Let's start by discussing his Northwestern career: McKinney was a 6 foot tall guard who played from 1973-1977, which, in terms of collegiate scoring records, can best be described as after players were allowed to play four years on varsity - i.e., there was no freshman team, which kept many old-timers from holding their school records - but before the three-point shot was added, meaning some of McKinney's longer shots may have been worth more. (It seems unlikely this would be the case for McKinney - in his seven-year NBA career, he shot 3-for-48 from behind the arc, a .063 3-point shooting percentage.) He was coached all four years by the innovator of the Triangle Offense, Tex Winter, and McKinney was therefore in the Kobe/Jordan role. He wasn't as successful as Kobe or Jordan - no McKinney team finished with a winning record, the best placement in conference was seventh - but he put up some absolute numbers. McKinney led his squad in scoring all four years, yes, even as a freshman, and also led the team in assists his junior and senior years. He finished averaging 18.6 points per game and was named second-team Big Ten in each of his final three years in addition to a first-team Big Ten honor as a senior (media had him second, coaches had him first). He was a bit of a high-usage player: he also holds the records for most field goals and field goal attempts by any NU player. He doesn't hold any in-game records, but his 37 (in a 100-84 loss to Notre Dame) is tied for the eighth best game in NU history. (He also took 26 shots, the tenth most in school history.)
After college, McKinney was deemed too small for the pros, he was drafted in the sixth round - yeah, that doesn't exist anymore - by the Phoenix Suns and didn't make the team. A year later he caught on with the Kansas City Kings - yeah, that doesn't exist anymore - and played a significant role, playing in 78 games and averaging nearly eight points. After two years in KC, he would set the only record he holds in 1980-81: by being traded from a team (Utah) that had already played 35 games to one with 49 left on the schedule (Denver), McKinney played in a league-high 84 games. His time in Denver was the most successful of his career: McKinney was an occasional starter and averaged over ten points and four assists in two full seasons with Denver. However, his minutes dropped off and he didn't see much playing time in stints with the San Diego Clippers - yeah, that doesn't exist anymore - and Chicago.
After his playing career ended in Chicago, just a few miles from Welsh-Ryan, Jerry Krause brought him on-board to work in the Bulls' front office. He left in 1988 before Chicago's multiple title runs to become the head of player personnel for the fledgling Timberwolves. After getting them out to a mediocre start as a franchise, McKinney took over for the recent two time NBA champion Detroit Pistons in 1992 and promptly made a mess of things. The Pistons went from winning the title in 1990, they were 20-62 in 1993-1994. McKinney traded away a large part of the Pistons' title core and ended up with a squad based around promising prospect Grant Hill, who unfortunately had knee problems his whole time in Detroit and I have no clue how he's still in the NBA. McKinney bounced around as a scout and announcer, and since 2008 has been Director of Scouting for the Milwaukee Bucks, aka the guy they brought in after firing the living balls out of some other guy who drafted Yi Jianlian and
Joe Alexander with back-to-back first round picks.
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