Barry Not the Answer in the Playoffs

[Kori Ellis]

Barry Not the Answer in the Playoffs
By Andy Soucier
FullSportPress.com


A Legacy of Playoff Failure

He has a great career field goal percentage for a guard. He’s regarded as a well-rounded player and a team leader. His superior athleticism helped him win the 1996 slam dunk contest and his feathery touch has enabled him to finish among league leaders in three-point shooting percentage. Brent Barry has developed into a reliable three-position player since struggling with his shot early in his career, but he’s underachieved when it’s mattered most -- in the playoffs.

Seattle Supersonics fans still remember it well. After turning in the best regular season of his career in 2001-02, Barry struggled throughout the entire first-round series against the San Antonio Spurs and came up empty in the first half of the series-deciding Game 5 when his teammates needed him most. After averaging 14.4 points, 5.4 assists and 1.8 steals per game on 51% shooting from the field during the regular season, he only managed 7.8 points, 2.8 assists and 0.6 steals per game on 41% shooting in the series against the Spurs.

Several players have struggled against San Antonio’s superior defense, but Barry’s playoff numbers also decreased in almost every statistical category during his only other significant postseason experience, a first-round series against the Utah Jazz in 2000. Barry averaged 11.8 points and 3.6 assists on 46% shooting during the regular season and 8.4 points and 3.0 assists per game on 36% shooting in the playoffs.

Barry also appeared in three playoff games for the Clippers in 1997, managing 11.7 points per game but only shooting 41% from the field.

For his career, Barry averages 10.6 point, 3.8 assists, and 1.28 steals per game on 46% shooting during the regular season, but his numbers fall to 8.9 points, 3.0 assists and 0.77 steals on 39% shooting in the playoffs. He’s averaged about 29 minutes per contest during both the regular season and the playoffs over the course of his career.

Barry’s playoff struggles are a result of his perimeter-based offensive game and average defensive ability. When games get more physical in the playoffs, Barry’s strengths are minimized. He has fewer opportunities to run the floor, he gets less open looks from the field and he sometimes struggles to stay in front of the other team’s top perimeter offensive threats.

The answer for the Spurs?

After Hedo Turkoglu struggled in the 2004 playoffs, San Antonio went into the offseason looking for a player capable of hitting some perimeter shots, getting his teammates involved and playing minutes at multiple positions when needed. Many fans applauded management’s decision to sign Barry because of his understanding of the game, veteran presence on the court and ability to shoot the ball. He hasn’t been missed in Seattle as the Sonics have become one of the top teams in the league, but he’s shown the ability to provide the Spurs with the shooting, court vision and athleticism needed to jumpstart the reserve unit. He’s played less minutes lately, but head coach Gregg Popovich will find it difficult to keep him off the court as the season progresses because of what he brings to the team.

But Popovich and Buford have built a team designed to excel in the playoffs and the players, management and fans will be satisfied with nothing short of a championship. As the stakes increase in the postseason, the Spurs will rely on Barry to ease the pressure on the post players by hitting perimeter shots. Barry will be expected to excel in the moments when Turkoglu failed. Unfortunately for the Spurs, Barry’s past postseason performances suggest that he will turn out to be exactly what he’s always been -- a great regular season performer with a history of playoff struggles.

[SequSpur]

Barry does not have enough corporate knowledge yet. The Spurs are off to a great start. Damn near every basketball analyst out there is picking them to win the championship this year. They don't need Barry to score 20 a game, they just need him to be a threat. Obviously Barry is capable of something, he has a nice contract, he was in demand and he decided to come here. As far as the losses recently, I believe Pop made the decision to go with others rather than him. So actually, we haven't had a full assessment of what Barry can do with significant playing time.

Because............

Devin Brown was hot and took his minutes. Last night showed the importance of Barry on the floor. He has to be guarded. Which leaves alot of others wide open. Barry will be fine. Pick another topic.

[Solid D]

Barry does not have enough corporate knowledge yet.

Nice points, Sequ. I see you have been drinking from Pop's Koolaide Kup and you are waxing eloquently with your own level of corporate knowledge.

[whottt]

Let's wait and see how he does in the playoffs.

I disagree with some of Soucier's statistical analysis, it seems to be very selective. I mean I know he saw Barry's playoff 3 PT PCT's, but he didn't mention them a single time...Why not... since those are the primary stats we will be judging him by....

Well let's see...

#1.Barry has a higher career post season 3 pt pct than he does in the regular season.

