{"id":7972,"date":"2018-12-22T02:50:58","date_gmt":"2018-12-22T02:50:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.celtic-nation.com\/blog\/?p=7972"},"modified":"2018-12-22T18:22:01","modified_gmt":"2018-12-22T18:22:01","slug":"the-xavier-mcdaniel-interview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.celtic-nation.com\/blog\/the-xavier-mcdaniel-interview\/","title":{"rendered":"The Xavier McDaniel Interview"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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By: Michael D. McClellan | <\/strong>The menacing scowl, shaved head, and ripped physique are all part of the package, one that ushers in a new, physical breed of player into the NBA. He predates the baggy shorts era but plays his way into it, his swagger at home in a league that grows increasingly connected to the worlds of hip-hop and fashion. McDaniel\u2019s game is built on an old school code that has been officiated out of today\u2019s NBA. There are no flagrant 1s or 2s when McDaniel enters the league, just hard fouls that morph into muggings come playoff time. A series of unruly events\u2014McHale\u2019s clothesline of Kurt Rambis in the \u201984 Finals, the Jordan Rules employed by the Pistons to slow down His Airness, and \u201cMalice at the Palace\u201d to name a few\u2014prompts the league to change its rules, killing the post-game and turning the quick three into the weapon du jour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The player known as \u201cX-Man\u201d is the prototype NBA small forward for his era, a bruising player with a deft touch and a nice offensive game. Rewind to college, and he becomes the first player to lead the nation in scoring and rebounding in the same season. Back it up to the beginning and McDaniel, the oldest of six siblings, grows up like most kids in the football-crazed state of South Carolina.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t play organized basketball until the seventh grade,\u201d McDaniel says. \u201cUp until then it was always pickup games in the street. It was just something to do. Baseball was my first love. I pitched, caught, and played first base. I hit for power and average. And when I wasn\u2019t playing baseball, I was playing football. Down here, you had to play football. South Carolina went 0\u201311 in Lou Holtz\u2019s first year here, and there would be 83,000 people at the game. Every game.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

McDaniel attends A.C. Flora High School in Columbia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI wasn\u2019t doing my schoolwork and the things necessary to be a student-athlete,\u201d McDaniel says. \u201cHalf of the time I didn\u2019t go to class. I started on the basketball team as a sophomore, but I didn\u2019t play during my junior year because of poor grades. My coach told me that if I wanted to play on his basketball team, then I had to do my schoolwork.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eligible as a senior, McDaniel starts alongside Tyrone Corbin, who also goes on to enjoy a long NBA career. After an 0\u20133 start, A.C. Flora goes 22\u20130 and wins the state championship. McDaniel averages 18 points and 14 rebounds while often only playing in the first and third quarters. He\u2019s suddenly a major college prospect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was set to sign with South Carolina, and then one day I opened up the newspaper and saw where USC had signed six guys. The coaches at USC knew my situation. I had a 1.9 GPA at the beginning of my senior year, and a 2.4 GPA by the time I graduated. They said that if I went straight to USC that I would probably flunk out, so they wanted me to go to prep school and get my grades up first. They didn\u2019t shoot straight with me, so I decided to go in another direction.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For reasons unknown even to himself, McDaniel signs with Wichita State and plays his college ball halfway across the country. He stays there four years, finishing his career as a Consensus All-American.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI made history becoming the first player to lead the nation in scoring and rebounding in the same season. I scored more than 2,000 points and had over 1,000 rebounds in college. I finished second only to Wes Unseld as the all-time leading rebounder in college basketball history. I won a Missouri Valley Conference championship, and a conference tournament championship. Those things are great, but my college career wasn\u2019t complete because I didn\u2019t win a national championship.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The NBA institutes the Draft Lottery in 1985. The player every GM wants is Georgetown\u2019s Patrick Ewing, the singular can\u2019t-miss prospect in a draft loaded with talent. New York wins the lottery and picks Ewing, who is followed in short order by Wayman Tisdale and Benoit Benjamin. McDaniel\u2019s name is called next.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was just happy, man,\u201d McDaniel says. \u201cOur chairs were placed together in Madison Square Garden, and Patrick\u2019s name was called first. We all went in order. When David Stern called my name I was just thankful.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For McDaniel and Ewing, the draft marks the beginning of a lasting friendship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re like brothers,\u201d McDaniel says, smiling. \u201cHe was the guy I turned to for advice when I signed my contract with Boston.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

McDaniel\u2019s game is decidedly old school. A student of the game, he grows up idolizing guys like Bob Dandridge, Wes Unseld, Elvin Hayes, and Bobby Jones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAs a player, I took a little something from all of those guys,\u201d he says. \u201cDandridge had the turnaround jump shot. Elvin Hayes, too. The Big E [Hayes] was unstoppable on the block. People made a big deal out of Michael Jordan shooting that turnaround jumper late in his career, but I was shooting that shot in college. I saw guys like Dandridge and the Big E do it, and I wanted to do it, too.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

