![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.celtic-nation.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/Walter_McCarty.png\")
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By: \u00a0Michael D. McClellan<\/span> |\u00a0<\/strong>The modern day NBA is awash with versatile big men, the kind of players who can score both inside and out, the kind of players who can battle underneath on one possession, and who can step behind the three-point line and knock down a long-distance trey on the next. Dirk Nowitzki is the modern day prototype, but there would soon be others, Kevin Durant, Kevin Love, and Kristaps Porzingis among them.<\/p>\n If Nowitzki is the prototype, Walter McCarty was the precursor; the 6\u201910\u201d forward could run with the best of the NBA’s bigs, a player equally comfortable taking the ball to the rack or spotting up to drain a three in transition. A better-than-average ball handler on offense, and a capable defender on the other end, McCarty was as versatile as any on the floor\u00a0 \u2013 a hoops Swiss Army Knife that is so coveted in today\u2019s NBA.<\/p>\n Yes, it\u2019s fair to say that McCarty was ahead of his time.<\/p>\n McCarty grew up in Evansville, where, by his senior year at Harrison High School, he’d become one of the most coveted recruits in the hoops-crazed State of Indiana.\u00a0\u00a0The Hoosiers had already landed Calbert Cheaney, who was a few years older than McCarty, and who would go on to win the Wooden and Naismith awards as the National Player of the Year.\u00a0 McCarty appeared ready to follow his famous friend to Bloomington, until the Kentucky Wildcats signed Rick Pitino as its head coach.\u00a0 The change of heart wasn’t easy, but in retrospect made perfect sense:\u00a0 McCarty had played AAU ball with the likes of Tony Delk and Jared Prickett, and Pitino’s up-tempo style perfectly suited his versatility.<\/p>\n The Wildcats reached the Final Four in Pitino\u2019s first season as head coach, falling to a Michigan team headlined by the Fab Five.\u00a0\u00a0Flash-forward to McCarty\u2019s senior season, where he found himself playing on a UK team loaded with future NBA players such as Delk, Derek Anderson, Ron Mercer, Antoine Walker, Nazr Mohammed, Wayne Turner and Mark Pope. Kentucky finished the season 34-2, capping it all with a 76-67 win over Syracuse for the national championship.<\/p>\n McCarty soon found himself selected by the New York Knicks with the 19th selection in the 1996 NBA Draft. He would play in 35 games during his rookie season, with most of his minutes coming at garbage time. It was a sobering experience.\u00a0 The Knicks would trade McCarty to Boston the following season, where he found himself reunited with former UK players Walker and Mercer. McCarty quickly carved out a niche as a productive big who could run the floor, and who was happy to do the dirty work. He would go on to play 7+ seasons in a Celtics uniform, becoming a fan favorite for his gutsy play and penchant for making the big shot, earning the love and respect of Celtics fans everywhere.<\/p>\n Celtic Nation is proud to bring you this interview.<\/p>\n You were born on February 1, 1974, in Evansville, Indiana.\u00a0 Take me back to your childhood hoops.<\/strong><\/p>\n Evansville was a great place to grow up.\u00a0 I shot ball every now and then, but I didn’t play on a\u00a0team or in a league until I was in the fifth grade.\u00a0 I was always the tallest kid, but I didn\u2019t know much about playing the game of basketball.\u00a0 Most of my friends and classmates did \u2013 they were either coached by their parents, or playing in some kind of league, whether it was at the YMCA or in a church league, but that wasn’t me.\u00a0 I was just tall and out there in the neighborhood playing with the other kids, which was easy to do when you grow up in Indiana.\u00a0 It seems like every house has a basketball goal in the driveway.\u00a0 So after school that was always the thing to do.\u00a0 Always playing ball.<\/p>\n And when I did start playing ball in school, the biggest jump for me was from eight grade to my freshman year at Harrison High School.\u00a0 That’s when I realized I could really become a good basketball player if I put in the work, and that motivated me to keep working and improving my game.\u00a0 Before you know it, I was headed to Kentucky.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Evansville sits across the river from the Kentucky border.\u00a0 You could have played with Calbert Cheaney at Indiana University.\u00a0 What happened?<\/strong><\/p>\n The University of Evansville was the first school that started recruiting me hard, but really didn\u2019t have any interest in going to Evansville.\u00a0 I pretty much knew I wanted to play for Kentucky, and there were a lot of reasons for that.\u00a0 Where my mom worked, she was always around UK fans, and living on the border meant we got to see as many UK games on television as IU games.\u00a0 IU recruited me, and I was friends with Calbert Cheaney even though he was three years older than myself, but I really had no interest in going to IU.\u00a0 It really boiled down to the style of ball they played, which was that classic Big 10 style with the big men confined to the post, which didn\u2019t really match up well with the way I wanted to play.