bias and Reggie Lewis... the Celtics should have been the best foe to the Bulls in those early/mid 90s Eastern conference matchups.

Bird was injured at his age 32 season. He kept playing at an All-Star/low All-NBA level for a few more seasons after that, but it was far from his previous level of performance, where he was at least 4th in MVP voting in his first 9 seasons. In this stretch he was MVP 3 times, and 2nd in MVP voting another 4 times.

McHale was basically done after his age 33 season. Fell off a cliff, mostly due to injuries.

Also, if Magic didn't get HIV... even if the Lakers didn't have Kareem in the roster, they should be a very strong team in the West as well. Many forget that Magic's last season (discounting his comeback, obviously) was his age 31 season. He was All-NBA 1st team and 2nd in MVP voting that season. Then he basically was out for good. He had, I believe, at least 3 or 4 All-Star/All-NBA level seasons of production ahead of him. The Lakers' window was shut down instantly, and they took quite a few years to recover.

[Fencer reregistered]

McHale was alledged to be a decent 3 point shooter in closed practices. McHale hit some 3s on TV pre-game. McHale had good form on his free throws and fall away jumpers from a
2 feet inside the free throw line.

McHale shot 3s at 26 percent for his career but half of those shots were desperation 3s and nobody shoots desperation 3s well.
MCHales average per season was shooting 3 for 12 at 3s for the whole season. Curry averages 4 for 9 3s per game over his whole career.

McHale’s best 3 point shooting season at age 33 he was shooting 0.5 3s per game so shooting a 3 every other game and hitting 0.2 3s per game so hitting a 3 every 5th game for a good 40% rate on 3s in the better of his only two good 3 point shooting years age 32 abd age 33 when he shot a decent percentage on 3s but at extremely low volume.

Not exactly conclusive evidence of his prowess, I freely agree.

McHale played the way he learned to play before the pros, then kept doing it at the highest level. He actually had his high school coach present him at the HoF, because that's who taught him proper post play.

Hence my emphasis on the hypothetical that he would have been trained differently. He seemingly had the coordination from his hands all the way down to his feet to be a good shooter.

You don’t want foul drawing 60% shooting 26 point a game scoring peak (prior to braeking his foot) 1987 McHale to do anything on offense other than inside score even if he could shoot 3s at 40%.

I suspect that post defense is more effective today than it used to be because of the relaxation of defensive positioning rules. So I'm not sure that McHale would have scored as efficiently against the same quality of post defender today as he did then.

Of course, we don't have the same quality of post defenders today we had then. But part of the reason we don't is that those guys are unplayable unless they can also defend perimeter shooters.

And yes, I recall how great McHale was at scoring around or through double teams.

What I really think is that McHale today would be similarly efficient at post scoring and that he'd also be a threat from 3. He'd also look like a much better passer, due to modern offensive spacing.

So Kristaps Porzingis, but better at rebounding and other physical play, better at post scoring, and generally better at defense.

[Fencer reregistered]

Those Celtics teams were really stacked. Arguably the best player in the league in Bird and a former Finals MVP in Dennis Johnson, McHale, and Parrish. They even had Walton for a year in a bench role.

Lakers were also stacked during that era. It's easy to see why those teams dominated the 80s. Maybe the Rockets have a chance of Sampson doesn't get injured. I think Olajuwon and Sampson could have created problems for either of these teams.

Right on.

I often wonder how the landscape of the league would be if Bird and McHale weren't hit by injuries in their early 30s, and also obviously the deaths of Len Bias and Reggie Lewis... the Celtics should have been the best foe to the Bulls in those early/mid 90s Eastern conference matchups.

Bird was injured at his age 32 season. He kept playing at an All-Star/low All-NBA level for a few more seasons after that, but it was far from his previous level of performance, where he was at least 4th in MVP voting in his first 9 seasons. In this stretch he was MVP 3 times, and 2nd in MVP voting another 4 times.

McHale was basically done after his age 33 season. Fell off a cliff, mostly due to injuries.

Also, if Magic didn't get HIV... even if the Lakers didn't have Kareem in the roster, they should be a very strong team in the West as well. Many forget that Magic's last season (discounting his comeback, obviously) was his age 31 season. He was All-NBA 1st team and 2nd in MVP voting that season. Then he basically was out for good. He had, I believe, at least 3 or 4 All-Star/All-NBA level seasons of production ahead of him. The Lakers' window was shut down instantly, and they took quite a few years to recover.

Cedric Maxwell was a Finals MVP too. Of course, the Celtics didn't have him at the same time they had Walton.

When the Hakeem/Sampson Rockets did face the Celtics in the Finals, they took 2 games of 6. And both those guys were quite young then.

[SinceGatlingWasARookie]

Not exactly conclusive evidence of his prowess, I freely agree.

McHale played the way he learned to play before the pros, then kept doing it at the highest level. He actually had his high school coach present him at the HoF, because that's who taught him proper post play.

Hence my emphasis on the hypothetical that he would have been trained differently. He seemingly had the coordination from his hands all the way down to his feet to be a good shooter.

You don’t want foul drawing 60% shooting 26 point a game scoring peak (prior to braeking his foot) 1987 McHale to do anything on offense other than inside score even if he could shoot 3s at 40%.

