Bench player for the first two championships. Got lots of minutes on the second run... but just shows you how deep that team was. And moreover, at least a bit of color... the guy wasn't a DOMINANT all-time great player, but for maybe a year or two at his absolute peak. He's perhaps one of the more overrated players in this regard. A quick google for example shows a bleacher report article that has him as the 7th best power forward of all time... ahead of Chris Webber, and Elvin Hayes for example... which is crazy. (of course, Webber, by virtue of the Michigan timeout and Kings getting screwed against the Lakers and thus not having a ring... is consistently underrated, imo. plus the same article has KG as the #1 guy, lol, and completely ignores Tim Duncan - maybe they have him as a center.). An ESPN article from 2016 has McHale 6th all time (Webber not even top 10, to prove my point) But anyway... happy birthday! lol
Anybody still have that screenshot of the chicken scratch play he had on his clipboard during a timeout?
Any all-time great has a case to be higher or lower. I like Backpicks because it is so data driven... and ranks Hakeem as the 6th best player ever! That said, I don't think you'll find many eye test, or eye test + data, or even almost all data guys who will say "sure, KG was better than Bird, and Magic" .... even factoring in longevity, much less Oscar, or Kobe. Heck, today you could make an equal argument for Dirk and KG, imo.