October 3, 1984
KITE'S JUST LOOKING FOR A LITTLE RESPECT
Greg Kite's rookie season was an all-expenses-paid tour through NBA America . . . and little else.
Kite told his friends to get to games early if they wanted to see him play. Real early - like, before the end of warmups.
Garbage time was For the Benefit of Mr. Kite. He was a Maytag repairman who kidded about his prospects in the race for fewest minutes by any NBA player. For a while, he threatened to become the first player in history to accumulate more personal fouls than points, but he finished with 65 points and 42 fouls.
Kite never lost his sense of humor and never stopped working in practice. By the end of the season, he was getting a few meaningful minutes. In April, May and June he got into 11 playoff games and tangled with some of the NBA's best.
The Celtics have always liked Kite. They like his size (6 feet 11, 250), his intellect, and his attitude. Red Auerbach thinks Kite is the most improved player in camp this year. "He looks a lot better," says Auerbach. "You can see he has more confidence."
Like Carlos Clark, another rarely employed rookie during the championship season, Kite gets little respect outside of the Hellenic College gym. Here (in part) is the thumbnail sketch on Kite in this year's "Complete Handbook of Pro Basketball" - "The latest in a line of ineffective white backup centers at Boston . . . Showed nothing in rookie season to disprove cynics who figured him to be too slow for the pros . . . Probably shouldn't have been a first- round pick in 1983 . . . Nobody said he was dumb, he just can't play this game."
Kite is realistic about his potential and his limitations. "I came out of college (6 points and 7.6 rebounds per game at Brigham Young) not being that highly thought of by a lot of people," he admits. "My college career ended on a down note. I needed to work on a few things last year, and I've done that. With hard work and patience, I can be a decent player.
"It's going to take some time. I'm not necessarily a starter or an All- Star or anything like that, but I can be a capable NBA center. I'm never going to be a Ralph Sampson or a Kareem Abdul-Jabbar or Robert Parish. I don't have the tools they have, but there's guys I can model myself after - guys like Jeff Ruland or Bill Laimbeer or Bob Lanier."
The Celtics hope Kite can be a serviceable backup center capable of spelling Parish and keeping Kevin McHale in the corner when McHale can do the most damage.
"I prefer to have Kevin strictly as a forward," admits coach K.C. Jones. "Teams dream of having Kevin in the middle so they can have their center take him down low and get him in foul trouble. Kite can be important to us if he can fill that middle when I need him."
Jones was glad to see Kite take some instruction from Pete Newell this summer. Kite also impressed the brass by showing up for rookie camp and outplaying Winfred King and other rookie hopefuls. Still, The Project has a long way to go.
"I want to see more rebounding and defense and passes," says Jones. "His offense I don't need."
"I imagine they'll look at me now to see if I can handle myself in the exhibition games," says Kite. "If I start to get a few minutes here and there, maybe it'll pick up from there."
General manager Jan Volk reports no contact with agents for Cedric Maxwell and Gerald Henderson. It's beginning to look as if the Celtics are content to let the two starters sit out for a while . . . Danny Ainge suffered a strained groin muscle and did not practice yesterday.
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