I suspect that post defense is more effective today than it used to be because of the relaxation of defensive positioning rules. So I'm not sure that McHale would have scored as efficiently against the same quality of post defender today as he did then.

Of course, we don't have the same quality of post defenders today we had then. But part of the reason we don't is that those guys are unplayable unless they can also defend perimeter shooters.

And yes, I recall how great McHale was at scoring around or through double teams.

What I really think is that McHale today would be similarly efficient at post scoring and that he'd also be a threat from 3. He'd also look like a much better passer, due to modern offensive spacing.

So Kristaps Porzingis, but better at rebounding and other physical play, better at post scoring, and generally better at defense.

McHale came to the NBA with an unguardable turn around fall away jumper. Cedric Maxwell was a 2 time field goal percentage leader at fairly high volume for field goal percentage leaders at about 18 points per game. Maxwell was a center in collge who was undersized vs some of the ACC centers that he played against. Johnny Most called Maxwell rubber band man because of Maxwell’s twisting squirming off balance many release points scoring style that was desinged to score against larger centers. By McHale’s own words he copied Cedric Maxwell. McHale blended his fall away jumper with Maxwell’s twisting squirming strange release off balance moves.

Everybody that scored inside from Jordan to McHale and Hakeem and Karl Malone and Adrian Dantley would benefit from being surrounded by 3 point shooters that dragged the help defenders out to the 3 point line. You could sag off of Dennis Johnson and help against Maxwell and McHale because Dennis Johnson only hit wide open 17 foot jump shots at about 40%. You could take your chance on leaving Parish open for his 10 foot baseline jump shots which Parrish shot at about 48% because leaving McHale or Maxwell in single coverage means that McHale and Maxwell will be shooting 60% shots and drawing and 1 fouls.

I think McHale would do even better in the current league where the potential help defenders can’t afford to leave the 3 point shooters open. Centers that can’t shoot 3s can still drag their defender out to the 3 point line by setting screens for the 3 point shooter. Nobody was setting screens for Bird and Ainge to shoot 3s. Parish’s defender would stay in the paint until the ball was passed to Parish for a short mid range jump shot.

Now the flaw in surrounding McHale with 3 point shooters is that McHale was not good at spotting the open men. A 3 point shooter can’t drag his defender out to the 3 point line if nobody passes him the ball so he does not shoot. If you force all the offense inside the help defenders will leave the the 3 point line.

[Fencer reregistered]

You don’t want foul drawing 60% shooting 26 point a game scoring peak (prior to braeking his foot) 1987 McHale to do anything on offense other than inside score even if he could shoot 3s at 40%.

I suspect that post defense is more effective today than it used to be because of the relaxation of defensive positioning rules. So I'm not sure that McHale would have scored as efficiently against the same quality of post defender today as he did then.

Of course, we don't have the same quality of post defenders today we had then. But part of the reason we don't is that those guys are unplayable unless they can also defend perimeter shooters.

And yes, I recall how great McHale was at scoring around or through double teams.

What I really think is that McHale today would be similarly efficient at post scoring and that he'd also be a threat from 3. He'd also look like a much better passer, due to modern offensive spacing.

So Kristaps Porzingis, but better at rebounding and other physical play, better at post scoring, and generally better at defense.

McHale came to the NBA with an unguardable turn around fall away jumper. Cedric Maxwell was a 2 time field goal percentage leader at fairly high volume for field goal percentage leaders at about 18 points per game. Maxwell was a center in collge who was undersized vs some of the ACC centers that he played against. Johnny Most called Maxwell rubber band man because of Maxwell’s twisting squirming off balance many release points scoring style that was desinged to score against larger centers. By McHale’s own words he copied Cedric Maxwell. McHale blended his fall away jumper with Maxwell’s twisting squirming strange release off balance moves.

Everybody that scored inside from Jordan to McHale and Hakeem and Karl Malone and Adrian Dantley would benefit from being surrounded by 3 point shooters that dragged the help defenders out to the 3 point line. You could sag off of Dennis Johnson and help against Maxwell and McHale because Dennis Johnson only hit wide open 17 foot jump shots at about 40%. You could take your chance on leaving Parish open for his 10 foot baseline jump shots which Parrish shot at about 48% because leaving McHale or Maxwell in single coverage means that McHale and Maxwell will be shooting 60% shots and drawing and 1 fouls.

I think McHale would do even better in the current league where the potential help defenders can’t afford to leave the 3 point shooters open. Centers that can’t shoot 3s can still drag their defender out to the 3 point line by setting screens for the 3 point shooter. Nobody was setting screens for Bird and Ainge to shoot 3s. Parish’s defender would stay in the paint until the ball was passed to Parish for a short mid range jump shot.

Now the flaw in surrounding McHale with 3 point shooters is that McHale was not good at spotting the open men. A 3 point shooter can’t drag his defender out to the 3 point line if nobody passes him the ball so he does not shoot. If you force all the offense inside the help defenders will leave the the 3 point line.

McHale was a much better-looking passer than his assist numbers or "black hole" nickname would suggest.

I'm bullish on him making his kickouts with modern spacing.