Kevin Edward McHale (born December 19, 1957) is an American former professional basketball player, coach and analyst who played his entire professional career for the Boston Celtics. He earned the nickname "the Torture Chamber" for his exceptional footwork and wide array of post moves which made him nearly impossible to guard one-on-one. Dominique Wilkins famously called him "A Man With a Thousand Moves." He is a Basketball Hall of Fame inductee and widely considered one of the greatest power forwards of all time.
After a high school career in which he was named Minnesota Mr. Basketball, he attended the University of Minnesota, where he was named to two first-team All Conference teams and set many team records that still stand today. He was then selected third overall in the 1980 NBA Draft by the Boston Celtics. Spending his first five seasons as the sixth man, he was named the NBA's Sixth Man of the Year in 1984 and 1985. After Cedric Maxwell was traded prior to the 1985–1986 season, McHale became a full-time starter alongside Larry Bird and center Robert Parish, where the three formed what is arguably the greatest frontcourt in NBA history. He won three NBA championships in 1981, 1984 and 1986. Having already played in an All-Star Game as a bench player before becoming a starter, he went on to play in six more All-Star Games and was named to the NBA All-Defensive Team six times. After injuries forced his retirement following the 1992–1993 season, he was later named to both the NBA’s 50th and 75th Anniversary Teams.
McHale began working for the Minnesota Timberwolves immediately following his retirement in 1993 (until 2009) and at times as a TV analyst, general manager and head coach. He was head coach of the Houston Rockets from 2011 to 2015 until being fired following a 4–7 start to the 2015–16 season.
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Early life
McHale was born to Paul Austin McHale and Josephine Patricia Starcevic in Hibbing, Minnesota. In his senior season at Hibbing High School, he was named Minnesota Mr. Basketball in 1976 and led his team to a runner-up finish in the AA Minnesota State Championship game.
He is of Croatian descent on his mother's side and Irish on his father's.
College career
The 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) McHale played basketball at the power forward position for the University of Minnesota (the Golden Gophers) from 1976 to 1980, with career averages of 15.2 points and 8.5 rebounds per game.
He was named All-Big Ten in 1979 and 1980 and still ranks second in school history in career points (1704) and rebounds (950).
In 1995, to coincide with the University of Minnesota basketball's 100th anniversary, he was selected as the top player in the history of University of Minnesota men's basketball.
McHale had an encounter with Chuck Foreman in the Gopher locker room. Foreman, a famous Minnesota Viking at the time, was congratulating the Gophers on a hard-fought victory. As Foreman was shaking all the players' hands, when he arrived at the then-unknown power forward, McHale displayed his comic wit: "Nice to meet you, Mr. Foreman. What do you do for a living?"
NBA playing career
Coming off the bench, the "Sixth Man" (1980–1985)
Entering the 1980 NBA draft, the Celtics held the number one overall pick, but in a pre-draft trade, considered by many to be among the most lopsided in NBA history, Celtics president Red Auerbach dealt the pick and an additional first-round pick to the Golden State Warriors for center Robert Parish and the Warriors' first-round pick, the third overall, which the Celtics used to draft McHale.
McHale's stay in Boston got off to a rocky start as he held out for a large contract, even threatening to play in Italy, before signing a three-year deal with the Celtics. Backing up Cedric Maxwell at forward, McHale made an immediate impact and was named to the NBA's All-Rookie First Team. Boston finished McHale's rookie season with a league-leading record of 62–20.
In the playoffs, the Celtics swept the Chicago Bulls in the first round. In the Eastern Conference finals, the Celtics faced a 3–1 deficit against the Philadelphia 76ers; but Boston won the last three games of the series, including Game 6 on Philadelphia's home court. McHale helped save the Game 6 win by rejecting an Andrew Toney shot and corralling the rebound with 16 seconds left to protect the Celtics' one-point lead. In the NBA Finals, Boston defeated the Houston Rockets in six games to capture the team's 14th championship.
The Celtics would not advance to the NBA Finals in the next two seasons. Philadelphia exacted a measure of revenge in the 1982 Eastern Conference final, beating Boston at home in the seventh game. In the 1983 Eastern Conference semifinals, the Celtics were swept by the Milwaukee Bucks. This embarrassing defeat led to the firing of head coach Bill Fitch and a temporarily unhappy McHale.
