Joe Kleine

For the journalist, see Joe Klein. For similarly named people, see Joe Klein (disambiguation).

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.

Joe Kleine

Kleine, circa 1986
Personal information
Born	(1962-01-04) January 4, 1962 Colorado Springs, Colorado, U.S.
Listed height	6 ft 11 in (2.11 m)
Listed weight	255 lb (116 kg)
Career information
High school	Slater (Slater, Missouri)
College	Notre Dame (1980–1981) Arkansas (1982–1985)
NBA draft	1985: 1st round, 6th overall pick
Selected by the Sacramento Kings
Playing career	1985–2000
Position	Center
Number	35, 53
Coaching career	2007–2015
Career history
As player:
1985–1989	Sacramento Kings
1989–1993	Boston Celtics
1993–1997	Phoenix Suns
1997	Los Angeles Lakers
1997	New Jersey Nets
1997–1998	Chicago Bulls
1999	Phoenix Suns
1999–2000	Portland Trail Blazers
As coach:
2007–2015	Little Rock (assistant)
Career highlights and awards
NBA champion (1998) First-team All-SWC (1985) Second-team Parade All-American (1980)
Career NBA statistics
Points	4,666 (4.8 ppg)
Rebounds	3,991 (4.1 rpg)
Stats at NBA.com
Stats at Basketball Reference
Medals Men's basketball Representing the United States Olympic Games 1984 Los Angeles Team competition World Championships 1982 Colombia Team competition

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. 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."

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.

Movie appearance

Kleine appeared in the 1996 movie Eddie as himself.

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

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

External links

• Career Statistics at Basketball Reference
• Hog Greats