Michael Jordan quickly established himself as a prolific scorer early in his NBA career. His offensive prowess did not go unnoticed. In fact, Boston Celtics All-Star power forward Kevin McHale knew right away that he could dominate the league.
McHale was already in his prime when Jordan came along and took the NBA by storm with his explosiveness. While McHale recognized MJ’s incredible athleticism and scoring ability, he assessed that the youngster could even get better, and ultimately become the most unstoppable player in the league, if he could develop his shooting.
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“If he ever gets any type of jump shot he’s going to be deadly,” McHale once said of MJ.
McHale admired MJ’s competitive spirit
It’s no secret that Jordan and the Bulls used to suffer devastating defeats in the hands of the Celtics back in the ’80s. As he looked back at those lopsided battles, McHale couldn’t help but acknowledge the unwavering competitive spirit of young MJ.
According to Kevin, he was surprised to see how competitive Jordan was every time they faced him. He was baffled and impressed at the same time with how MJ managed to stay driven and fueled all throughout the game despite the Bulls losing terribly.
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For McHale, it’s one of the things that he truly admired about Jordan as a player. In fact, he still vividly recalls his reaction to MJ’s performances every time the Celtics torched the Bulls.
“The story I remember the most is they had a bad Chicago team and we’d be beating them to an inch of their life and he’d be playing like it was a tied game,” McHale added of Jordan. “I remember going to the locker room after those games and saying, ‘Man, that kid competes. He really competes hard and gets after it… I admired that. I liked him because he competed so hard. He was unique on a bad Chicago team.”
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McHale also knows how to stop Jordan
After a few years, McHale turned out to be right with his prediction about Jordan. Over the years, MJ gradually improved his shooting and became the most dominant player in the league.
However, Jordan isn’t the only exceptional player in McHale’s book. Apart from MJ, he also witnessed the undeniable greatness of Magic Johnson and his former Celtics co-star Larry Bird.
Like Mike, Magic and Bird were also on another level in terms of overall attributes. However, McHale once revealed the biggest differences between the three iconic NBA figures.
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As it turns out, McHale knew what made Jordan unstoppable, as well as the only way he could be stopped. As per Kevin, Jordan couldn’t dominate the game if he couldn’t take more than 10 shots which wasn’t the case with Johnson and Bird.
“Here’s the difference between those guys, and I saw it many, many times,” explained McHale. “Larry and Magic could control the game by taking 10 shots. They’d have 17 points, 15 rebounds, 12 assists, 4 steals if you got Michael Jordan take 10 shots, you control him.”
McHale’s thorough assessments of Jordan’s skills and tendencies sounded interesting. Truth be told, his takes on MJ’s game are worth weighing in and sure enough, it would spark some passionate debate among fans. In the end, what remains a fact is that Jordan was indeed talented, competitive and at one point, unstoppable.
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This story was originally reported by Basketball Network on Aug 24, 2025, where it first appeared in the Old School section. Add Basketball Network as a Preferred Source by clicking here.