On this day in 1961, former Boston Celtics champion reserve center Greg Kite was born in Houston, Texas.
Kite would play his collegiate basketball for the Brigham Young University Cougars where he played with future Boston teammates Danny Ainge and Fred Roberts, and was drafted by the Celtics with the 21st overall pick of the 1983 NBA Draft.
“That summer the Celtics traded Rick Robey to the Phoenix Suns for Dennis Johnson and a first round pick,” explained Kite in an interview with Michael McLellan of Celtics Nation.
“What that did was open up a spot for a backup center. Red Auerbach really wanted to pick Roy Hinson from Rutgers. Hinson was a heck of a player who ended up having some knee problems later on, and Roy had really long arms like Kevin McHale.
He could reach four or five inches higher than I could, even though he was only 6′-9”. So Red really wanted him and hoped he would last until the Celtics could pick, but Roy was selected by Cleveland.”
“I was the alternative,” he added.
Kite would play five seasons with Boston in a reserve role, with whom he won two championships (1984 and 1986) in that capacity.
He averaged 1.6 points and 2 rebounds per game over that stretch, waived by the team in February, 1988.
Apropos of nothing, check out Kite’s acting in this steakhouse commercial embedded above — he’s the one “eating” the lobster.
