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Barry
Barry makes sure pals won't forget
Mike Monroe - Express-News
HOUSTON — Sitting in a San Antonio restaurant for dinner one day this week, Spurs center Fabricio Oberto responded to a beep that told him he had a text message on his cell phone.
Checking the message, he discovered a cell phone photo of former Spur Brent Barry, a grin on his face and an arm around Oberto's Argentine Olympic teammate, Luis Scola.
Oberto and Manu Ginobili have not realized their dream of teaming up with Scola in the NBA, but Barry's summertime free agency decision to sign a two-year contract with the Rockets has given him an opportunity the two Spurs envy.
“Finally found an Argentine player I like,” read the text message on Oberto's phone.
“I think Fab got a good laugh out of it, even if his text back wasn't something I could share with the kids,” Barry said Friday afternoon in Houston, where Rockets coach Rick Adelman already understands that Barry is one of basketball's most astute students.
Barry, who has the NBA's keenest sense of humor, never passes a chance to needle. The better the friend, the sharper the barb. By the end of their two seasons together on the Spurs, Barry and Oberto had become guitar picking buddies and frequent concert companions.
Now, Barry is gone from the Spurs because the team wanted to get younger and had strict fiscal standards for role players beyond a certain age.
In the end, though, the choice to depart was Barry's. He had another year, at his option, on the deal he signed when he returned to the Spurs after the bizarre trade-waiver-free agency phase that spanned February and March. But he knew other teams wanted him, especially the Rockets. They had aggressively pursued him when the SuperSonics waived him following the deal that brought Kurt Thomas to the Spurs.
Spurs general manager R.C. Buford suspected Barry wanted to check the market in July because he had explored it before deciding to return to the Spurs in March. Business is business, even in basketball. Both Barry and Buford insist every conversation they had this summer was cordial.
“R.C. was very up front and amicable,” Barry recalled Friday. “He said if I wanted to come back, I could come back. If there were other opportunities I wanted to explore, he said to explore them, and we wish you the best. He said I was always welcome to come back.”
Buford, though, had a limit to what he wanted to pay Barry. The Rockets exceeded it, and not by a differential that was eye-popping.
Barry understood. He had grown up in an NBA family, with the business of basketball part of his early education.
There were no hard feelings, he said, but leaving San Antonio was hard.
“It certainly wasn't easy leaving San Antonio,” he said. “Obviously, it's something I still think about. The business side of basketball gets a little ugly, and if you didn't know it before, you haven't been following the league long enough.
As happy as he is to be in Houston, where he is learning to love Adelman's free-wheeling offense, a big piece of his heart remains in San Antonio. He has no plans to sell the Alamo Heights home that he plans on returning to when his career ends.
“Certainly, talking with R.C., there was an opportunity to come back and play in San Antonio,” Barry said. “The opportunity here in Houston was just different. It just seemed like this was going to be a better situation for me and that's why I made the decision.”
The Spurs replaced Barry with a younger swing man who is a better defender and may even be as accurate a 3-point shooter, though Roger Mason must prove his long-range marskmanship over time to match Barry as a shooter.
Mason seems a quick study and an engaging personality capable of becoming a quiet locker room leader. He is much too smart to try to replace Barry as the Spurs' resident comedian. To a man, the Spurs understand the locker room won't be filled with as many laughs as it has been for four seasons.
Barry doesn't know how Spurs fans will greet him the first time he shows up at AT&T Center in red and white. He hopes they will remember him fondly and appreciate his contribution to the two NBA le teams on which he played.
The Barry-Spurs equation, he said, was lopsided.
“I obviously got more out of San Antonio than they got from me,” he said, “because of the timing. For me to be there for four years and be part of two championships, and see what that's like and to be around the quality character guys and the successful coaching staff that embraced the players, was a great experience.”
http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/s...nt_forget.html
Barry
Yeah, that's why they gave Finley five million dollars.Now, Barry is gone from the Spurs because the team wanted to get younger and had strict fiscal standards for role players beyond a certain age.
