Transcripts

SPEAKER: Minnesota native Kevin McHale has officially retired from pro basketball. He retired last night after the team that he's been playing for lo these many years, the Boston Celtics, were knocked out of the National Basketball Association playoffs with a 104 to 103 loss to the Charlotte Hornets. McHale scored 19 points in his final game.

Of course, he originally came from Hibbing and then starred at the University of Minnesota prior to going to Boston to play pro ball. Hibbing, or McHale, rather, was 35 years old, played in the NBA for 13 seasons. Jim Dutcher, who is now a vice president at Dain Bosworth, of course, coached Kevin McHale at the University of Minnesota and has watched his pro career unfold. Good morning sir.

JIM DUTCHER: Good morning.

SPEAKER: Glad you could join us. Say Kevin McHale has been praised around here anyway as one of the all-time basketball greats. Is that an accurate statement or is that just a little bit of Minnesota provincialism?

JIM DUTCHER: No, I think so. He's going to be an NBA Hall of Famer. He'll join guys like George Mikan in that. And he's probably, I think, the only player to graduate from Minnesota that will go into the Hall-- Basketball Hall of Fame.

SPEAKER: Is that right? Why was-- was he that good in college? I don't remember. I mean, I remember he was good, but not great, was he?

JIM DUTCHER: Yeah, he was first team All Big Ten for two years and played on the Pan American team that won a gold medal in Puerto Rico, and was the number 3 player picked in the NBA draft in the first round. Yeah, Kevin had an outstanding career. He, of course, led Minnesota to the NIT finals during his senior year.

So he was not on-- his freshman year, he was on a great ball club. The team that still holds the Minnesota record went 24 and 3. And he started as a freshman with Michael Thompson, Ray Williams, Flip Saunders, Osborne Lockhart in that group.

SPEAKER: Right. But did you say as a coach, well, this guy is going to the Pro Basketball Hall of Fame?

JIM DUTCHER: No, I don't think anybody-- you can never project that, because you don't know the longevity of a guy's career. And Kevin was a better college player than people thought he was going to be. And then he went on. He was a better pro player than anyone could have projected.

SPEAKER: What was his specialty? What made him so good in the pros, especially?

JIM DUTCHER: He was-- I think being an all around basketball player, he played in seven NBA All-Star games, but he was also on the all defensive team, first team for five years. So he could play at the defensive end. Kevin was very durable until the last two or three years. He just seemed to avoid injury. He was always available. And he's looked on probably as having the best inside scoring moves of any forward that ever played in the NBA. He just developed a lot of moves around the basket. And when he caught it in there, he was almost unstoppable.

SPEAKER: Now, there was a rumor-- very briefly, there was a rumor that he might play for the Timberwolves next year. Any truth to that?

JIM DUTCHER: I don't think anybody knows that. Kevin probably doesn't know that at this time himself. In the off season, their body heals up and they seem to feel pretty good. And they'll say, well, maybe I can play another year. I know if you ask him that today, he'd say no because his back's hurt and his knees hurt and his ankles hurting. But after, I think he'll leave that option open certainly. And he could be a good influence on a young basketball team like Minnesota.