RENO – Donté Greene loved the two-hour drive. The snowcapped mountains. The clear blue skies. The crisp, cool air. "I had never been over here before," the Kings rookie said early Sunday afternoon. "It's really beautiful." No, Greene's issue isn't his attitude, it's the altitude.

He has to grab a map, find his legs, catch his breath.

He has to close his mouth. That, too. Definitely that.

During his second game with the Reno Bighorns – the Kings' affiliate with the NBA Development League – the 6-foot-10 small forward was breathing so hard at one point that he yanked out his mouthpiece and almost muffed a pass. Fortunately, the ball hit him flush in the hands, and he averted further embarrassment when it ricocheted directly toward a teammate.

"I felt like I had cotton in my mouth," Greene explained afterward, sheepishly. "I was trying to breathe. I really felt the fatigue today. I didn't play in back-to-back games with the Kings, and I played 34 minutes last night and 32 today. So, whew! I'm going to go soak my body in ice. Legs, feet, everything. Then I'll be ready to get back at it."

About the mouthpiece? He was hoping no one noticed, of course. His preference is to gain attention with his performance, to benefit from the significant playing time that eluded him with the Kings, and earn gas money back to Sacramento in the near future. This week. Next week. Next month. Whenever. He has enough clean clothes for two more days, but if Geoff Petrie decides to leave him with the Bighorns for a while, Greene says he will simply drive home Tuesday and return with several more suitcases.

Just a hunch, but he should think about dressing warmly.

Greene, 20, is the perfect player for this inaugural Kings/Bighorns experiment for several reasons, not the least of which is that his skills are in definite need of, um, development. He looks like a rookie, acts like a rookie, plays like a rookie.

Except for his feathery high-arching jump – a beautiful sight when he spots up and releases the ball in rhythm – his game is raw and uncensored, uncertain and ill-defined, if undeniably intriguing.

In Sunday's victory over the Los Angeles D-Fenders, all of this occurred: Defensively, he was beaten baseline repeatedly by smaller wing players, his lateral movements sluggish, even slow. Offensively, he was stripped of his dribble four times, and he lingered on the perimeter when he should have been moving, cutting, and engaging in all those activities so heartily endorsed by Pete Carril. He wasn't as intense as some of his teammates, among them Patrick Ewing Jr., or as energetic as he was a night earlier. He needs to play harder, and play harder for longer stretches.

"I told Donté before the game that he was going to feel the altitude today, because it's his second day," said Fat Lever, the Kings' director of player development who played six seasons in the high altitude of Denver, and who scouted the game with Kings assistant Shareef Abdur-Rahim. "He has to play through it."

Yet despite his fatigue, there were promising flashes. Greene scored off a nifty one-dribble pull-up. He stretched for two rebounds during the deciding possessions. He threaded a perfect bounce pass for a layup.

"My initial impression is that Donté's a very talented player who just needs to work on a few things for the next level," Bighorns coach Jay Humphries said. "Defensively, he can improve on his positioning, understanding angles, when to go under the pick and roll, when to switch. Offensively, we haven't had time to incorporate him into what we're trying to do.

"But I've talked with Geoff, and we're going to work on those (troubled) areas. I'm just really glad to have him (Greene) here. This is what the D-League is supposed to be about."

Learning. Playing. Growing.

Getting back to the NBA. That, too.

Call The Bee's Ailene Voisin, (916) 321-1208.