Xavier McDaniel recalls his early matchups with Patrick Ewing and Hakeem Olajuwon

Xavier McDaniel was known as someone who could deal with physicality. He had his share of that when he was with the Wichita State Shockers and knew it would continue in the NBA. When he officially played his first game as a pro with the Seattle Supersonics , McDaniel got a taste of it. He admits that the players he went up against were a lot more physical. He got a dose of that when he tried to guard Akeem Olajuwon of the Houston Rockets.

" Everybody is a lot stronger. Tonight, Akeem (Olajuwon) moved me out underneath like I was a piece of paper," the 4th overall pick of the 1985 NBA Draft said via UPI .

The Rockets went on to win that game, 111-99. McDaniel would have a good debut, finishing the game with 20 points 6 rebounds, and 2 assists in 33 minutes of action.

X-Man blossoms

That first game performance of McDaniel against the Rockets was a sign of things to come. He started in 80 of the Sonics' 82 games and put up big numbers in his rookie season.

He ended that year with 17.2 points, 8.0 rebounds, 2.4 assists, and 1.2 steals in 33 minutes of action per contest. With that impressive showing, McDaniel finished second in the Rookie of the Year race with Patrick Ewing of the New York Knicks, who eventually won it.

When that was made official, McDaniel was hardly bothered by it. He admits that he expected the Georgetown product to win it anyway.

"I always felt he was going to win the award anyhow. Regardless of what I did this year, I felt he was going to win it," the 6-foot-7 forward said in another article via UPI .

Off-court troubles

Despite having a stellar rookie year, McDaniel was not spared from off-court problems. He was arrested in March 1986 on an assault charge following an altercation with his wife. As a result, X agreed to a year of supervised probation to avoid prosecution for a misdemeanor per the New York Times .

Regardless, this did not deter his NBA performance. McDaniel continued to improve with each season, earning All-Star status by his third year in the league. In his 6 seasons with Seattle, 'Mountain Man' owned career averages of 20.7 points, 7.0 rebounds, 2.5 assists, and 1.2 steals in 408 regular season games.

X-Man faded after Seattle stint

Aside from the Supersonics, McDaniel also had stints with the Phoenix Suns, New York Knicks, Boston Celtics, and the New Jersey Nets. Unfortunately, the X-Man's game started deteriorating after leaving Seattle.

He was never able to recall his old form, struggling to blend in with the other teams he ended up with. Xavier would retire after the 1997-98 season.

Related: "I thought we was friends MF. You f***ing dunk on me and stare at me" - 'X-Man' recalls Manute hitting him after he posterized the legendary big man