On this day in Boston Celtics history, champion reserve big man Gregory Fuller Kite would be born in Houston, Texas in 1961. Kite began playing the sport at age 10 for a local YWCA team and grew to 6-foot-10 by the age of 15. He would play his collegiate basketball for the Brigham Young University Cougars after being recruited by major programs like Duke, Kentucky, and UCLA, where he played with future Boston teammates Danny Ainge and Fred Roberts.
Kite would have the luck to be drafted by the Celtics with the 21st overall pick of the 1983 NBA draft, where he was reunited with Roberts and Ainge.
“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,” he explained.
“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,” Kite added.
The BYU alum 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.
Finally, it is also the date that the Celtics crushed the Brooklyn Nets 149-115 in the Orlando bubble in their fourth game back from the pandemic-induced pause.
Boston was led by Jaylen Brown (21 points), Jayson Tatum (19 points), and Gordon Hayward (18 points, 7 rebounds), with Robert Williams III adding 18 points, 5 rebounds, and 3 blocks off of the bench.
“I should have been contesting more shots,” offered Williams after the game via the AP.
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