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Joe Kleine
Kleine, circa 1986
Personal information
Born (1962-01-04) January 4, 1962 (age 62)
Colorado Springs, Colorado, U.S.
Listed height6 ft 11 in (2.11 m)
Listed weight255 lb (116 kg)
Career information
High schoolSlater ( Slater, Missouri)
College
NBA draft 1985: 1st round, 6th overall pick
Selected by the Sacramento Kings
Playing career1985–2000
Position Center
Number35, 53
Coaching career2007–2015
Career history
As player:
19851989 Sacramento Kings
19891993 Boston Celtics
19931997 Phoenix Suns
1997 Los Angeles Lakers
1997 New Jersey Nets
1997–1998 Chicago Bulls
1999Phoenix Suns
1999–2000 Portland Trail Blazers
As coach:
2007–2015 Little Rock (assistant)
Career highlights and awards
Career NBA statistics
Points4,666 (4.8 ppg)
Rebounds3,991 (4.1 rpg)
Stats  Edit this at Wikidata at NBA.com
Stats  Edit this at Wikidata at Basketball-Reference.com
Medals
Men’s basketball
Representing the   United States
Olympic Games
Gold medal – first place 1984 Los Angeles Team competition
World Championships
Silver medal – second place 1982 Colombia Team competition

Joseph William Kleine (born January 4, 1962) is an American former professional basketball player who played fifteen seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA) and for the US national team. He won a gold medal as a member of the United States men's basketball team at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. In 1998, he won the NBA championship as a member of the Chicago Bulls. Kleine is now a restaurant proprietor, owning a number of successful Corky's Ribs & BBQ restaurants.

College career

Kleine, a seven-foot center, graduated from Slater High School in Slater, Missouri and originally enrolled to play basketball at the University of Notre Dame. After his freshman season, Kleine transferred to the University of Arkansas where he played alongside Darrell Walker and Alvin Robertson, who, like Kleine, would go on to have productive professional careers.

Kleine's first season at Arkansas, he helped the Razorbacks to a 26–4 record, finish second in the Southwest Conference (SWC), and make the second round of the NCAA Tournament. His junior season, Kleine helped Arkansas to a record of 25–7, another second place finish in the SWC, and a first round loss in the NCAA Tournament. The biggest victory of the season came on February 12, 1984 at the Convention Center in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, when Kleine helped the Razorbacks upset the #1 ranked North Carolina Tarheels, led by Michael Jordan, thanks to a basket by teammate Charles Balentine at the end of the game. Kleine finished that game with 20 points and 10 rebounds. As a senior in the 1984–85 season, Kleine was named 1st Team All-SWC. Arkansas (22–13) finished second in the SWC for the third year in a row, and a second round loss in the NCAA Tournament. During his career at Arkansas, Kleine's most memorable games were against fellow center Hakeem Olajuwon and the University of Houston. Olajuwon was nicknamed "The Dream", while Kleine was known as "The Nightmare".

Professional career

Kleine was selected by the Sacramento Kings with the sixth pick in the 1985 NBA draft. Kleine went on to a fifteen-year NBA career, playing with the Kings as well as the Boston Celtics, Phoenix Suns, Los Angeles Lakers, New Jersey Nets, Chicago Bulls, and Portland Trail Blazers. Kleine played on teams with legendary NBA players Michael Jordan, Charles Barkley, Larry Bird, Kevin McHale, Robert Parish, Scottie Pippen, and Dennis Rodman. He won an NBA championship in 1998, as a center, for a Chicago Bulls team that included Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, Dennis Rodman, and Steve Kerr.

His best season was with the Kings in 1987–88, when he averaged 9.8 PPG. At the time of his retirement from the NBA, he'd scored 4,666 points, had 3,991 total rebounds, and had scored 849 free throws out of 1,069 attempts.