\u00a0 I was the kind of guy who was just as comfortable being out on the perimeter as I was being in the post.<\/p>\n Ironically, my second choice in schools was a Big 10 school \u2013 Purdue \u2013 but they had a couple of guys that played inside-out.\u00a0 But UK had Rick Pitino and I knew that his offense was perfectly suited to my skills; I felt that his up-tempo system really fit with the way that I like to play.\u00a0 And playing on those AAU teams, I got close with guys like Tony Delk and Jared Prickett, and that was a big factor in my decision.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n What\u2019s it like playing for the Kentucky Wildcats?<\/strong><\/p>\n Kentucky fans are the greatest fans in the world.\u00a0 It\u2019s a high-pressure situation \u2013 they want to win, but we also want to win, and we expect the best out of ourselves.\u00a0 Kentucky has a great tradition, and you want to live up to it.\u00a0 You don\u2019t want to be on that team that doesn\u2019t make the tournament or doesn\u2019t advance in the tournament.\u00a0 So you always have that pressure of not just getting to the Final Four, but winning the Final Four.<\/p>\n It was a privilege to play there, and those were some of the best years of my life.\u00a0 The support there is unlike anything I\u2019ve ever seen.\u00a0 Other schools can say the same thing, but Kentucky fans are Kentucky fans, and they hate everybody else.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n That \u201996 team was loaded \u2013 it finished 34-2 and won the national championship.\u00a0 What was that like for you?<\/strong><\/p>\n The journey to the championship was incredible.\u00a0 We knew we were talented and had the potential to be great, but what we had went much farther than just talent.\u00a0 We were such a close team.\u00a0 We really enjoyed each other’s company and hanging out with each other away from the basketball court.\u00a0 We truly cared for each other, and those relationships stand to this day.\u00a0 And we worked hard \u2013 losing left a bad taste in our mouths, and we were determined to finish that season as the last team standing.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n That championship season wasn\u2019t always easy despite the record.\u00a0 How did you stay focused?<\/strong><\/p>\n There\u2019s always going to be bumps along the way, it doesn\u2019t matter what team you play for, and it\u2019s more about how you react to that adversity \u2013 how you handle it \u2013 that determines your outcome.\u00a0 It\u2019s the same thing when I went to the Celtics.\u00a0 There were times when I played a lot of minutes, and times when I didn\u2019t and someone else was out there on the court.\u00a0 For me it\u2019s all about the challenge, and being enthusiastic in taking on that challenge.\u00a0 If I found myself not playing, I wanted to figure out what I needed to do to get those minutes back and to get back on the court.\u00a0 You just have to be excited about the opportunity to get back on your feet and make the most of every situation.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n You were selected by the New York Knicks with the 19th pick in the ’96 NBA Draft.\u00a0 Tell me about that.<\/strong><\/p>\n It was the greatest feeling ever \u2013 to be able to do things for your family that you never thought you’d be able to do, that’s just the greatest feeling in the world.\u00a0 I’d always dreamed of buying my parents a new house, and giving them a new car, but you don’t think you’ll ever be in that position.\u00a0 And then suddenly you’re able to help them and take some of that pressure off of them.<\/p>\n And I never took it for granted.\u00a0 I knew that I had to prove myself, and that I had to go out there every day and show the coaches that I belonged in the NBA.\u00a0 I also knew that I had to earn my salary, and fortunately I had the work ethic to go out there and do the things to perform in this league.\u00a0 It was a challenge, no question about it, and in many ways it was about starting over again.\u00a0 I had to go out there and earn my minutes and earn my respect, just like when I was a freshman at Kentucky.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Knicks were pretty good back then \u2013 what was it like joining a veteran team?<\/strong><\/p>\n It was great for me, even though I was on a veteran team and didn\u2019t get a lot of minutes,\u00a0because that first year I learned the most about being a professional basketball player.\u00a0 People always ask me how I could learn so much when I didn’t play much, and I tell them all of those guys \u2013 Patrick Ewing, Allan Houston, Larry Johnson, John Starks, Charles Oakley, Charlie Ward and Buck Williams \u2013 were such great mentors.\u00a0 Collectively, they took me under their wing and showed me what it was to be a professional.\u00a0 Things like staying prepared, taking care of my body, getting the proper amount of rest.\u00a0 How to do the right things in practice.\u00a0 How to watch film.\u00a0 All of those things.<\/p>\n Jeff Van Gundy was a great coach for me \u2013 I remember that first day of training camp like it was yesterday.\u00a0 There were three rookies on that team \u2013 John Wallace, Dontae Jones and myself.