A Pro's Pro: McDyess Rertires

http://eye-on-basketball.blogs.cbssports.com/mcc/blogs/entry/22748484/33955467

 

McDyess is in my Top 1 of most humble, kind, friendly athletes I ever interviewed.

 

I hope he has a nice rertirement party.

 

Not a HOF, but a heck of a career in light of what happened. Never would have expected him to play another 7+ years after the back-to-back knee injuries in Denver and New York.

 

I'll always remember when McDyess was at Alabama and he dunked right in the face of this little Ole Miss point guard named (seriously) Edmund Fitzgerald. When asked about the "Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald," McDyess said:

"Heh, heh ... little white boy got in my way ... and I just had to dunk on him."

 

The legend lives on from the Rebels on down....

 

McDyess was one of the many, many greats that came from the Mississippi prep ranks and went out of state.
He was all set to go to MSU, but decided at the 11th hour to attend Alabama.
McDyess became more and more humble as his pro career evolved. He was always straight-up when they'd interview him here in San Antonio.
Great career comes to an end. It reminds me of another Tide alum, Robert Horry, in terms of just keeping on going and going and going ...

 

I'd probably say McDyess was the best Crimson Tide player in NBA history. I initially went with Latrell Sprewell, but McDyess was so much more efficient and versatile. And McDyess was so much better as a human being.

 

It's Sprewell and it's not close. The guy was/is a sociopath, but he made four All-Star teams.

And Gerald Wallace has a chance to surpass McDyess for second place before he's done (as does Mo Williams, perhaps).

There would be some votes for Robert Horry as well, but that's based almost solely on the postseason. He was little more than a role player on the whole.

 

An example of a guy whose draft stock exploded because of two NCAA Tournament games.

 

He peaked against Penn. A crappy draft, but that was a reach for him at No. 2

 

Especially considering Rasheed Wallace and Kevin Garnett went 4 and 5.