McDaniel\u2019s shaved head and menacing scowl injects an attitude missing from the Sonics\u2019 DNA. A few days into his first training camp, McDaniel trades punches with Reggie King. When the season starts, there are scuffles with heavyweights such as Cliff \u201cTree Top\u201d Robinson, Kevin \u201cT-Rex\u201d Willis, and Calvin \u201cPit Bull\u201d Natt. McDaniel quickly becomes a fan favorite.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf I had backed down my rookie year, guys would have tried to push me around. I wanted to make sure that everyone knew I was worth the rookie contract. I wasn\u2019t going to take a cheap shot and turn the other cheek. I wasn\u2019t a dirty player. I played hard and clean, but I wasn\u2019t going to take shit from anyone.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Sonics expect big things from its brash rookie, and McDaniel impresses from the start. He averages 17 points and eight rebounds. Like his pal Ewing, the recognition comes quickly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was the Basketball Digest co-Rookie of the Year, along with Karl Malone. I won the Seagram\u2019s NBA Rookie of the Year Award outright,\u201d McDaniel says. \u201cPatrick won the NBA Rookie of the Year Award. He only played 50 games that year, and I played the whole season, so I tell him that they gave the award to the wrong guy, and that he should do the right thing and give me my damn trophy back [laughs]. He\u2019ll come back with something like, \u2018Well, I put up numbers.\u2019 And I\u2019ll say, \u2018Yeah, but you only did it for 50 games; I did it for 82 games, and that means I had 32 more chances to mess up.\u2019 Patrick deserved the award, but one of these day I\u2019m gonna pay him a visit and steal that trophy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

McDaniel enters the league with Bird and Magic in their primes, and a young Michael Jordan on the rise. Going up against the game\u2019s superstars is a master class in NBA readiness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019d already played against Michael Jordan in the Pan-Am tryouts, so I was more afraid of Bird and Dr. J,\u201d McDaniel says. \u201cWhen I went to Philadelphia that first time, I was like, \u2018Man, that\u2019s Doc!\u2019 I asked the ball boy to go get his autograph. Then, in the game, Doc goes up over me for an alley-oop dunk. He was probably a 15-year veteran at that point in his career, but he could still jump.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen I went up against Larry Legend that first year, I said to myself, \u2018Well, he can\u2019t do anything more to me than he\u2019s done to everybody else.\u2019 Sure enough, he went out and torched me, too [laughs]. There was a game before Larry started having all of those back problems, and he was going up against Shawn Kemp. Larry went 40\u201315\u201315. He told Shawn Kemp, \u2018I\u2019m the best fucking player to ever play this game.\u2019 And then he shot a three-pointer right in Shawn Kemp\u2019s face. And I looked at Larry and thought, \u2018You conceited bastard.\u2019 But I looked forward to playing against guys like Larry Bird, and James Worthy, because they forced you to be on top of your game. If you weren\u2019t, then they were going to embarrass you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Sonics\u2019 future is built on McDaniel, sharpshooter Dale Ellis, and the versatile Tom Chambers. All three players average more than 20 points during that 1986\u201387 season, a feat that they duplicate a year later. While McDaniel continues to produce over the next several seasons, the Sonics struggle to take the next step as a title contender. McDaniel\u2019s role changes from starter to Sixth Man to starter again, but the Sonics continue to spin their wheels. Chambers is eventually traded to Phoenix, and Shawn Kemp is selected in the first round of the 1989 NBA Draft. Convinced that Kemp is the future, the Sonics ship McDaniel to the Suns fifteen games into the 1990\u201391 season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPhoenix wasn\u2019t a good fit. They put me out there and told me to shoot jump shots. The rest of the time it was Tom and Kevin Johnson running screen-and-rolls. If you watch tape of the games back then you see Tom and Kevin doing their thing, Mark West slashing to the basket, and Jeff Hornacek shooting up top. I\u2019m standing in the corner shooting jumpers. That wasn\u2019t my game. I wasn\u2019t a spot-up shooter. I was more of a slashing rebounder. They didn\u2019t want me to get the rebound and take my man to the hoop. They wanted me to kick it to Kevin Johnson and let him go one-on-one.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After one season in Phoenix, McDaniel is traded to the Knicks. With a bruising frontline of Ewing, McDaniel, and Charles Oakley, the Knicks win 51 games before meeting the Chicago Bulls in the Eastern Conference Semifinals. The series goes the distance, with Michael Jordan prevailing in seven games.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was a war,\u201d McDaniel says. \u201cThere weren\u2019t very many games that I couldn\u2019t get up and walk away from, but my body was beat up after every game. Patrick played an unbelievable series. I felt like we had championship potential, but we didn\u2019t get the job done.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A contract dispute ends McDaniel\u2019s stay in New York after one season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI got caught up in a contract squabble in January of that 1991\u201392 regular season, and the team basically stopped playing me. We had a twelve game lead on Boston at that point, and management was sure that we were going to win the Atlantic Division. There was just over twenty games left, and I think Boston won 15 of their last 16 games. The Celtics and Knicks finished tied, but Boston won the division because they beat us 3\u20132 during the season. I felt we should have won the division hands down, but Ernie Grunfeld and Dave Checkett let my contract get in the way.\u201d
McDaniel signs with Boston ahead of the 1992\u201393 regular season, the first following the retirement of Larry Bird. Boston finishes 48\u201334, and loses in the first round to the young, hungry Charlotte Hornets. Tragedy strikes later that summer, when Reggie Lewis passes away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cReggie was a great leader and my advocate,\u201d McDaniel says. \u201cWhen Chris Ford moved me to the bench, Reggie lobbied to get me back into the starting lineup. That meant a lot, because it was my first year with the Boston Celtics and I was the new kid on the block. Reggie and I worked well together; we had a play we called \u2018Two-Turnover-Three.\u2019 If he went over the top I\u2019d look to get him the ball, or if he went to the bottom I\u2019d feed it to him, or he\u2019d fade to the corner. It was something that the two of us ran.
\u201cReggie was a beautiful person . . . He was a community-minded guy. If there was a worthy cause going down, Reggie would be right there in the middle of it. It hurt a whole lot when I heard the news that he had died. I sat in my room and cried for a long time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

