The Glenn McDonald Interview
By:
Michael D. McClellan
|
Monday, March 20th,
2006
In
addition to yourself, three other Long Beach State players were taken in the
draft; Cliff Pondexter, Leonard Gray, and Roscoe Pondexter. What does this say
about the strength of that Long Beach State team?
For
me it says that we were very, very talented, and we played against very good
schools to have that talent come out. A lot of times when you play against
weaker schools, your not seen and you don’t put out the effort that you should.
If you’re not careful, you end up playing down to that level of competition.
Tark and Lute made sure that we played the toughest schedule possible. At that
time we were in the PCAA, which is the Big West now, and the conference had good
schools. Even Cal State-LA had a very competitive team. So did Pacific, and
San Diego State. Fresno State. So the conference schedule was a challenge, and
we tried to play a tough non-conference schedule as well. I think USC and UCLA
were the only non-conference teams that flat out refused to play us. If we were
going to play them, then it was going to be in the NCAA Tournament.
Please
take me back to that first training camp with the Boston Celtics.
Very,
very tough [laughs]. I remember my first day of training camp very well. I
actually drove from California to Boston, stopped in Illinois because I
wanted to see some of my relatives, and got to Boston the day before
training camp was to start. That was a big mistake on my part. I was only
going to stay in Kewanee for a day, and then keep going, but I ended up
staying there for three days [laughs]. So now I’m hustling to get there,
and I get there the day before camp starts. Our first practice was just
run, run, run, run, run. I remember Heinsohn asking the players if we were
tired. I’m thinking that he’s wanting to know who needs a sub, so I raise
my hand. And he says, ‘Well, that’s too bad, Mac, because you’re going to
get even more tired.’ He didn’t sub me out – he kept me on the court and
ran me to death. It was unbelievable. That’s when I really learned that
watching NBA players run on TV and doing it yourself are two entirely
different things. I had always prided myself on being in shape, but that
was whole different situation. As much as we ran I just knew that I was
going to pass out. Luckily I didn’t, but it was the most demanding thing
that I’d ever been through in my life.
The big
thing about those Celtic training camps was that you could never stop
moving. Even if you didn’t have the ball, you were moving. If you were
playing defense and your man didn’t have the ball, then Heinsohn expected
you to have your feet moving in case they made a pass to your man, or in
case he made a cut to the basket. He wanted you to be able to react right
away. So you couldn’t stand still. If he was talking to you on the
sidelines, and you weren’t in the game, you had to be running in place.
I’ll never forget that. I had never seen anything like that in my whole
life. But then I realized why they did that. They were in excellent
shape. Perpetual motion. It was an eye-opening experience, for me.
What was
it like to meet Red Auerbach for the first time?
When
I first me Red, I didn’t have an idea of how he was going to be. I didn’t
watch a lot of pro games on TV. Every now and then I’d watch one, but that
just wasn’t me. I’ve never been the kind to go, ‘Oh, so-and-so is playing
so I’d better get home and watch the game.’ I’d never been that type. If
I’m home and a game’s on, then I might watch it. If not, then I’m not going
to make a plan just to get home so that I can see a basketball game. I was
never like that. So I had heard about Red Auerbach, because he had won all
of those championships. I’d seen him on TV with that cigar, so I knew what
he looked like. But then to go in there and actually meet him – you know
it’s an honor to be able to meet a man like that, but at the same time
you’re saying to yourself, ‘My God, this man is arrogant.’ But then you
look at him again and say to yourself, ‘He has the right to be arrogant –
just look at what he’s done. No one else has done anything close to what
this man has done.’ He was a very brash individual, but you could tell that
he cared about his players. I had never been under him as a player, but you
could just tell by watching film that he cared. The way he reacted, the way
he protected them. It wasn’t only about Red Auerbach. It was about his
team – his family – and he was going to do what he had to do to protect
them. And when they won, he was going to celebrate.
So it was an honor to meet him. And then, to sit down and talk contract with him, you learned very quickly that he was a businessman. It was as simple as that. There wasn’t any joking around about money. He didn’t pretend like you were going to come in and take over the team. John Havlicek was there. Don Nelson. He let you know that there were players on the team that deserved to be there, and had been there for awhile, and that you were going to have to come in and prove yourself. So you looked at him and said to yourself, ‘If that’s the way it has to be done, that’s the way it has to be done.’ And I’d never be one to feel entitled to anything anyway. I believed that playing time was something that I had to earn.
The
Celtics went 60-22 in your first season with the team, but fell to the
Washington Bullets in the Eastern Conference Finals. Please take me back to
that series. What stands out after all of these years?
More
than anything else it was the dominance of Wes Unseld. We had good guards,
and we had good post players, but Wes the difference maker. I didn’t play
much in that series, so it’s hard to recall a lot of the specifics,
especially now that so many years have passed. But Washington was the
better team that year. They beat us to come out of the East, and then they
defeated Golden State in four straight to win the title.