\u00a0 And coach sits us down and tells us that we\u2019re not going to play this season, no matter how good we were, and that the only minutes we\u2019d get would be if someone got hurt, or if somebody ended up in foul trouble, or if he had to pull somebody out for some reason.\u00a0 So we had to swallow our pride and check our egos right there.\u00a0 He said the best thing we could do is be patient, work hard, and learn as much as possible.\u00a0 And that\u2019s what I tried to do.\u00a0 I tried to pick up all the little things from all the veteran players.\u00a0 Those guys were great veterans.\u00a0 They really looked out for us and showed us how to be professionals.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Rick Pitino is hired by the Celtics, and he immediately starts to surround himself with Kentucky players.\u00a0 Did Pitino really think he could duplicate the success he had at Kentucky on the NBA level?<\/strong><\/p>\n I don\u2019t think he or anyone else really knew whether it would work or not.\u00a0 We were still trying to find ourselves as basketball players, so it wasn\u2019t something we could plug into the NBA and guarantee success.\u00a0 But Coach P believed in it.\u00a0 He knew he needed guys who knew his system if he was going to pull it off, and what better group of guys than Antoine Walker, Ron Mercer and me?\u00a0 We’d just previously played for him at the college level, and he knew that we would be in the kind of shape that he needed.\u00a0 We knew his system and how to execute it.\u00a0 So I think he felt a certain comfort level in bringing us together to start things off.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Walker and Mercer were drafted by the Celtics, but you arrived via trade.\u00a0 Tell me about that.<\/strong><\/p>\n I remember how the trade went down \u2013 I was getting ready to play in the last preseason game before the start of the 1997-\u201898 NBA regular season; the Knicks were literally hours away from playing the Celtics in that game, and I get a call in my room, it was Jeff Van Gundy telling me that I’ve been traded to the Celtics.\u00a0 So I knew that I wouldn’t be playing that night.\u00a0 A Celtics coach picks me up, and I go to the game as a guest of the Celtics.<\/p>\n It was the highlight of my NBA career, being traded to the Celtics.\u00a0 That team has so much history, and there have been so many great players to have played there.\u00a0 And all of those championships…it was just a great place to play.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n There were such high expectations when Pitino arrived.\u00a0 He was hailed as the savior who would turn around a proud franchise.\u00a0 What happened?<\/strong><\/p>\n It was tough.\u00a0 Coach P was able to turn Kentucky around, but the Celtics situation was a lot different.\u00a0 You’re dealing with a salary cap, a longer schedule, the mindset of the professional athlete.\u00a0 And then there was the style of ball that he wanted to play.\u00a0 He wanted the up-tempo style, the high-pressure style, but I just don’t think that can work for an 82-game schedule.\u00a0 There were a lot of games that it worked for us, and then certain times when it didn’t.\u00a0 I think if he could have taken the reins off a little bit he could have been a helluva NBA coach.<\/p>\n At Kentucky he was adored, in the pros I think he found out that it was truly a business.\u00a0 It’s a different type of pressure.\u00a0 It was hard to find the guys who would buy into his system at that level, and it ultimately wore on him mentally.\u00a0 I think that’s what led him to walk away in frustration.\u00a0 I think he realized that he was best suited for the college game.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n In \u201998 the Celtics drafted Paul Pierce.\u00a0 Take me back to Pierce in the early years.<\/strong><\/p>\n Well, you could tell that Paul was going to be a great player, but there were definitely maturity\u00a0issues with him.\u00a0 At that age he was still going out to clubs and doing some of the things that maybe a leader shouldn\u2019t have been doing.\u00a0 And maybe at that time he didn\u2019t view himself as a leader.\u00a0 He wanted to play ball and he wanted to have fun, but he\u2019s clearly matured over the years and left a lot of that stuff behind him.\u00a0 He ended becoming a great leader, and the things that he\u2019s done during his career in Boston definitely put him up there in the discussion with all of the Celtics greats.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Pitino ultimately resigned and headed back to the college game.\u00a0 That\u2019s when Jim O\u2019Brien stepped in and helped the Celtics get back to the playoffs.\u00a0 What was that like?<\/strong><\/p>\n We were ready.\u00a0 We just knew we were going to get after it defensively that season.\u00a0 We took it upon ourselves to keep opponents from scoring on us \u2013 our goal was to contest every shot and force our opponents into low field goal percentages.\u00a0 Tough shots.\u00a0 We were one of the top three defensive teams in the league that season.\u00a0 We really started to trust the system and to trust one another.\u00a0 We trusted that if a guy got by one of us, that someone would be there to play help defense.\u00a0 If someone got past me I knew that Eric Williams was going to be there.