Would anyone here rate McHale higher than Karl Malone?

[KLovin]

Since I do take longevity into account for my all-time rankings among people I've seen play, Karl Malone would have to get the edge here. The fact that I have peak play more valued than longevity in my ranking "system" says something about how long Karl Malone was doing his thang. That being said, boy, a prime Mchale was something else to watch down low in the post, and as an oddly effective defender.

[greymatter]

Nah, McHale doesn't have the longevity K. Malone has.

But I would take a peak McHale ('86 & '87) over peak Malone.

Basically this. Peak McHale was superior to Malone on both sides of the ball. His peak was cut short with a broken foot in 87.

[Kblaze8855]

Since longevity wont help me in any single game....id take Mchale in his prime over Malone in his for a number of reasons. Hes more likely to get me a good shot on command and he can guard pretty much anyone between 6'4'' and 7'5'' other than the people nobody can guard(Shaq types).

He doesnt rank higher than Malone for quite a few reasons. Doesnt mean he couldnt do as much or more for a team setup to make use of him.

If you had offense enough to not need to play through him so much that his ball stopping would turn your guys into do nothings...hes a weapon.

Karl needs a little more to go right on a play to get his best look. And he can play defense....and beat up guards who challenge him...but I cant rely on him to slow down as many people. And Mchale can get a shot he can make at least half the time on any touch inside 15 feet hes not doubled.

Karl Malone probably shot 40% or so on shots that were not spoonfed. May have been worse than that at some points. Ive read articles showing he got assisted on like 75-80% of his shots for good periods of time and if hes shooting 50-52%....how much of that is quick layups around the rim Stockton dropped off that he shoots 80% on?

Karl could score. Especially when he had his jumper going. But id feel better going to Mchale if I needed 2-3 shots to extend a late lead or stop a run...at least if I didnt have a great guy setting either one up.

I want my scorers to be whatever the situation may be scorers. Cant count on everything going right scorers. Mchale is a very good broken play "Just get out of the way...." scorer.

He cant pass like Karl and when Karl is on hes a better scorer too. But as a guy to give the ball and assume they bail me out? Id want Kevin. And there are a lot of options when you have a guy who can defend like 70% of the NBA if he has to.

Id like to see what Kevin does longterm if a team is built to make best use of him.

[DaHeezy]

Kevin McHale was a black hole. Superior post play, but he was a ball hog. Could he have led his own team? I don't think so. Karl Malone ranks higher, and is a better teammate

[Kblaze8855]

I think you have to separate being a ball hog and being a black hole. His job was to score when he got the ball around the basket. When the express purpose of giving you the ball is so you can shoot it...how do you call the guy a ball hog? the ball didnt often come back out....but that wasnt the desired result of him having the ball.

His teammates joked around about it but you could see they understood his role.

[DaHeezy]

I think you have to separate being a ball hog and being a black hole. His job was to score when he got the ball around the basket. When the express purpose of giving you the ball is so you can shoot it...how do you call the guy a ball hog? the ball didnt often come back out....but that wasnt the desired result of him having the ball.

His teammates joked around about it but you could see they understood his role.

I think he was a great post player, probably the greatest shot creator under the basket ever, but I think too often he tried to force through double teams and looked for the refs to bail him out. Part of being a great post presence is also recognizeing those situations and kicking it back out to teammates. Grant it he had great shooters on his team so he benefited from that having one-on-one situations. I question if he could have led his own team. I don't think he could have.

[Kblaze8855]

Well that depends on what you mean. Loy Vaught led a playoff team.

Mchale clearly had franchise player talent. The only season he didnt have Bird anywhere near his prime he Parish and Reggie Lewis all kinda shared the load. But I never saw anything to suggest he couldnt lead a good team if it were built to play through him. The Celtics never were.

He was a "Every now and then let Kevin go one on one" option for a team that didnt really need it to be good. But plenty of guys with worse versions of the same skills he had have led teams.

Just depends on how you build the team. Put him on a team like the pre Rose Bulls who were already solid and playing amazing defense?

What happens? They get worse?

[1987_Lakers]

Surprising stat: McHale shot 89% from the FT line in 1990.

[97 bulls]

Since longevity wont help me in any single game....id take Mchale in his prime over Malone in his for a number of reasons. Hes more likely to get me a good shot on command and he can guard pretty much anyone between 6'4'' and 7'5'' other than the people nobody can guard(Shaq types).

He doesnt rank higher than Malone for quite a few reasons. Doesnt mean he couldnt do as much or more for a team setup to make use of him.

