Monday, February 13, 2006
Word of the Day: Black Hole
By Basketbawful at 8:20 AM
2 comments


Black Hole (blak hol) noun. A player who, after receiving the basketball, rarely -- if ever -- passes it back to his teammates.

Usage example: Kobe Bryant is a Black Hole; his teammates know that once they pass him the ball, they're never going to see it again.

Word History: Kevin McHale was a low post genius, not to mention one of the best percentage shooters in NBA history. His career field goal percentage of 55.4 ranks as the 9th best of all time, and during the 1986-87 season he became the only player to ever shoot better than 60 percent from the field and 80 percent from the line (60.4 FGPct and 83.6 FTPct, respectively). What makes these accomplishments even more amazing is the fact that McHale often encountered aggressive, trapping defenses specifically designed to limit his touches. However, McHale only averaged 1.7 assists per game over his 13-year career, and his Celtics teammates sometimes wondered why McHale rarely passed out of the double and triple-teams he regularly faced. Danny Ainge finally began calling him "The Black Hole," referring to those regions of space that have a gravitational field so intense even light cannot escape. As Ainge once said, "When the ball goes in [to McHale], it doesn't come back out."

Black Hole
Do a Google image search for "Kevin McHale".
You won't find a picture of him passing.
2 Comments:
Blogger atma brother #1 said...
How does this guy still have a job? Really how hard is it to build around KG?

He looked depressed when he played the Dubs the other week:
http://www.goldenstateofmind.com/story/2006/2/5/131148/3454

Golden State of Mind
2/13/2006 9:04 PM  
Blogger Unknown said...
the statistics changed and now he is 10th..
9/02/2008 8:33 PM  
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