The Rockets gave him the LLE. So that means the Spurs were only offering the minimum for Barry. Not even the LLE.Buford, though, had a limit to what he wanted to pay Barry. The Rockets exceeded it, and not by a differential that was eye-popping.
Buford thought Finley for five million dollars was better than Barry for a dollar over the minimum.
Wow.
Barry will always be a fan favoriteBarry doesn't know how Spurs fans will greet him the first time he shows up at AT&T Center in red and white. He hopes they will remember him fondly and appreciate his contribution to the two NBA le teams on which he played.
I'll miss him. I loved him as a Sonic, and I thought he fit in perfectly as a Spur. I wish him well.
I love Barry. It'll hurt when he hits daggers against us because I don't think I could ever cheer against the guy. ing giving Finley his money makes me want to puke.
Beat me to it, LJ. If they really wanted to keep Brent they could have by giving up Finley, and that's what I would've done... it's hard to believe they kept Finley over Barry.
but... but... pop loves finely... i hope losing 15 pounds helps him hit a shot
The minimum contract offered to Barry by the Spurs was $1,262,275, or half of what they ended up giving Finley. The Rockets outbid by offering $1,910,000. The Spurs got outbid by ~$640K and apparently wouldn't match.
I would be mad but obviously the Spurs wanted to move on. If they desperately wanted Barry back, they wouldn't have offered the minimum. They needed to open minutes for a younger wing player, which was accomplished by letting Barry walk.
I just question the wisdom in offering Barry half of what you offer Finley. I guess we'll see over the next two season which of them has more gas left in the tank. I'd assume Barry but obviously Buford thought differently.
not to wish ill will on a player i really like, but barrys leg has to fall off or finley has to remember how to play basketball for sustained stretches for this to make much sense, no?
$ 5 million to Bonner cost both Scola and Barry
I loved Barry as a Spur, but how many fookin times does he pass up open shots...EVERYONE including POP said SHOOT the ball & 50% of the time he would make a bad pass & or a turnover when he was wide open...theres more to this than money, & I think his name is Roger Mason..everyone talks about how we need some youth(I know he's 29, but hes younger than Barry) or how we need to mix it up a bit..well the Spurs did mix it up a bit & it did not include Barry.
Brent holds the le of funniest man in a Spur uniform.
Dfinitelt miss him and I hope he does well..
, it shouldn't have included Finley either. Udoka would've been more than a suitable replacement, combined with Mason, Hill, and Stoudamire. But whatever, at least Finley cleaned himself up and got back to his Mavericks weight.
Perhaps the FO had lingering injury concerns about Brent? Either way I think Fin is still a slightly superior player at this point although not as much as the contract offers indicate.
threads like these make it hard to forget him, not that it was easy.
its the same all over again.... this
There is nothing right about that statement.
Brent barry will always be one of my favorite players, no matter who he plays for.
I think the reoccuring calf problems scared em off.
Can't say I agree with the decision but what's done is done.
I think we're missing the most important topic:
+1Barry will always be a fan favorite
Really sorry to see Brent go but he's head for going to the Rockets. MF go to Boston, don't go to a freaking instate rival.
He can't be given a free pass from Spursfans when picks the Rockets. Even AJ didn't go directly to an instate rival when he left...
Brent seems to be from the school of not playing well against his old teams so hopefully that trend will hold up.
I don't know how many minutes he'll get but he's going to fit really well in Adelman's offense.
He's going to try to hurt us at the personal level this year...remember that Spurs brethren. He's not the Brent we knew...he is evil now.
AJ>Brent
Finley, sigh>Brent
You're crazy whott.
I doubt Spurs would've won 2005 without Brent. This organization owes a lot to Barry, its sad it has to be the asshole in the situation.
I'll miss that herky-jerky three-point quick release which almost always go in, those timely steals and point guard in a shooting guard's body. I hope Brent does well in Houston.
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