McDaniel plays three seasons for the Celtics. He develops a deep connection with its rabid fans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI loved the fans. They supported me like I was there my whole career. People say they\u2019re spoiled with all of those championships, but I wish that I had been able to help them win another title. I\u2019d go out to dinner, or go shopping on Newbury Street, and the fans would treat me like royalty. They\u2019d know my situation. They\u2019d say, \u2018I don\u2019t understand why you\u2019re not playing, Mr. McDaniel. You work so hard!\u2019 Or I\u2019d go to a restaurant and they\u2019d say, \u2018Give Mr. McDaniel what he wants, and put it on my bill!\u2019 It was like being a rock star!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

McDaniel remains a big Robert Parish fan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMan, I love Robert Parish. He\u2019s a character, and fun to have around. People will ask why he\u2019s so quiet, but that\u2019s just his demeanor. He\u2019s the nicest person that you could ever hope to meet. If you want to know where you stand with Robert, just go up to him and ask. If he thinks you\u2019re an asshole, he\u2019ll tell you that you\u2019re an asshole. But if he likes you, he will sit down and talk to you for hours on end.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

McDaniel counts himself among the blessed to have known the great Red Auerbach. And like so many other players before him, he has a story to tell.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI remember when I visited Boston as a free agent,\u201d McDaniel says. \u201cRed laid the numbers out on the table and showed me what they had. He said, \u2018We know you\u2019re worth more than this, but this is all we\u2019ve got, Xavier. Being a Celtic is about more than money. And now that we have our offer on the table, you ain\u2019t leaving this room until we have an answer.\u2019 I asked him if I could make one phone call. I didn\u2019t want to call my girlfriend. I didn\u2019t want to call my momma. I called Patrick Ewing. I said, \u2018Man, Red Auerbach has got me cornered in this room. If you tell me to talk to New York again, then I won\u2019t sign this contract.\u2019 Patrick said, \u2018You need to do what\u2019s right for you.\u2019 So Red came back in and said, \u2018What are you going to do?\u2019 I told him that I still wasn\u2019t sure, and he said, \u2018Big Fella, you\u2019re not leaving this room until we have an answer one way or the other.\u2019 I thought about it for 10 or 15 minutes, and then I signed the contract. He shook my hand and said, \u2018Welcome to the Celtics family. When you become a Celtic, you become a Celtic for life.\u2019\u201d
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By: Michael D. McClellan | The menacing scowl, shaved head, and ripped physique are all part of the package, one that ushers in a new, physical breed of player into the NBA. He predates the baggy shorts era but plays his way into it, his swagger at home in a league that grows increasingly connected to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16488,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","iawp_total_views":3,"footnotes":""},"categories":[773],"tags":[358],"class_list":["post-7972","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured-interview","tag-xavier-mcdaniel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.celtic-nation.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7972","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.celtic-nation.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.celtic-nation.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.celtic-nation.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.celtic-nation.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7972"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.celtic-nation.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7972\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.celtic-nation.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16488"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.celtic-nation.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7972"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.celtic-nation.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7972"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.celtic-nation.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7972"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}