Nevitt Stars in This League, but He Misses Lakers’ Bench

There was a Chuck Nevitt sighting the other night at Ventura College.

The gangly, 7-foot-5 center was seen wearing No. 40 for the Rapid City Thrillers, a Continental Basketball Assn. team playing against the Santa Barbara Islanders in a playoff game. Best remembered for not playing when he was a Laker in the mid-1980s, Nevitt is a starter for the Thrillers.

The well-traveled Nevitt has also had stops in Detroit and Houston. The Rockets released him late last fall, and he was signed by the Thrillers with six games left in the regular season. His rebounding--he has the highest average on the team--and presence in the middle helped the South Dakota team beat the Islanders and advance to the CBA finals against the La Crosse (Wis.) Catbirds.

Nevitt, 31, isn’t quite sure whether playing for the Thrillers is better than warming the bench for the Lakers. The Forum fans made him something of a cult figure, and he misses that.

“I don’t know how I attained the support that I did in L.A.,” he said. “The crowd was supportive and lenient even though I didn’t play up to Laker standards. But in their eyes, I couldn’t do any wrong.”

The differences between the CBA and the big time? Double rooms. Economy class. “And a lot of people in the different cities never even heard of the CBA or think it’s the Canadian Basketball Assn.,” Nevitt said. “But the desire and effort and style of the players are pretty much the same.”

After the CBA season, Nevitt will rejoin his wife in Houston, and wait for the phone to ring.