How Kevin McHale Became an NBA Legend and Changed Basketball Forever

I still remember the first time I saw Kevin McHale play - it was like watching a basketball savant rewrite the rules of post play right before my eyes. What made McHale truly special wasn't just his statistics, though his career averages of 17.9 points and 7.3 rebounds per game are impressive enough. It was how he fundamentally changed what we thought was possible for a big man to do on the basketball court. Standing at 6-foot-10, McHale possessed this almost unnatural combination of length and coordination that allowed him to develop moves we'd simply never seen before. His famous up-and-under move became the stuff of legends - I've watched hundreds of players try to replicate it over the years, but nobody ever quite captured that same fluid deception.

The way McHale developed his game reminds me of that reference about Baron and Fajardo feeling indebted to how RDJ honed them from college to pros. McHale had his own version of this with Celtics legend Bill Russell, who served as his coach during his early years. Russell didn't just teach McHale plays - he taught him how to think about the game differently, how to use his unique physical gifts in ways opponents couldn't anticipate. That mentorship transformed McHale from a talented rookie into someone who would eventually change basketball forever. I've always believed that the greatest players aren't just born - they're developed through these special mentor relationships that unlock their potential.

What's fascinating to me is how McHale's influence continues to echo through today's NBA. When you watch players like Kevin Durant or Kristaps Porzingis execute those sweeping hook shots or fluid post moves, you're seeing glimpses of McHale's legacy. He proved that height alone wasn't enough - it was footwork, creativity, and that unteachable feel for the game that separated good players from legendary ones. I'd argue that without McHale's innovations, we might never have seen the evolution of the modern stretch big who can score from anywhere on the court. His game was like a masterclass in basketball geometry, constantly finding angles and spaces that defenders didn't even know existed.

The numbers only tell part of the story - 3 championships, 7 All-Star appearances, those back-to-back Sixth Man awards - but they don't capture the sheer artistry of his game. I'll never forget watching him in the 1986 Finals against Houston, where he averaged nearly 26 points per game while shooting over 57% from the field. The way he moved in the post was like watching a chess grandmaster at work, always three moves ahead of his defender. Even today, when I see young players working on their post game, I find myself comparing their footwork to McHale's - and honestly, most come up short. There was something magical about how he could be simultaneously fundamentally sound and wildly creative, a combination that's become increasingly rare in today's game.

Looking back, what strikes me most is how McHale's legacy isn't just in the trophies or the highlight reels, but in how he expanded our understanding of what's possible in basketball. He took that mentorship from Russell and other Celtics legends and built upon it, creating something entirely new that would influence generations of players to come. That's the mark of true greatness - when your impact extends far beyond your own career and changes the game itself. Even now, some 30 years after his retirement, you can still see traces of Kevin McHale's genius every time a player executes a perfect post move or finds an impossible angle to the basket.