The KC Jones Interview
By:
Michael D. McClellan
|
Sunday, August 4th, 2002
Dennis
Johnson was a big defensive stopper for the Celtics and
played a pivotal role in the series against the Lakers.
Did he remind you of yourself in any way?
Yes, I saw a lot of the same defensive
characteristics in Dennis. He was taller, but we
had a very similar defensive style. DJ was a very
bright, very strong player. We gave him the tough
defensive assignments, the Magic Johnsons and the
Michael Jordans, and he was always up to the challenge.
Dennis was a very important part of our team.
Let’s dissect the Big
Three. Bird, McHale and Parish were one of the
greatest frontlines to ever play the game. What
was it like to coach Larry Bird?
The word that comes to my mind is ‘appreciation’.
I have a tremendous amount of appreciation for Larry
Bird. He was such a hard worker, and was always
trying to improve his game. Everyone knew that he
was a great offensive player, everyone knew that he was
going to get his points. But when he came into the
league everyone said that he was too slow to play in the
NBA, that he couldn’t jump, that he couldn’t defend.
Then you’d look at the box score and he had twelve,
fourteen rebounds.
Larry was more than a great player – he was a joy to
coach. So motivated. He led by example.
And not only that, having Larry on the floor was like
having another coach out there. He saw so much
before it happened. He understood the game better
than anyone else on the floor. That’s why he had
so much success with Indiana. There will never be
another player like Larry. He’s one of the
greatest of all time.
Tell me about Kevin
McHale.
Kevin was such a happy person. He was always
smiling, always having fun. A joy to be around.
Like Cousy, he was one of the high intellects. And
like Cousy, he read a lot. He had a great mind.
Kevin was also a giving person. He had those
revolutionary low-post moves, things no one else had
ever done, and he’d work with the other guys in
practice to help them improve their game.
Robert Parish.
Along with Larry and Kevin, one of my favorite players
from that period. I have so much respect for him.
Please talk about Robert Parish.
I could talk about Robert all day long. Robert’s
nickname was “Chief”. Cedric Maxwell put that
tag on him. He called him “Chief” after a
character in “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest”.
Robert was special because he knew his place on the
team. He knew that there were only so many
basketballs to go around, and that Larry and Kevin were
going to get the majority of the shots. He also
knew that Danny (Ainge) and Dennis were going to take
their shots as well. So Robert fell into his space
on the team, which was to rebound, play tough defense,
and to be a force in the middle. This isn’t to
say that Robert wasn’t a great offensive player; he
could have put up big numbers on other teams, so he
wasn’t just a big body to clog the middle and stop the
other team’s big man. Robert had a very good
offensive game. He just understood what was
expected from him and he went out and did his job.
Robert was awesome.
In your
mind, where does that ’86 team rank in NBA history?
That team was right up there with the best in
history. All those great players – Larry, Kevin,
Robert, DJ, Danny. We got Bill Walton that year,
and he made us the complete package. Walton was
such a legend, both in college and with what he did in
Portland before he started having trouble with his
ankles. When he played at Portland he was out of this world.
He could pass brilliantly, and he had the same tenacity
as Bill Russell.
