Chiefs’ Gonzalez impresses NBA’s Heat

? There’s no running with the ball and tackling is forbidden, but Kansas City Chiefs tight end Tony Gonzalez impressed the Miami Heat enough to make the team’s first summer league camp.

Gonzalez completed his first week of practice Monday, graduating to summer camp starting today in Orlando.

“He would have made our team if he was just another guy, so why would you cut him just because he’s a football player?” assistant coach Stan Van Gundy said. “He earned his way, plain and simple.”

A Pro Bowl tight end, Gonzalez is demanding that the Chiefs pay him as a wide receiver and not a tight end, one of the lowest-paid positions in the NFL.

In three years of college basketball at California, Gonzalez averaged 6.4 points and 4.3 rebounds a game as a forward. He has said he will not give up football, but is serious about playing for the Heat.

“I had a pretty good camp,” Gonzalez said. “I did what I wanted to do out here. These guys gave me a chance and hopefully I was able to come out here and prove that I could do it.”