The Rick Robey Interview
By:
Michael D. McClellan
|
Sunday, February 26th, 2012
As you've mentioned, everything changed the next season with the arrival of a certain Hick From French Lick. Please tell me about the arrival of Larry Bird.
I think once they were able to get Bird
signed, and then put the McHale-Parish deal
together for
Joe
Barry Carroll, things really started to
roll. Bird was the trigger point for the
turnaround, no question about it, but having
those other guys meant a lot, too. And don't
forget, Red Auerbach was also great at
making moves for perfect role players, guys
like Danny Ainge and Gerald Henderson and
M.L. Carr and Cedric Maxwell. Just a great
group of guys and great players.
What was it like to play for a coach as demanding as Bill Fitch?
I think the guys that played a lot of minutes were more aggravated with him than I was. He was a guy who loved to practice a lot and loved to watch a lot of film. I think it was harder on those guys that were playing 30-40 minutes a game, because his harder practices, combined with watching a whole lot of film, wore on them after a while. For me, the harder practices really helped because I wasn't getting as many minutes as the other guys. The only time I'd see that many minutes was if Robert ended up getting into foul trouble, of if someone got injured or something like that. But Bill was a fine coach and it worked out well in the end. You can't argue with success, and Bill was able to win a world championship.
The next season brings Kevin McHale and Robert Parish to Boston, in one of the biggest trade heists in league history. Please tell me about your relationship with both of these all-time greats.
Robert and Kevin were outstanding players and even better people. They were both funny, too. The public didn't really see that side of Robert, but in the locker room he was one of the funniest guys on the team, always joking around. Kevin was just an unbelievable player who could do it all underneath the basket. For Red to pull off that trade with Golden State, that really shows you the genius of Red Auerbach.
