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Todd Macculloch may not be a name synonymous with
NBA success, but for a period of time in the early 2000’s he was a big part of
some very good teams. His numbers were never eye-popping, but he was a
consistent contributor to two Finals-bound teams, and enjoyed four solid
seasons before a chronic foot condition forced him into an early retirement.
Most notably, he was a member of the most recent
Sixer team to make it as far as the Finals, serving as a backup to Dikembe
Mutombo. Recently, Todd sat down with Steven
LeBron Radio to discuss his time in the NBA, playing with Allen Iverson,
and his career as a pinball player.
It’s always good to hear from Todd, check out some
highlights of what he had to say, and be sure to check out the full podcast at Steven
LeBron radio.
On
his love of NBA socks: “I miss the super soft NBA socks
more than anything. NBA socks are the best things ever I’ve tried to buy them
ocks through Eastbay and it’s just not the same.”
On
if he ever played hockey growing up in Canada: “Absolutely,
growing up in Winnipeg, that’s just what everyone is playing. I pretty much
only played hockey up until about age 11 or 12. Hockey was everything. But I
decided I didn’t want to be a professional at age 11, so I quit hockey before
body-checking started. I wanted to try out everything, and not just focus on
one game.”
Now, on to some Sixers stuff:
On
how team morale was coming off of the summer where Iverson was almost traded to
Detroit: ‘Team morale was okay starting the season after A.I.
was almost traded. Basically, Matt Geiger had the no-trade clause in his
contract and decided to use it. I think the trade would have happened if he
didn’t opt to use it.”
On
how Iverson felt after almost being traded: “I don’t think
that sat too well with Allen that they maybe wanted to move him, so that maybe
lit a fire under him to want to show that he belonged in Philadelphia and that
we could be a championship team. I don’t know how it affected him personally,
but I’ve been traded before so I know what that feels like.”
On
finally overcoming Indiana in the 2001 Playoffs: “I
think the [Sixers] had made it to the second round and lost the year before my
rookie season. Then my rookie year we lost in the second round to Indiana. I
think it was Indiana that beat us the year before too. So, there was a feeling
that, this is a good Indiana team, and while it’s great that we’re making the
playoffs, we’re tired of getting so far and being outed.
“So I think guys had a goal right from the start of
the season, we have to take care of business, we have to get home court. So
that second season we jumped out to a 10-0 start on the season. In playoff
series it’s really nice to have that 7th game, should it get there,
be at home. You got a much better chance of winning that game at home. After we
beat Indiana in that first series, I remember Iverson saying that we finally
got that monkey off our back.”
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| Image from probasketballtalk.com |
On
the energy of the 2001 Toronto series: “There was a lot of
excitement in both buildings for that series. It was like twenty years since
the last Philadelphia title, and the city was really feeling like this was a
chance. What you had was two really good teams having one of their best seasons
in recent history, and you had a feeling it was going to come down to the last
game.”
“Iverson was really playing out of his mind.
Obviously he had a great career, but he would really pick it up during playoff
time. It’s pretty remarkable to be able to step up your game when you’re
already playing at an extremely high level. The building in Toronto was insane,
the building in Philly was insane, and I’m really glad we got to have game 7
back home. There was a lot of electricity, you couldn’t hear anything. That was
a very memorable series, I got to see it all, I don’t think I touched the
court, so I just got to root on my team and got a pretty good look from the
bench.”
“It was a special thing to be in Philly during all
that excitement.”
On
how he ended up on the Nets: Personally I had a
decent showing in Game 2 of the 2001 Finals against L.A., which didn’t really
help us too much to continue that series and lengthen it, but I think it helped
gain some interest in some GM’s about where I was going to be the next season,
and the Nets gave me the best offer.”
“I didn’t really want to leave Philadelphia, I loved
it there, I loved the situation, we had just come off of an amazing season and
I wanted to be part of that again. There was this sense that we got all the way
to the Finals, and if we get the core together, you know, I wanted to be a part
of that. Part of being a restricted free agent is that you can go out and get
the best offer you possibly can, and in this case the Sixers had two weeks to
match it. So ideally I wanted to go out and get the best offer I could and have
the Sixers match it, unfortunately they weren’t able to retain me.”
On
playing for back-to-back Finals teams: “I think I started to
get spoiled thinking that this is something routine. Now a lot of time has
passed and I look back and realize how lucky I am to not only have gone to the
Finals once, but twice, and with two different teams, especially when you think
about that there’s guys that have had fifteen year careers and never made it to
the playoffs, or never made it out of the first round; I feel very lucky.”
On
the timing of his retirement: “It was tough. I was
really starting to get my confidence, and I felt like my teammates and coaches
were starting to get their confidence in me, and to have my career go at that
time was extremely difficult, and it still continues to be something I think
about probably too much. I felt like I had another good ten years, and I’m sad
for all of the experiences and relationships, and just being part of a team,
that I missed out on. I didn’t realize how important being part of a team was
to me, and I miss it.”
On
his transition to pinball: “To me it is a really addictive
hobby, and I started it long ago. I grew up in a great time for pinball; I’ve
always been around the game and enjoyed it. When I was signed by the Nets we
got a nice house and the basement was pretty empty, so I figured it was a good
time to get those games that I always liked. I met a friend of mine who
introduced me to the world of competitive pinball and it just really clicked
for me. I was missing the camaraderie
for basketball and a team event so I joined a couple of pinball leagues.”
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