#2.That one year he shot 41%, he had a guy named Bruce Bowen on him, he still shot 43% from 3 point range. If you take Tim Duncan off our team(as we did in a couple of games in that series)...we lose that series. And...he was playing a team that would win an NBA le the next season. That was the series Bowen put that huge gash in his forehead...Barry wanted no part of Bowen. This is true.

I agree that he did disappear...but Bruce makes a lot of guys disappear. Steve Kerr wouldn't have enjoyed the Bowen experience either.

As for the other series...That Jazz team was tough back then, the Spurs couldn't beat them either back in those days...

I will agree with one thing...IMO, Barry is not the type of shooter that is going to do what Jack did and hit 3-4 big threes in a row under duress...at least I haven't seen any indicator of him being that type of shooter. That's no crime though because there aren't a lot of guys around that are like that. Jax was special.

But IMO, Barry has been pretty clutch this season, in the clutch moments he has been given. I think those who fail to notice it do him a disservice.


And I am going to withhold judgement until the post season.

One thing I do know...Barry differs from our other failed shooters in that he can help a team with his passing and his offensive smarts. Even if Barry isn't hitting his shots...he can still help our offense get untracked with his smart passing and tempo...

[SequSpur]

Exactly, but Andy does get credit for putting together a nice piece of articulatable FSP article.

But I think he is way off base.

[whottt]

IT's a well written article like all the other stuff he writes...but Barry's post season 3 point PCT is very relevant to this topic....the fact that Barry has never shot under 40% from 3 in the playoffs, and has a career post season mark of 426%, needed to given serious weight in factoring if he has the potential to be "the answer".

I wouldn't exactly call Barry a choker in the post season....

Like with Hedo, let's see what happens...what I expect to be "the answer" on this team...is not Barry or Devin or Beno or Horry...I expect it to be all of them. I expect the superb depth of shooters and players with perimeter game on this team, to be "the answer"...call it saturation clutchness if you will, clutchness through superior numbers, something like that...I expect the depth to serve as the Jack/Kerr/JJack/Elie factor...

That's why I have complained against letting any of them rot on the bench.

[Brodels]

Let's wait and see how he does in the playoffs.

I'm willing to give him a chance, I'm just not expecting big things.

I disagree with some of Soucier's statistical analysis, it seems to be very selective. I mean I know he saw Barry's playoff 3 PT PCT's, but he didn't mention them a single time...Why not... since those are the primary stats we will be judging him by....

Good point. Barry's three point percentage was the only statistical bright spot in his playoff experiences. And frankly, I just think it's less important than the other categories. He struggled in just about every other area of his game, and to me, that shows that he was struggling.

The production categories (points, rebounds, assists, steals, blocks, etc.) are more valuable to me than shooting percentages. And when considering shooting percentages, two-point percentage includes three pointers, so it does have a little bit more value than three-point percentage, if that makes any sense.

He'll be counted on to make open shots, but he'll also be expected to pass the ball and play at a high level.

#2.That one year he shot 41%, he had a guy named Bruce Bowen on him, he still shot 43% from 3 point range. If you take Tim Duncan off our team(as we did in a couple of games in that series)...we lose that series. And...he was playing a team that would win an NBA le the next season. That was the series Bowen put that huge gash in his forehead...Barry wanted no part of Bowen. This is true.

While it's true that Bowen did guard Barry much of the time, Barry struggled when Bowen was defending him and when Bowen wasn't defending him. He missed open shots and just couldn't get it going. Not to underestimate the impact of Bowen's defense, but from watching the series, I just thought that he wasn't able to bring his best.

And he also struggled in the playoff series before that.

But IMO, Barry has been pretty clutch this season, in the clutch moments he has been given. I think those who fail to notice it do him a disservice.

He's had his good moments and bad moments this season, and the article wasn't intended to take away from what he has accomplished as a Spur. I'm just worried about what he's going to do in the playoffs. Will he struggle again? Will he get enough shots to get into a rhythm? That's an important question, too. Does he fare better as a starter?

And I am going to withhold judgement until the post season.

That's certainly fair. Some think that Barry is going to be the magical solution to all of the Spurs' playoff woes, and the article was intended to show that he might not be that. Fans expect him to bring much more to the table in the playoffs than Hedo could manage, but will it happen? I think it's fair to look at his past performances in an attempt to predict his effectiveness in the future. He could thrive, and I hope he does. I would like nothing better than to be proven wrong.

One thing I do know...Barry differs from our other failed shooters in that he can help a team with his passing and his offensive smarts. Even if Barry isn't hitting his shots...he can still help our offense get untracked with his smart passing and tempo...

True.