\u00a0 If someone got by Eric, we knew that Tony Battie was going to be right there backing him up.\u00a0 Once we got that down, everything started to flow.\u00a0 It was a great experience for us, because we came within two games of reaching the NBA Finals.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n You became close with many of the Celtic legends during your time in Boston.\u00a0 Guys like Red Auerbach and Bill Russell.<\/strong><\/p>\n I’ve been so lucky, privileged and blessed.\u00a0 To get to know people like Bob Cousy, Bill Russell and Tom Heinsohn, I could never truly put into words what these people mean to me.\u00a0 And as much as I love Tom Heinsohn \u2013 he’s a very special person in my life \u2013 his late wife Helen was one of the most special people I’ve ever known.\u00a0 God bless her \u2013 she passed away from cancer, and it was one of the hardest things for me to deal with emotionally.\u00a0 She was such a special lady, and meant so much to me and my family.\u00a0 I love her dearly.<\/p>\n It was so special to feel like you\u2019re a part of the family, part of one of the greatest organizations in sports.\u00a0 You just don\u2019t get that anywhere else.\u00a0 For me as a kid, to think that I would get to sit down and talk to guys like that \u2013 guys like Red Auerbach, Satch Sanders, Hondo \u2013 the list goes on and on, it was just remarkable.\u00a0 As a kid growing up in Evansville, I never could have imagined any of that to be possible.<\/p>\n Red was great to be around.\u00a0 No matter where you were, you could always smell those cigars in the gym.\u00a0 Bill Russell stayed close to the team while I was there.\u00a0 And I always called him Captain.\u00a0 Never Bill, never Mr. Russell.\u00a0 Always Captain, because he was the captain of all those Celtics championship teams.<\/p>\n Funny story about Bill Russell:\u00a0 At one point he came into the locker room, and at the time we were a pretty tough defensive team.\u00a0 But offensively, everybody know that Paul Pierce and Antoine Walker was going to take 90% of the shots.\u00a0 And I guess the papers were talking a lot about how much Antoine liked to shoot the ball, and how he never passed.\u00a0 It was a pretty big deal in the media at the time.\u00a0 Well, Bill came in, and he holds up a copy of that article, and he looks at everyone in the room but Antoine.\u00a0 And he tells us that the secret\u2019s out, that Antoine is going to be taking a ton of shots, and that if we wanted to get our shots we shouldn\u2019t wait for him to pass \u2013 we should wait for him to miss.\u00a0 And then he looks at Antoine, and he says, \u2018From what I\u2019ve seen out of your shot selection, there should be plenty of misses to go around.\u2019\u00a0 And then the whole room busts out laughing.<\/p>\n I don\u2019t have grandchildren yet, but one of these days I\u2019ll probably be setting down with them and telling them the stories about legends like Bill Russell, and what a privilege it was to even be associated with people like that.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n You mentioned Tommy Heinsohn.\u00a0 Pretty special guy, huh?<\/strong><\/p>\n I think Tommy appreciated what I brought to the table, maybe more than anyone.\u00a0 My role on that\u00a0team wasn\u2019t to be the leading scorer.\u00a0 It was to play great defense, shut down the other team\u2019s best scorer, run the floor, knock down shots in the flow of the offense, and hustle all over the court.\u00a0 I was the guy who scrapped for the rebound, who dived on the floor for loose balls \u2013 you know, the type of player who did a lot of the dirty work that maybe other players didn\u2019t like to do.<\/p>\n So I think I was a throwback player in a certain aspect, and I think Tommy saw that in my game and identified with it.\u00a0 I think he really respected what I did out there, and he wasn\u2019t shy about broadcasting it during games or otherwise.\u00a0 He kept a tally of \u2018Tommy Points\u2019 for guys who did things that didn\u2019t show up in the stat sheet, and that was really borne out of him watching me play.\u00a0 He knew that everybody focused on the guy scoring 35 points, or the guy grabbing 20 rebounds, but he changed the way that people look at basketball by pointing out the little things that make a big difference in wins and losses.\u00a0 So I\u2019m very thankful for him, because he made everybody aware of role players and what role players do \u2013 sacrificing their bodies, taking charges, going to the floor for balls.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n NBA players seem to be hung up on making their mark, leaving their legacy.\u00a0 And that usually goes hand-in-hand with winning the NBA Championship.<\/strong><\/p>\n To be honest, I\u2019m very content.\u00a0 And I hear that talk all the time.\u00a0 Everyone likes to point out that I didn\u2019t win an NBA title, but I\u2019ve always loved the game of basketball.\u00a0 I would have loved to have won a ring, but maybe that wasn\u2019t for me.\u00a0 I had a great time and really enjoyed it, and I\u2019m content to have walked away from the game like I did without winning it.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Seriously?\u00a0 You don\u2019t have any regrets about not winning a championship with the Celtics?<\/strong><\/p>\n Absolutely not.