Inside Look: Brent Barry
http://www.woai.com/spurs/story.aspx...9-0F24AB4AC06D
By Robert Doyen
FullSportPress.com
In a season that has seen the Spurs surpass the best start in franchise history with a record of 16-3, the celebrated introduction of Brent Barry to the team has dwindled to a side-note. Beno Udrih is taking any available minutes at the backup point guard position and Devin Brown’s heightened performance of late is draining his time at the reserve shooting guard spot.
But as the Spurs face a rematch with Barry’s former team, the Seattle Supersonics -- who are having a shockingly impressive season of their own, let's examine Barry’s value to San Antonio off the court.
Barry embodies all of the personality traits that San Antonio fans have come to expect from their Spurs. Barry’s commitment to sustaining a positive personal life in companion with his basketball life fits perfectly into the mold created by players like David Robinson, Avery Johnson and Tim Duncan, who value morality, familial responsibilities and personal growth as much as they value on-court performance.
Perhaps the best example of Barry’s selflessness occurred when he turned down an offer to compete in the All-Star game’s three-point shooting compe ion. Because he had won the slam dunk compe ion two years earlier, he had a chance to become the first player to win both contests. He chose instead to spend the weekend with his family on the beach. That sort of sacrifice is rarely seen in any profession, much less professional sports.
Part of Brent’s desire to spend a lot of quality time with his family is attributable to his turbulent early years. His father Rick Barry, who won an NBA championship in 1975 with the Golden State Warriors, and mother split up when he was young. Brent spent a lot of time with his father during his youngest years as a ball boy for Golden State. But as a result of the divorce and his father’s constant traveling as a sportscaster for CBS, Brent never had a strong male presence in his life.
Neither did his three brothers. Yet somehow they were all still able to achieve at the highest levels of basketball. Scooter won the NCAA tournament with Kansas and became a star player in Germany. His brother Drew played professionally in the NBA and Jon currently plays for the Atlanta Hawks.
Though his father’s genes obviously had much to do with it, Barry gives much of the credit for the success of the brothers Barry to his mother, Pam Connolly.
"My mom is definitely my role model," Barry said in an interview with Jim Moore of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. "The values and the morals she instilled in us ... She did a good job of raising a bunch of ions on her own."
Rick Barry is now trying to reconcile with his children. As we all are aware, divorce is never easy on anyone involved and there is always a lot of bitterness, but slowly Rick Barry is trying to come back into the lives of his children.
“Part of life is you have to let bygones be bygones,” said Jon in an interview with Chris Tomasson of the Rocky Mountain News, “and we’re trying to establish a relationship now.”
Brent has moved on from the drama of his parents’ divorce and instead of sulking has developed a charming charisma which landed him on the 2003 NBA All-Interview team. Few players around the league are as quotable and candid as Brent.
For example, when trying to explain why the Seattle Supersonics had such success with him in the lineup he replied, "Obviously, I'm just a darn good player." And when asked if swimsuit modeling was a sport he commented, "No, it‘s not a sport. But what some of my friends do with the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit edition might be called a sport."
The affable guard has already gotten himself involved with the San Antonio community. As a part of the NBA’s Read to Achieve program, Barry read a book to a group of local elementary school children recently. And on December 20th, Barry will appear at Ingram Park Mall along with the Silver Dancers for a question and answer session with Spurs fans.
The Spurs normally take about a quarter of the season to come together as a team. This year with so many returning players, it appears that only Barry is struggling as he tries to find his place among his teammates. When his shot starts falling and he completely figures out the system the Spurs run, he’ll start to earn his minutes back in the rotation. But as he goes through the process of gelling with the rest of the team, it is important to remember that his place in San Antonio extends far beyond the basketball court.
Good article that had a lot of info in it. I didn't know the background between Rick Barry and his sons...that was new information to me, I thought the Barry's were the NBA's version of the Cleavers or something. It's kind of amazing how good of basketball players his sons are without Rick having much to do with raising them.
Didn't MJ win both the dunk and the 3 point contests though?
Brent did participate in a 3pt compe ion, I think it was in 2002. He even provided one of the funniest moments in basketball when he gave the crowd his own version of the crip walk. That was hilarious.Perhaps the best example of Barry’s selflessness occurred when he turned down an offer to compete in the All-Star game’s three-point shooting compe ion. Because he had won the slam dunk compe ion two years earlier, he had a chance to become the first player to win both contests. He chose instead to spend the weekend with his family on the beach. That sort of sacrifice is rarely seen in any profession, much less professional sports.
Uggh, I remember him. He used to play in Aussie. Annoying, but good player.Yet somehow they were all still able to achieve at the highest levels of basketball. Scooter won the NCAA tournament with Kansas and became a star player in Germany.
No, MJ never won a 3pt comp. He entered one and got like 6 though. Strange that you thought he had won one whottt, considering all the other useless NBA crap you knowDidn't MJ win both the dunk and the 3 point contests though?
He did, and he was winning it easiliy, I don't want to talk about why he didn't win it....there are enough Barry haters running around already.
Believe it or not MI21, I'm not perfect. I know that may surprise some of you. I'm close but I'm not 100%.No, MJ never won a 3pt comp. He entered one and got like 6 though. Strange that you thought he had won one whottt, considering all the other useless NBA crap you know
Meanwhile there are some unanswered trivia questions in that thread for you to take a stab at
For example, when trying to explain why the Seattle Supersonics had such success with him in the lineup he replied, "Obviously, I'm just a darn good player." And when asked if swimsuit modeling was a sport he commented, "No, it‘s not a sport. But what some of my friends do with the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit edition might be called a sport."
Barry did participate in the 3pt contest later. But the writer is correct in this article when saying that Barry turned it down (2 years after winning the slamdunk contest) to spend time with his family.
Good work, Robbie.
Nice job, Rob.
thanks everybody. They're a very interesting family.
Nice job. I've always found it interesting that the Barry Brothers made it as far as they did in basketball without much help from their father.
Actually, it probably helped that they weren't tight with Pops. Rick Barry was one of the most arrogant, reviled players of his time. He was just a major league asshole, which explains why such an excellent player can't get even a whiff of an assistant coaches job.
Yeah your right, you do like wrestling.......
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