Following the 1982–83 season, McHale's contract with the Celtics expired, and the New York Knicks signed him to a contract offer sheet. Auerbach retaliated by signing three of New York's top free-agent players to offer sheets. The Knicks elected to re-sign their players and give up their pursuit of McHale. McHale eventually re-signed with Boston, his $1 million per season contract making him the fourth-highest paid player in the NBA.
McHale won the first of his consecutive NBA Sixth Man Awards as Boston won a league-best 62 games in the 1983–84 season. With the hiring of new head coach, former Celtic KC Jones and the acquisition of Phoenix Suns guard Dennis Johnson, Boston seemed primed to make yet another run at a 15th championship.
As a full-time starter, the "Torture Chamber" (1985–1988)
The 1985–1986 edition of the Boston Celtics won the franchise's 16th NBA championship and is considered one of the greatest teams in NBA history.
The Celtics acquired former NBA Most Valuable Player Bill Walton in a trade from the Los Angeles Clippers (formerly the San Diego Clippers) in September 1985, and added the 6 ft 11 in (211 cm) center to its already-formidable frontline. Boston sent Cedric Maxwell to the Clippers to complete the trade, clearing the way for McHale to move into a full-time starting role. McHale averaged better than 20 points per game for the first time in his career (21.3) and finished 13th in the NBA Most Valuable Player voting.
He joined starters Bird, Parish, Johnson and Danny Ainge as the Celtics steamrolled the NBA with a league-best 67–15 record. The team set a then-NBA record by finishing with an 82–18 win–loss record (including playoffs), breaking the record of 81 victories by the 1971–72 Lakers.
Boston also set the NBA mark for most home victories in one season, finishing 50–1 (including playoffs) in 48 games in the Boston Garden and three games in Hartford, Connecticut. The Portland Trail Blazers were the only team to beat Boston at home, winning 121–103 in Boston Garden on December 6, 1985. The Celtics did not lose again at home until more than a year later, when the Lakers beat them 117–110 on December 12, 1986.
Boston won 41 of its first 50 games, including two victories over the Lakers. In a rout of the Clippers on December 30, 1985, McHale set his single-game high in rebounds with 18 (a mark he tied against the Pistons in 1989).
An extremely durable player through the first five seasons of his career, McHale missed 14 games in early 1986 due to an injured Achilles tendon in his left ankle, but was healthy in time for the playoffs. Boston rolled through the Eastern Conference, winning 11 of 12 games versus Chicago, Atlanta and Milwaukee.
For the second time in five years, the Celtics faced Houston in the NBA Finals, and Boston won the championship in six games. McHale averaged 25.8 points per game in the finals to lead all scorers.
Injury and decline (1988–1993)
Injuries limited Bird to six games in 1988–89 and the Celtics slipped to 42–40. New head coach Jimmy Rodgers coaxed the team into the playoffs as the Eastern Conference's eighth and final seed behind the play of McHale, Parish and second-year guard Reggie Lewis.
The Celtics - without the injured Bird - faced the Pistons in the playoffs for the third straight year. Detroit held McHale to 19 points per game and less than 50 percent shooting from the field. The Pistons swept the Celtics en route to their first NBA championship.
The 1989–90 season marked the last time McHale was healthy enough to play in all 82 regular-season games for the Celtics, but the season was one of discontent for Boston. Second-year point guard Brian Shaw left the team to play in Europe after a salary dispute. Bird returned to the court following his various injuries but was criticized by teammates, including McHale, for taking too many shots and trying to dominate games on his own.
Rodgers moved McHale back into his old "sixth man" role for the majority of the regular season, with Ed Pinckney taking McHale's spot in the starting lineup; McHale's scoring slipped back into the teens coming off the bench. With the Celtics 34–25, Rodgers decided to put McHale into the starting lineup once again. McHale averaged 24.2 points and 9 rebounds down the stretch as the Celtics went 18–5 and finished one game behind Philadelphia in the Atlantic Division.
McHale became the first player in 20 years to finish in the NBA's top ten in field goal percentage (seventh) and free throw percentage (fifth) in the same season.
Boston took the first two games of its first-round playoff series with the Knicks, including a record-setting 157–128 score in Game 2. The Knicks fought back and won the last three games of the series. Head coach Jimmy Rodgers was fired following the playoff disappointment.
