YouTube Gold: The Genius Of Kevin McHale

There’s no question that Larry Bird was the beating heart of the 1980’s and early ‘90’s Boston Celtics, but no one wins championships by themselves and one of Bird’s greatest teammates was Kevin McHale.

Hailing from Hibbing, Minnesota, McHale attended Minnesota before entering the NBA in 1980 when Red Auerbach pulled off a legendary trade: he swapped the #1 pick to Golden State for the #3 pick and Robert Parish.

The Warriors then took Purdue’s Joe Barry Carroll – quickly named Joe Barely Cares by NBA fans – and Boston had two future Hall of Famers.

McHale came off the bench as a sixth man for a few years before joining Bird and Parish as starters. And what a career he had.

McHale was celebrated for his footwork and his elegant post moves. In today’s game, there is less demand for this kind of play, but the guy was essentially unstoppable inside. Basketball is cyclical like most things, prone to fashionable ideas.

We’re basically out of the small ball era and a player who can consistently score inside is going to be a valuable asset. McHale is a great role model for those players.

Incidentally, for a small town, Hibbing has produced some remarkable people. Aside from McHale, Hibbing is the hometown of baseball legend Roger Maris, Vincent Bugliosi, who prosecuted Charles Manson and his stooges, Robert Mondavi, who sold a whole lot of wine, Gus Hall, who ran four times for U.S. president as the nominee of the U.S. Communist Party, Gary Puckett of Gary Puckett and the Union Gap and perhaps most famously, legendary musician Bob Dylan.