If you had offense enough to not need to play through him so much that his ball stopping would turn your guys into do nothings...hes a weapon.

Karl needs a little more to go right on a play to get his best look. And he can play defense....and beat up guards who challenge him...but I cant rely on him to slow down as many people. And Mchale can get a shot he can make at least half the time on any touch inside 15 feet hes not doubled.

Karl Malone probably shot 40% or so on shots that were not spoonfed. May have been worse than that at some points. Ive read articles showing he got assisted on like 75-80% of his shots for good periods of time and if hes shooting 50-52%....how much of that is quick layups around the rim Stockton dropped off that he shoots 80% on?

Karl could score. Especially when he had his jumper going. But id feel better going to Mchale if I needed 2-3 shots to extend a late lead or stop a run...at least if I didnt have a great guy setting either one up.

I want my scorers to be whatever the situation may be scorers. Cant count on everything going right scorers. Mchale is a very good broken play "Just get out of the way...." scorer.

He cant pass like Karl and when Karl is on hes a better scorer too. But as a guy to give the ball and assume they bail me out? Id want Kevin. And there are a lot of options when you have a guy who can defend like 70% of the NBA if he has to.

Id like to see what Kevin does longterm if a team is built to make best use of him.

It seems as if youre trying to be unbiased, but cant. You basically compared the two if they were to be put in Mchales situation. Take into consideration Mchale playingg with a much better team than Malone. How does Mchale fair in Malone pick and roll situation? He sure didnt run the floor and finish like Malone.

Malone was flat out a better player than Mchale. Was Mchale better in the post? Absolutely. Kinda easy when you have sso many great players on the perimeter to hold defenders at bay.

[97 bulls]

I think you have to separate being a ball hog and being a black hole. His job was to score when he got the ball around the basket. When the express purpose of giving you the ball is so you can shoot it...how do you call the guy a ball hog? the ball didnt often come back out....but that wasnt the desired result of him having the ball.

His teammates joked around about it but you could see they understood his role.

Ball hog and black hole are the same thing. The meaning is youre an unwilling passer. At no point is it ok for you to be a ball hog or black hole. If youre interested in winning

[1987_Lakers]

It seems as if youre trying to be unbiased, but cant. You basically compared the two if they were to be put in Mchales situation. Take into consideration Mchale playingg with a much better team than Malone. How does Mchale fair in Malone pick and roll situation? He sure didnt run the floor and finish like Malone.

Malone was flat out a better player than Mchale. Was Mchale better in the post? Absolutely. Kinda easy when you have sso many great players on the perimeter to hold defenders at bay.

In their peaks Malone was not flat out better than McHale. McHale was a better offensive player in the half court set, they both had great playmakers around them, but Malone without a doubt relied more on Stockton than McHale relied on Bird.

Defensively, McHale was better as well, he was the more versatile defender being able to guard multiple positions effectively, both were very good low post defenders with McHale being the better shot blocker.

And I know I can depend on McHale more in big games, McHale always stepped it up when the season was on the line, can't say the same for Malone.

[RaininTwos]

Black hole? dude shot 60% from the field, he can shot jack all he wants

[1987_Lakers]

Ball hog and black hole are the same thing. The meaning is youre an unwilling passer. At no point is it ok for you to be a ball hog or black hole. If youre interested in winning

McHale was a willing passer by 1986. Go look at some games from the Celtics in that '86 postseason. He knew how to pass out of double teams and he made a nice pass every know and then. Since when is averaging 2.7 APG for a big man considered to be a bad thing?

His job when he got the ball down low was to score, if he was being guarded one on one in the post of course he was going to look to score, that was his job and he was so efficient from down there. If I was putting up 25 PPG on 58-60% shooting I would be looking to score everytime I got the ball down low as well.

[1987_Lakers]

Black hole? dude shot 60% from the field, he can shot jack all he wants

Exactly.

[L.Kizzle]

I already said I have Malone ranked ahead of McHale. All I said was McHale probably had the better peak.

1987 Kevin McHale
26 PPG | 60 FG%
10 RPG
2.5 APG
2 BPG
All-NBA First Team
All-NBA Defensive First Team
4th in MVP voting
Named DPOY by NBA Head Coaches

It's not insane to say McHale had a better peak.

It is, Malone did that for over 10-12 seasons. McHale maybe 2.

I think McHale is one of the more overrated players ever.

It's crazy how a 7 time All-Star, one time All-NBA player is considered top 30 buy a lot of folks.