The Xavier McDaniel Interview
By:
Michael D. McClellan
|
Thursday, May 5th, 2005
Everyone who has played for the Celtics seems to have a favorite story about
the great Red Auerbach. What was it like to meet him for the first time,
and do you have a story that stands out?
Yes
– When I visited Boston as a free agent. Red laid the numbers out on the
table and showed me what they had. He said, ‘We know you’re worth more than
this. But this is all we’ve got, Xavier. Being a Celtic is more than
money. And now that we have our offer on the table, you ain’t leaving this
room until we have an answer.’ I’ll tell you, I had to ask him to leave the
room. I told him I wanted to make one phone call. I didn’t want to call my
girlfriend. I didn’t want to call my momma. I told [agent] David Faulk
that I just needed to call one person, because this one person will tell me
if I’m gong to sign this contract. And I called Patrick Ewing. I said,
‘Man, Red Auerbach has got me cornered in this room. If you tell me not to
sign it, and you tell me to talk to New York again, then I won’t sign it.’
And Patrick more-or-less said, ‘Look, the Knicks know the Celtics want to
sign you. You need to do what’s right for you.’ So Red came back in and
said, ‘What are you going to do?’ I told him that I still wasn’t sure, and
he said, ‘Well, you’re not leaving this room, big fella, until we have an
answer one way or the other.’ I thought about it for ten or fifteen
minutes, and then I signed the contract. He shook my hand and said,
‘Welcome to the Celtics family. When you become a Celtic, you become a
Celtic for life.’ He told me that the door would always be open as long as
he was alive. Red’s a great guy. I’d always sit down and listen to him
when he’d come to practice and tell his stories. He’d always have advice
for me. I’d listen. He has a great knowledge of basketball, and he’s been
a winner all of his life. How could you not listen to a guy like him? So
it was cool. I had a great time with Red, and I had a great time meeting
some of the older players that had played for the team, like Bill Russell
and Bob Cousy.
Your coach with the Celtics was Chris Ford. Please tell me a little about
Chris.
Very
smart man, good coach. He was hired with the team in decline – the Big
Three were no more, because Bird had retired. Reggie died after his first
year coaching the team. It was just a bad time to be the coach of the
Boston Celtics. He did the best with what he had, but things were starting
to go downhill and the team wasn’t doing a good job of building back through
the draft. They picked some guys that just didn’t work out. But Chris
knows his basketball. He’s done well with other teams.
Let's talk life after basketball. What have you been up to in the years
since retiring from the NBA?
I
basically lived off of what I made those first few years. I didn’t do a
whole lot of anything. I was careful with my money – you ask Robert Parish
about me and he’ll say, ‘That cheap bastard!’ [Laughs]. But after
basketball I just chilled. Then I got into buying homes with a friend.
We’d fix them up and resell them. Then I branched out on my own. I started
building homes – I’ve been doing that for about nine months now. I’ve got
one house up and sold, I’ve got two more that are 95% complete, and I’ve got
three more in the works. Of those three, I’ve got one of them already
sold. I think I’ll do this another eight years before I retire again, which
is when I can start collecting that little pension that the NBA gives us.
My company’s name is ’34 X-man’. I don’t really buy homes and fix them up anymore. I buy the lots, come in with a crew, and build them from the ground up. I go into neighborhoods where lots haven’t been built on, and I try to buy those lots. That’s when I come in with my crew. We do the foundation, and framing, and everything like that. I’m enjoying the hell out of it.
Final
Question: You’ve achieved great success in your life. You are universally
respected and admired by many people, both inside and outside of the NBA.
If you could offer one piece of advice on life to others, what would that
be?
Work
hard. Be determined. Never give up. It’s easy to give up, but it’s hard
to be successful.
