Creating an Image of Pride : Pro basketball: Clippers’ Kimble is striving to be perceived like his hero--Julius Erving.

Two years ago, he played in relative obscurity, known mostly to close followers of college basketball and some in Southern California, and then as the second-most publicized player at Loyola Marymount, behind his best friend who led the NCAA in scoring and rebounding.

Then the best friend died, and people started to learn more about Greg (Bo) Kimble. He was regarded by scouts as a better pro prospect than Hank Gathers anyway, but the spring of 1990 gave Kimble an unexpected and unique showcase. Thrust into the spotlight of March Madness in a way most could only dream of--but that none would have wanted under the circumstances--he flourished.

No, he starred, and not just on the basketball court. Kimble became a spokesman for his teammates, able and available to dissect the emotions stirred by Gathers’ sudden death. To the nation as a whole, not just basketball fans, he embodied heroic characteristics--talent, courage and sensitivity--as Loyola reached the round of eight in the NCAA tournament.

From this came pressure. Last season’s heroics led to great expectations. Most figured that he would be doing better than shooting 40%, including a confidence-testing 11 of 40 (27.5%) during his last six games for the Clippers in his adopted hometown of Los Angeles.

There were other expectations, as well, though, and in the last few months, Kimble’s has become a choreographed rise in the public consciousness, a plotted approach to shaping perceptions.

A four-person committee, headed by the 24-year-old Kimble, wants to build an image for him similar to those of Michael Jordan and Orel Hershiser, and they want America to believe it. Steps are being taken to that end.

“But it’s not like someone is trying to create an image that isn’t the way things are,” said David Spencer, a former assistant coach who once successfully recruited Kimble and Gathers from Philadelphia to USC, where they spent their freshman years before transferring to Loyola. Spencer remains among Kimble’s closest friends.

“On one hand, we want to project that he is a clean-cut guy who is good looking and articulate and nice to people,” Spencer said. “But that is the way he is.”

Perception isn’t always reality, though. Kimble, agent Leonard Armato, Norma Kobrin, the vice president of marketing at Management Plus, and Spencer have ground rules for building an image.

Drinking alcohol in public is like putting up a wild shot, they say. Kimble, who occasionally has wine with dinner, has to be careful when he does it.

“He might enjoy a glass of wine once in a while,” said Spencer, the director of client development for Management Plus. “We’re not talking getting drunk or drinking the whole bottle. But you see that in public, and people go, ‘Ah, hah. Bo Kimble’s getting ripped.’

” . . . If he’s out and wants to have a drink, I just want him to make sure it’s in a real classy restaurant and he is not right out in front.”

A concerted effort will be made to have Kimble in a suit and tie whenever he does a television interview, unless it’s just before or right after a game, this in hopes that someday advertisers will not see his image as a businessman as Bo-gus. To this end, Spencer has recently passed along articles in national magazines on the entrepreneurial skills of Jordan and Magic Johnson. Recommended reading for the client.

In private, Kimble can be the center of attention, laughing and loudly singing and dancing to M.C. Hammer.

“But at a club, I wouldn’t dance,” he said. “If I do, it wouldn’t be to something wild like M.C. Hammer. Not that that’s wrong.

“But what I don’t want is people seeing that and thinking Bo is a wild guy. It’s not a wild dance; I’d describe it as energetic. But if I dance that way, people might say I’m a party animal. That’s where the fine line comes in.”

Image time. Image, image, image. If he is erring in taking on guidelines that might seem overly restrictive, he would rather land on the side of caution.

“First and foremost, I always represent the city of Philadelphia,” said Kimble, who returns to his hometown for the first time as a pro tonight when the Clippers play the 76ers.

“A lot of people know I come from there, and I’m proud of it. It’s where it all started, and this image I want to have is the Dr. J image. I grew up wanting to be Dr. J. A lot of athletes have success but, not to take anything away from them, there isn’t any player who had more class on and off the court than (Julius Erving).

“I don’t want to give people the opportunity to misjudge any situation. When you’re in the public eye, you can always be misjudged. There are so many things. You can be there with your cousin and give her a hug and a kiss when you say goodby. But people see that and to them, Bo Kimble is trying to pick up a girl in the hotel.”

There will also be restrictions on what endorsements he will do. No alcohol. No cigarettes. No junk food . . . unless someone is willing to make it worth Management Plus’ while.

Though the athlete can let fly an S-word or two without blushing, Bo Inc. does not want Kimble to appear in any movie in which he would be called on to cuss. Had his first role, “Heaven is a Playground,” required any bad language, Spencer might have asked for a minor rewrite.

What all this is supposed to turn into, besides image, is marketability. Advisers would like to put Kimble, who has also co-authored a book on his relationship with Gathers, with what they say are wholesome products. Hello, Dairy Advisory Board?

At the same time, there are possibilities for a shoe deal, the most likely agreement on the horizon and probably the only one Kimble would sign during the season because of time constraints.

Additionally, Spencer, whom Kimble refers to as a combination consultant and father figure, has been saving the addresses from the 100 or so letters a week sent through Management Plus. The people who sent them will be first on the mailing list when that planned basketball camp opens some day.

“But if he plays the way he did the last two weeks, he’ll be lucky to be invited to someone else’s camp,” Spencer said. “If he plays like he did in the years before, he’ll be fine.”

These, of course, are not original commercial ideas. But these guys are just warming up.

Come the off-season, Kimble may take Spanish lessons in an attempt to become one of the few NBA players to tap into what has been a very lucrative market for baseball players, especially in Los Angeles.

Spencer also wants him to work on elocution to become an even better public speaker. And for that day when David Stern pushes all the way to Moscow for a franchise, Kimble can fall back on the Russian classes he took for a year while a freshman at USC.

Just as long as the commercial isn’t for vodka.