\u00a0 Would it have been special?\u00a0 There’s no question, I would have loved to have won an NBA Championship.\u00a0 That’s what we all dream about as players.\u00a0 But I was fortunate to win an NCAA championship at Kentucky, and I was able to play 10 years in the NBA, many of those with the greatest franchise in professional basketball.\u00a0 I feel like I’m part of a special family in that regard.\u00a0 And I’m not someone who is defined strictly by what he did on the basketball court.\u00a0 I have other interests, like my music and my family, and I’m content with how my life has played out to this point.\u00a0 It’s been great, and I’m looking forward to the future.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n You were traded 44 games for the Celtics during the 2004-\u201805 season, but you still consider yourself a Celtic For Life.<\/strong><\/p>\n Boston is the place that I call home.\u00a0 The fans are the best in the world.\u00a0 They know their basketball and they appreciate blue collar players who play hard and know their role.\u00a0 That was me.\u00a0 I tried to do my best to help the team win \u2013 if that meant diving for loose balls or running to my spot and shooting a three, I could tell that the fans really appreciated the things that I did while wearing a Boston Celtics uniform.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Let\u2019s talk soul, man.\u00a0 You\u2019ve always been into music.\u00a0 Tell me about your passion.<\/strong><\/p>\n When I was four or five, I was singing with my family in the church.\u00a0 My aunt got me started – myself,\u00a0my brother, my two sisters, my cousin\u2026we\u2019d sign in the afternoon services.\u00a0 So I grew up singing, and from a very early age it was always a passion of mine.\u00a0 And as I got older, I started singing in middle school choir, then high school and church choir, and on the street corners with my friends.\u00a0 When I went to Kentucky, I selected the School of Fine Arts.<\/p>\n I’ve always loved music.\u00a0 In 2003 I released my first CD,\u00a0Moment for Love<\/em>, but I really didn’t have the time I needed to promote it due to playing basketball.\u00a0 I have a recording studio in my home, and about a year ago I had the urge to express myself musically, so I started writing again and decided it was time to put out another CD.<\/p>\n For me, my time was consumed with basketball, but after I retired I took about a year off and just recharged my batteries.\u00a0 I just completely relaxed, and spent time with my family.\u00a0 It was important, because basketball had been my whole existence from the time I was about eleven or twelve years old.\u00a0 And when I finally felt refreshed, I decided that it was time to follow my passion and do what I love.\u00a0 That\u2019s when I went into the studio again and was able to produce\u00a0Emotionally<\/em>.\u00a0 My friends dog me and give me a hard time because I\u2019m always singing, but I love it.\u00a0 It\u2019s the thing I like to do most \u2013 that\u2019s just me, I love music, and I really enjoy being able to express myself musically.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Final Question \u2013 If you could pass on one piece of advice on life, what would that be?<\/strong><\/p>\n Do your best in everything you do.\u00a0 And I\u2019ve always leaned on the bible, and I always include the following passage from Proverbs 3:5-6 in all my emails:\u00a0 Trust the Lord with all Thy heart, Trust in the\u00a0Lord\u00a0with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths\u00a0straight.\u00a0 And there is something else to live by:\u00a0 Give without remembering, and take without forgetting.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By: \u00a0Michael D. McClellan |\u00a0The modern day NBA is awash with versatile big men, the kind of players who can score both inside and out, the kind of players who can battle underneath on one possession, and who can step behind the three-point line and knock down a long-distance trey on the next. Dirk Nowitzki […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16024,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","iawp_total_views":2,"footnotes":""},"categories":[783,773],"tags":[99],"class_list":["post-9628","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dark-days","category-featured-interview","tag-walter-mccarty"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.celtic-nation.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9628","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=9628"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.celtic-nation.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9628\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.celtic-nation.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16024"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.celtic-nation.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9628"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.celtic-nation.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9628"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.celtic-nation.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9628"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.celtic-nation.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/basketball.png\")
<\/p>\n