MVPs: 0. Finals MVPs: 0. All-NBA 1st Team: 1. 2nd Team: 0. 3rd Team: 0. All Star: 7. MVP: 0.
Defensive POY: 0. All-Defense 1st Team: 3. 2nd Team: 3.
Career Averages: 18 PPG/ 7 RPG/ 2 APG/ .4 SPG/ 1.7 BPG/ .555 eFG%/ .798 FT%.
Best Season: 26/ 10/ 3/ .5/ 2.2/ .604/ .836 (1986-87).
Postseason Averages: 19 PPG/ 7 RPG/ 2 APG/ .4 SPG/ 1.7 BPG/ .563 eFG%/ .788 FT%.
Best Postseason: 25/ 8/ 2/ .4/ 1.8/ .605/ .839 (1988).
Championships: 3 (#2 player on 2, #5 player on 1). Runner-ups: 2 (#2 player on both).
Why he's below Giannis Antetokounmpo: McHale was never the best player on his own team. Even the year he was 1st Team All-NBA and finished 4th in MVP voting, Bird finished 3rd and appeared on the 1st Team with him. He also had a short career of only 11 healthy seasons. His only season that I rank him best on the Celtics was after Bird's injury and after McHale was past his own prime.
Why he's above the rest: Like with Scottie Pippen and Dwyane Wade, I don't penalize McHale too much for being second best on a great team behind one of the best players ever. He was one of the best defensive forwards of the 80s and one of the best post scorers of all time. He has the 5th highest career eFG% for a forward (second highest among players on my list, behind only Barkley). I have no idea whether he could have been a star on his own team like Pippen and Wade, but he was absolutely a great player who could blend with a superstar and make their team even greater.
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