McHale contemplated retirement in the off-season after having another surgery performed on his right ankle, but came back for the 1990–91 season. Boston paired young backcourt players Lewis, Dee Brown, Kevin Gamble and Brian Shaw—back from his year in Europe—with Bird, McHale and Parish and hired Chris Ford, a longtime assistant coach and member of the Celtics' 1981 championship team, to be the team's head coach.
Legacy
McHale was a part of what many consider the league's best-ever frontline with small forward Larry Bird and center Robert Parish. The trio of Hall of Famers became known as the "Big Three" and led the Celtics to five NBA Finals appearances and three NBA championships, in 1981, 1984 and 1986. For the first five years of his career McHale primarily came off the bench for the Celtics, winning the NBA Sixth Man of the Year Award in 1984 and 1985.
Possessing a wide variety of offensive moves close to the basket the agile, long-armed McHale played in seven National Basketball Association All-Star Games between 1984 and 1991. McHale's finest season came in 1986–87 when he was named to the All-NBA First Team as a forward. He led the NBA in field goal percentage in the 1986-87 and 1987-88 seasons, shooting 60.4 percent each season. Also a standout defensive player, McHale was selected to the NBA All-Defensive First or Second Team six times. He twice blocked nine shots in a game, the most ever by a Boston Celtics player (blocked shots did not become an official NBA statistic until the 1973-74 season).
Fellow NBA Hall of Famer Charles Barkley said of McHale, "Kevin McHale's the best player I played against because he was unstoppable offensively, and he gave me nightmares on defense."
In 971 regular season games McHale averaged 17.9 points and 7.3 rebounds and in 169 post-season games averaged 18.8 points and 7.4 rebounds.
At the end of the 2007–2008 season McHale ranked tenth in NBA history in career field goal percentage (55.4%), and he is among the Celtics' career leaders in several categories, including games played, points scored and rebounding.
McHale's number 32 jersey was retired by the Celtics on January 30, 1994, during a halftime ceremony at the Boston Garden.
In 1995 he was inducted into the University of Minnesota Hall of Fame.
He was chosen one of the NBA's 50 greatest players and was named to the NBA's 50th Anniversary All-Time Team in 1996.
NBA career statistics
Career after retirement
Front office work with Minnesota Timberwolves
Upon his retirement as an NBA player, McHale joined the Minnesota Timberwolves as a television analyst and "special assistant". In the summer of 1994, new Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor promoted him to Assistant General Manager, although he continued to broadcast Timberwolves games as well. In 1995, he was promoted to Vice President of Basketball Operations (i.e., General Manager); one of his first acts was hiring former University of Minnesota teammate Flip Saunders as head coach of the Timberwolves.
The next season, McHale decided to select high school forward Kevin Garnett with the fifth overall pick of the 1995 NBA draft. Though Garnett developed into one of the NBA's best players, the Timberwolves advanced past the first round of the playoffs only once in Garnett's 12 seasons with the team.
It was also during McHale's reign that the Timberwolves were punished by the NBA for making a secret deal with free-agent forward Joe Smith to circumvent the league's salary cap rules. Before the 1998–99 season, Smith secretly agreed to sign three, one-year contracts with the Timberwolves for salary amounts that were much less than what any other NBA teams would have reasonably offered him. In return, Smith received a promise that the Timberwolves would give him a multi-year, multimillion-dollar contract before the 2001–02 season.
In 2000, after word of the agreement leaked, NBA commissioner David Stern voided Smith's final one-year contract with the Timberwolves, making Smith a free agent. Stern also stripped three of the Timberwolves' next five first-round draft picks from the team, and fined the team $3.5 million. In addition, McHale served a suspension that lasted through July 2001. Smith signed with the Detroit Pistons for one season, but returned to Minnesota before the 2001–2002 season as a free agent.
On February 12, 2005, the Timberwolves fired Saunders and McHale took over as head coach for the rest of the 2004–05 season. He compiled a 19–12 record, but had no interest in continuing as head coach at the time. Dwane Casey was hired as the new head coach in the off-season.
With Minnesota sitting at .500 midway through the 2006–07 season, McHale fired Casey on January 23, 2007. Timberwolves' assistant coach Randy Wittman was tapped to succeed Casey. Despite missing the playoffs, on April 19, 2007, the Timberwolves announced that McHale and Wittman would return for the 2007–08 season.
