Mike McKay (basketball)

Michael George "Mike" McKay (born 15 October 1965 in Adelaide, South Australia) is a retired Australian professional basketball player who played most of his career with the Adelaide 36ers in the National Basketball League (NBL), winning the 1986 championship with the team. He also played for the West Adelaide Bearcats (with whom he started his NBL career in 1983), Brisbane Bullets, Canberra Cannons, Wollongong Hawks and was a frequent member of the Australian boomers during the late 1980s and early 1990s, including being part of the national team at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona.

Professional career

Mike McKay started his professional career with the West Adelaide Bearcats in 1983. Along with fellow Bearcat players Al Green, Moscow Olympian Peter Ali and veteran guard Ray Wood, the then 19-year-old joined the Adelaide 36ers in 1985 after the Bearcats pulled out of the NBL at the end of 1984. Under the coaching of his former Bearcats coach Ken Cole, McKay helped the 36ers, now Adelaide's sole representative in the NBL, to its first Grand Final appearance in 1985. The 36ers lost the Grand Final to the Brisbane Bullets 95–120 at the Sleeman Sports Centre in Brisbane, but McKay would go on to win the NBL's Rookie of the Year award, becoming the first 36ers player ever to do so. McKay played all 28 games in 1985, averaging 12.9 points, 3.4 rebounds and 1.3 assists. He won the Rookie of the Year award despite already having played 38 games for West Adelaide in 1983 and 1984.

Coached by Ken Cole, the 36ers would win their first NBL championship in 1986. After compiling a 24–2 record during the regular season, including going 13–0 at their home court, the Apollo Stadium (the first NBL side to go through a regular season unbeaten at home), the 36ers would reverse the 1985 GF result with a three-game series win over the Bullets. Game 2 of the series saw Adelaide's only defeat of the season at home with the Bullets pulling off an upset 104–83 win. McKay, who suffered a serious knee injury during the year and was forced to miss some 10 weeks, would go on to win his first (and only) NBL Championship after the 36ers defeated the Bullets 113–91 in Game 3 of the series at Apollo in front of a full house of some 3,000 fans, among them the then Premier of South Australia, John Bannon.

Early on, McKay earned the nickname "Mad Max" for sometimes not being able to control his emotions on the basketball court (he was labelled a 'hot head' by some commentators, most notably by Brisbane based television commentator Gary Fleet after his clashes with Leroy Loggins during the 1986 Grand Final series, though Fleet was also quick to give his admiration for McKay's skill as a player). Often his lack of control was to the detriment of his performance early in his career.

Following the championship win, coach Ken Cole was sacked by the 36ers for off court drama's which had taken place during the 1986 season, and he was replaced by American Gary Fox. Early in the 1987 season while attempting a bonding session for the players, Fox put the 1986 Championship trophy in the centre of the court at Apollo Stadium and had the players gather around it in a group hug while telling them that the trophy was what the other NBL teams were trying to take from them. McKay, thinking it was all too serious, started doing the hokey pokey. While it broke the tension and brought laughter from his team mates who also thought it was a bit too serious, his actions failed to impress Fox.

McKay would continue to be a star performer for the 36ers until the end of the 1995 NBL season, playing in losing semi-finals in 1987 (Perth Wildcats), 1988 (Canberra Cannons), 1989 (Perth) (all under Fox) and 1995 (Perth), as well as the losing 1994 GF Series against the North Melbourne Giants (under the coaching of Mike Dunlap). He joined the Brisbane Bullets in 1996 where he would win the NBL's inaugural Best Sixth Man award in his first year away from Adelaide. He played two seasons with the Bullets before moving on to two years with the Canberra Cannons (1998–99). After the 1999–2000 NBL season with the Wollongong Hawks, McKay retired from the NBL having played 448 games and averaging 12.7 points during his career.^[1]

International career

Mike McKay first won selection for the Australian Boomers in 1989 and went on to represent his country at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain. He was also a member of the Boomers who reached the quarter-finals at both the 1990 and 1994 FIBA Basketball World Cup, finishing 7th in 1990 in Argentina and 5th in 1994 in Canada.^[2]

Media

Starting in the 2012-13 NBL season, Mike McKay is an expert commentator for the NBL's online game streaming subscription service NBL.TV at Adelaide 36ers home games at the Adelaide Arena.

NBL career stats

References

External links

• Profile at Eurobasket.com