The Xavier McDaniel Interview
By:
Michael D. McClellan
|
Thursday, May 5th, 2005
You
played in New York during the 1991-92 season, winning 51 games and beating the
Bad Boys of Detroit in the opening round of the playoffs. Next came a Game 7
loss to the Chicago Bulls. Just how intense was that series?
Very
intense. There aren’t very many games that I’ve said I couldn’t get up and walk
away from, but it was a brutal war out there. It was such a physical game. It
was a series that we should have won. We went into Chicago, had a sixteen point
lead, and lost Game 1. We jumped on them in Game 2, but we were able to hang on
for the win. Patrick Ewing had an unbelievable game. At that time, I just felt
that we had the best frontline in basketball. Ain’t no doubt about it, I would
have taken Patrick Ewing over any center out there at that time. I loved The
Dream [Hakeem Olajuwon] – he was a great guy. But I love Patrick Ewing. I’ve
always thought of him as the best of his generation. And then we had Charles
Oakley and myself. So I think we had the best frontline in the NBA. And we had
other parts, too. We had Mark Jackson, Gerald Wilkins, and John Starks. I just
thought we had championship potential. Even in training camp I could tell that
this was the most talented team that I’d ever been on. Gerald Wilkins could
shoot, but he could play defense. Mark Jackson – everybody talked about how
slow he was, but he was smart and he played defense. Oakley played defense.
Patrick and I played defense. And we held a lot of teams under their scoring
average, but we didn’t get the job done against Chicago.
It was a disappointing season in a lot of respects, especially when you looked at talent on that team. I got caught up in a contract squabble in January of that 1991-92 regular season, and the team basically stopped playing me. They cut my minutes way down. We had a twelve game lead on Boston at that point in time, and management was sure that we were going to win the Atlantic Division. There was just over twenty games left, and I think Larry Bird and the Celtics went 20-for-21 over that stretch. They were hot, and they ended up winning the division. During this time the Knicks were forced to play me despite the contract issue. Back then we played five games against Boston, and they won all three in the Boston Garden. They won the series and the division, even though both teams won 51 games that year. I felt we should have won the division hands down, but Ernie Grunfeld and Dave Checkett let my contract get in the way.
I was the second player in NBA history to implement a contract buyout – Adrian Dantley was the first. When I bought my contract out, the Knicks just stopped playing me. My average dropped from 18 points-per-game to 13. The Knicks kept trying to work on another contract, but I told them I’d wait and try free agency. Anyway, I think that some of this was a distraction to the team – not to take anything away from Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls, because they won the series on the court. It was just unfortunate timing.
From New
York it was on to Boston, during some of the darkest days in franchise
history. Following a 48-34 regular season, the Celtics lost 3-1 against the
young Charlotte Hornets. Tragedy would strike later that summer, as Reggie
Lewis collapsed and died from a heart attack. Please tell me about Reggie
the person, and Reggie the basketball player.
Very
good person. Me and Reggie would eat dinner together on the road. He was a
great guy. I’d go to his room and talk to him, and we really got along
great. My girlfriend at the time, Michelle, invited Reggie and his wife
down to South Carolina for my thirtieth birthday party. That was in June of
‘93, and Reggie died at the end of July. He was a great leader – when they
took me out of the starting lineup, Reggie stood beside me and lobbied for
them to put 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 guy on the
block. I told Chris Ford that I didn’t mind coming off of the bench – I’m a
team player – but Reggie was my advocate. Reggie and I also worked well
together; we had a play we called ‘2-Turnover-3’. If he went over the top
I’d look to get him the ball, or if he went to the bottom I’d feed it to
him…or he’d fade to the corner. It just depended on what the defense did.
We had to identify what was going on, because it was just something that the
two of us ran.
Reggie was just a great guy – a community-minded guy. He would get out there, and it didn’t matter what it was; if someone asked him to help with a worthy cause then Reggie would be right there in the middle of it. I just sat in bed and cried when I heard the news that he had died. It hurt a whole lot. And when I say I sat in my room and cried, I mean it. I cried for a long time.
One May
5, 1995 – ten years ago today – you played in the last game ever held in the
fabled Boston Garden. What was it like to play there, and what was the mood
like for that last game?
Let
me tell you something: I loved the fans in the Boston Garden. I may not
have always liked everyone who worked at the Boston Garden, but man, those
are the best fans in the world. I love the Boston Celtic fans. They
supported me like I was there my whole career. I don’t care what anybody
says about the fans in Boston. People say they’re spoiled with all of those
championships, but I wish that I had been able to help them win another
title. And I hope that they end up winning two or three more before I die
[laughs]. If you’ve never played for the Celtics you don’t understand. If
you play for another NBA team you just don’t get what the fans in Boston are
all about. I’d go to the games and they’d treat me great. I’d go out to
dinner, or go shopping on Newbury Street, and the fans would just treat me
like royalty. They’d know my situation. They’d say, ‘I don’t understand
why you’re not playing, Mr. McDaniel. You work so hard!’ Or they’d say, ‘
Give Mr. McDaniel what he wants, and put it on my bill!’ It was like being
a rock star [laughs]. Seriously, I got a lot of support. Basketball-wise,
sports-wise, Boston is a great town to play in. I had a great time there.
I didn’t always see eye-to-eye with Jan Volk and M.L. Carr, but Dave Gavitt
was a great guy. He’s the one who brought me to Boston. But in the end, it
just didn’t work out as far as winning that championship. I think a lot of
that had to do with the death of Reggie Lewis. It really hurt that
franchise. It was a sad thing, but there is a saying that great people
sometimes have to leave this earth a little earlier than others. I think
that was the case with Reggie.
You
played against Bird, and played with the two other members of the Big
Three. What was it like to play with Robert Parish and Kevin McHale?
I
love Robert Parish, man. He’s a character, and fun to have around. People
will ask why he’s so quiet, and I just tell them that that’s his demeanor.
But he’s the nicest person that you could ever want to meet. If you ever
want to know where you stand with Robert you just go up to him and ask. If
he thinks you’re an asshole, he’ll tell you that you’re an asshole. But if
he really likes you, he will sit down and talk to you for hours on end.
Great competitor. I used to always mess with him about his stretching. I’d say, ‘How in the world can your old ass get down there like that? I’m ten years younger than you and I can’t get down there!’ And he’d say, ‘You’d better stretch, or you’ll feel it when you get old’. He’s a great guy [laughs]. A true professional.
Kevin McHale – he’s like me. He’s a clown, who likes to have fun. He doesn’t take anything serious unless he’s going to play basketball. Everything’s a joke. He’d ride the bicycle on Thursday and say, ‘I don’t think I’m going to practice anymore this week. I’ll probably come back on Monday.’ But me and Kevin are very similar – we don’t get serious about much of anything, unless it’s basketball. He’s done a great job with Minnesota, so I take my hat off to him. Robert and Kevin were great teammates.