Coaching
On December 8, 2008, the Timberwolves fired Wittman. He had compiled a 38–105 record since taking over for Casey. The Timberwolves announced that McHale would step down as VP of Basketball Operations and once again take over the head coaching job, this time more permanently; the Timberwolves' owner Glen Taylor at the time indicated that he was not seeking to replace McHale as head coach. On June 17, 2009, however, it was announced that McHale would not return as the Timberwolves' head coach for the 2009–2010 season, and he was later replaced by Kurt Rambis, whom McHale infamously clotheslined in Game 4 of the 1984 NBA Finals.
On June 1, 2011, McHale was named head coach of the Houston Rockets, replacing Rick Adelman. On December 24, 2014, McHale signed a three-year contract extension to remain head coach of the Rockets. He led the Rockets to the Western Conference finals in 2015. However, he was fired on November 18, 2015, after four consecutive losses and a 4–7 start to the 2015–16 season.
McHale is one of six members of the 1985–86 Celtics' championship team to have served as an NBA head coach (Larry Bird, Danny Ainge, Dennis Johnson, Sam Vincent and Rick Carlisle are the others).
TV analyst
Immediately upon retiring, McHale became the color analyst for Minnesota Timberwolves games for two seasons, from 1993 to 1995. McHale began working for TNT and NBA TV as an on-air, floor-side analyst during the 2009–2010 regular season. He occasionally appeared on the NBA on TNT in-studio show, and even broadcast a few regular season and playoff games for the cable station. During the 2016 NBA Playoffs, McHale served as a guest analyst for the NBA on TNT's coverage. On October 10, 2016, he signed a multi-year agreement to return to Turner Sports.
McHale was also a part of the studio team for NBA TV's Fan Night broadcasts on Tuesday nights during the season (along with Ernie Johnson, Chris Webber and Greg Anthony since the 2016–17 season). McHale also called games for the station during the 2010 Las Vegas Summer League.
Personal life
On June 26, 1982, McHale married his wife Lynn. They had five children: Kristyn, Michael, Joseph, Alexandra, and Thomas. On November 24, 2012, Alexandra died at age 23, after being hospitalized for lupus for 14 days.
McHale enjoys playing golf and has competed in charity tournaments, also being involved in other local charity events, and was a board member and spokes person for the Help Me Hear Foundation which was created to gift cochlear implants to impoverished deaf children who would otherwise never be able to obtain one.
McHale guest-starred as himself in two episodes of the TV series Cheers: "Cheers Fouls Out" (season 9, episode 2) in 1990 and "Where Have All the Floorboards Gone" (season 10, episode 8) in 1991. The latter episode also featured Lynn McHale.
Career highlights and awards
NBA
NBA champion: 1981, 1984, 1986
NBA All-Star: 1984, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991
All-NBA First Team: 1987
NBA All-Defensive First Team: 1986, 1987, 1988
NBA All-Defensive Second Team: 1983, 1989, 1990
NBA Sixth Man of the Year: 1984, 1985
NBA All-Rookie First Team: 1981
2× NBA field goal percentage leader (1987, 1988)
First player in NBA history to shoot 60 percent from the field and 80 percent from the foul line in the same season (1986-87)
No. 32 retired by Boston Celtics: 1994
50th Anniversary Team: 1996
75th Anniversary Team: 2021
College
Second-team All-Big Ten: 1979
First-team All-Big Ten: 1980
No. 44 retired by Minnesota Golden Gophers: 1993
Selected as the top player in the history of University of Minnesota men's basketball: 1995
USA Basketball
1979 Pan American Games: gold medal
1979 FISU World University Games: gold medal
Halls of Fame
Minnesota State High School League Hall of Fame: 1992
University of Minnesota Hall of Fame: 1995
Hibbing High School Athletic Hall of Fame: 1997
Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame: 1999
Minnesota Basketball Hall of Fame: 2018
Minnesota sports Hall of Fame: 2020
Croatian-American Sports Hall of Fame: 2022
Irish-American Hall of Fame: 2025
Other
Minnesota Mr. Basketball':' 1976
Basketball Legacy Award from The Sports Museum at TD Garden: 2021