National team career

Kleine played for the US national team in the 1982 FIBA World Championship, winning the silver medal. [1] Along with his college teammate Robertson, he also won a gold medal as a member of the 1984 U.S. Olympic basketball team coached by Bob Knight. Sportswriter Jon Goode would later write that "Joe Kleine was never a star, but what made Kleine great was that he accepted his role and was ready to play every night." [2]

Coaching career

After coaching AAU and high school basketball in Little Rock and serving as an analyst for Arkansas basketball games, Kleine was hired as an assistant coach at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock in 2007. [3]

Movie appearance

Kleine appeared in the 1996 movie Eddie as himself. [4]

Career statistics

Legend
  GP Games played   GS  Games started  MPG  Minutes per game
 FG%  Field goal percentage  3P%  3-point field goal percentage  FT%  Free throw percentage
 RPG  Rebounds per game  APG  Assists per game  SPG  Steals per game
 BPG  Blocks per game  PPG  Points per game  Bold  Career high
 †  Won an NBA championship

NBA

Source [5]

Regular season

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
1985–86 Sacramento 80 18 14.8 .465 .723 4.7 .6 .3 .4 5.2
1986–87 Sacramento 79 31 21.0 .471 .000 .786 6.1 .9 .4 .4 7.9
1987–88 Sacramento 82 60 24.4 .472 .814 7.1 1.1 .3 .7 9.8
1988–89 Sacramento 47 11 19.4 .383 .000 .920 5.1 .7 .4 .4 6.7
1988–89 Boston 28 2 17.8 .457 .000 .828 4.9 1.1 .5 .2 6.1
1989–90 Boston 81 4 16.9 .480 .000 .830 4.4 .6 .2 .3 5.4
1990–91 Boston 72 1 11.8 .468 .000 .783 3.4 .3 .2 .2 3.6
1991–92 Boston 70 3 14.2 .491 .500 .708 4.2 .5 .3 .2 4.7
1992–93 Boston 78 3 14.5 .404 .000 .707 4.4 .5 .2 .2 3.3
1993–94 Phoenix 74 4 11.5 .488 .455 .769 2.6 .6 .2 .3 3.9
1994–95 Phoenix 75 42 12.6 .449 .000 .857 3.5 .5 .2 .2 3.7
1995–96 Phoenix 56 9 11.8 .420 .286 .800 2.4 .8 .2 .1 2.9
1996–97 Phoenix 23 10 15.9 .400 1.000 .722 3.5 .5 .4 .3 3.4
1996–97 L.A. Lakers 8 0 3.8 .250 1.000 1.1 .0 .0 .0 .8
1996–97 New Jersey 28 0 16.2 .427 .500 .722 4.1 .8 .3 .4 3.0
1997–98 Chicago 46 1 8.6 .368 .833 1.7 .7 .1 .1 2.0
1998–99 Phoenix 31 5 12.1 .405 .000 .667 2.2 .4 .3 .0 2.2
1999–00 Portland 7 0 4.4 .364 1.000 .9 .3 .1 .0 1.6
Career 965 204 15.2 .453 .271 .794 4.1 .6 .3 .3 4.8

Playoffs

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
1986 Sacramento 3 0 15.0 .385 .833 4.7 .3 .3 .3 5.0
1989 Boston 3 0 21.7 .545 .000 .778 5.7 .7 .0 .3 6.3
1990 Boston 5 0 15.8 .765 .000 .833 2.8 .4 .4 .6 6.2
1991 Boston 5 1 6.2 .444 2.2 .2 .0 .0 1.6
1992 Boston 9 0 9.1 .409 .000 1.000 2.4 .1 .0 .1 2.2
1993 Boston 4 0 7.3 .600 1.3 .0 .0 .3 1.5
1994 Phoenix 8 0 10.1 .429 .667 2.1 .4 .1 .5 3.5
1995 Phoenix 10 10 16.7 .574 .500 3.1 .8 .5 .3 6.3
1996 Phoenix 2 0 4.0 .000 .5 .0 .5 .0 .0
1999 Phoenix 1 0 5.0 .500 1.0 .0 1.0 1.0 2.0
Career 50 11 11.8 .515 .200 .793 2.7 .4 .2 .3 3.8

References

  1. ^ 1982 USA Basketball Archived June 8, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
  2. ^ Jon Goode (April 14, 2005). "Better than average Joe". Boston.com. Retrieved February 9, 2020.
  3. ^ "Joe Kleine Bio". Archived from the original on August 9, 2014. Retrieved January 4, 2013.
  4. ^ Kyle Newport (August 13, 2014). "Former NBA Player Joe Kleine Received $0.38 Check for His Role in 'Eddie'". Bleacher Report. Retrieved February 9, 2020.
  5. ^ "Joe Kleine". Basketball Reference. Sports Reference. Retrieved June 14, 2022.

External links