Barry: Money Well Spent?

[Kori Ellis]

This is the result of the latest Battle Blog. Doyen (toosmallshoes) won the Blog.

Barry: Money Well Spent?

http://www.woai.com/spurs/story.aspx?content_id=25378E9D-F21F-49ED-B648-DE93AE580A57

http://cctvimedia.clearchannel.com/woai/bbarry4.jpg

We continue the SpursZONE.com series of Point/Counterpoint articles in which two people debate different aspects of Spurs basketball and the rest of the NBA.

In this edition, Spurs fan Marcel Jones and FullSportPress.com writer Robert Doyen discuss the acquisition of Brent Barry.

Jones: The San Antonio Spurs went into the summer with beaucoup cash and a plan. Gregg Popovich and R.C. Buford knew what they wanted to do. And as summer changed to autumn, the plan was a success.

Good news, right? I don’t think so.

I stick to the theory that the Spurs should have used the summer to get younger, more athletic and more unafraid of big situations. Instead they got older, smaller, and less athletic, while the questions regarding the clutchness of the shooters is still a reoccurring theme.

Re-signing Manu Ginobili was a good first step, but I believe that the correct second step was going after Stephen Jackson. We all saw what Jackson could do under pressure when the Spurs won the championship in 2003 and we all noticed how last year he played well despite any quality players around him. This was the guy the Spurs needed. It was a mistake that they let him go the first time and an even bigger mistake they didn’t sign him back this past summer.

The Spurs decided to spend they money that could have bought Jackson on Brent Barry and Bruce Bowen. I recognize both are quality players but they are one trick ponies. One can’t score, the other can’t defend. When the playoffs roll around, we still don’t know what to expect with those two on the outside.

Jackson is an all-around talent with a knack for hitting big shots. That is what the Spurs desperately need.

Doyen: The reason Stephen Jackson is fearless is because he's thoughtless. And for as many times as he hit a big three-pointer, he also foolishly turned the ball over. Jackson is not an all-around talent. He can hardly even dribble. He's a good defender and sometimes he gets hot as a shooter. Otherwise he's a turnover prone streak shooter who the Spurs died by as often as they lived by.

Just because Jamal Crawford lit up Brent Barry in his first preseason game with the Spurs doesn't mean he won't improve as a defender in the Spurs system. Not to mention he is a clutch shooter who has burned many teams, including the Spurs, with late game heroics.

We all saw that what the Spurs missed last year in the playoffs was a consistent shooter to take the pressure off of Duncan. Barry is a much more consistent shooter than Jackson ever has been and is one of the most consistent shooters in the league right now. And he can dribble and pass much better than SJax.

As far as youth, the main place the Spurs got older this year is at the reserve center/power forward position that elder statesmen Kevin Willis and Robert Horry played last year. Otherwise they bring back Devin Brown, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili. And they're bringing in a youngster at the point in Beno Udrih.

Barry is more dependable and a better shooter and therefore a better fit for the Spurs.

Jones: Barry is a dependable shooter in the regular season. We all know this. As far as the playoffs, that is a huge question mark floating above Barry’s head. Although he’s 32-years-old and has been around for about a decade, his postseason history is indistinguishable at best. The few times he’s made it that far, he hasn’t done much.

This Spurs team will win their 60 regular season games regardless. Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker are that good. The key is the postseason and for all Jackson’s faults, he has a history of hitting big shots. And that history is something Barry doesn’t possess, even though you insist.

So far in the preseason, Barry has struggled to hit wide-open shots. If he is getting nervous as he acclimates to the Spurs now in October, what is going to happen when May appears on the calendar? That’s another scary question.

Doyen: I was at a game two years ago in which Barry hit a three-pointer with four seconds left that clinched a 20-point comeback victory for Seattle over the Spurs. That's pretty darn clutch. And I think his statistics speak much louder than anything I could say about his shooting ability. He possesses a 41% career three-point percentage, and in the playoffs that goes up to 43%. He also makes over 80% of his free-throws.

Compare that to Stephen Jackson's 33% career and 34% playoff three-point percentages.

Also, in ten years in the league he's only played in 13 playoff games for some pretty average Seattle teams. He's never had a chance to shine.

If his past is any indication, he will finally get his chance this May to create some positive playoff memories for himself. And he will do it for a lot less money.

[timvp]

Well done, toosmallshoes and Man Mountain.

[Man Mountain]

Oh man I thought I won this one. Oh well great battlin' with you TSS. I'll get you next time :)............

[toosmallshoes]

nice job to you too man mountain. better luck next time... unless it's against me! :spin

[toosmallshoes]

p.s. here's a story about the game I mentioned at the end of the debate.

Monday, November 25, 2002

Barry takes, makes big shot
3-pointer beats Spurs as Sonics come back from 18-point deficit

By DANNY O'NEIL
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

SAN ANTONIO -- Rashard Lewis was rushing toward a possible rebound.

Desmond Mason was setting a screen and had his back to the play. He turned toward the basket just as the ball was headed toward the rim.


AP
Sonics forward Reggie Evans blocks out Spurs forward Tim Duncan before Evans went on to score in the first quarter in San Antonio yesterday.
Brent Barry was already backpedaling because he knew the 3-pointer he just released was headed through the hoop. His basket gave the Sonics a 91-90 lead over the Spurs with 4.7 seconds left in the game at the SBC Center.

"When I let it go, I felt pretty good," Barry said. "It wasn't like the six previous shots where I knew they had no chance."

Barry made two shots last night, his first shot and his last, as he scored a season-low six points in a shooting performance reminiscent of last year's playoff struggles against the Spurs. But this time he wrote a new ending when he squeezed off what proved to be the game-winner.

Barry's basket was the biggest shot in the Sonics' biggest comeback of the season. Seattle (9-5) trailed by 18 points in the third quarter, was down 12 with 5 minutes, 12 seconds remaining, but outscored the Spurs 18-5 in the final 5 minutes.

The victory ended a three-game losing streak and earned a bit of redemption. On Saturday the Sonics had led by 16 points in the third quarter in Dallas yet were beaten by the Mavs.

San Antonio (9-5) had won four straight and had a chance to win the game, inbounding the ball in Seattle's half of the floor with 4.7 seconds left. But Steven Jackson's 3-pointer was long and Tim Duncan's attempt to tip the rebound went nowhere.

"We most definitely stole it," Lewis said of the win. "Just like Dallas stole the win from us (Saturday) night, we stole this one from San Antonio."

The Sonics' final 12 points were scored on three-pointers by four players -- Lewis, then Mason, then Gary Payton and finally Barry, who wasn't the first option in coach Nate McMillan's plan.

The final possession began with 7.8 seconds left and the Spurs leading 90-88 after Duncan had made one of two free throws. Duncan scored San Antonio's final five points of the game and finished with 22. Payton led all scorers with 26 points and also had 11 assists.

Payton was the one who started the Sonics' final possession, inbounding the ball to Lewis. The plan was to set up a two-man game, but McMillan told Lewis to kick the ball to Barry if he were open.

He was, with Steven Jackson defending but backing off the outside shot. Malik Rose ran at Barry, extending a hand, but didn't affect the shot.

"The one thing we talked about before the game is, 'Don't be hesitant. Shoot with confidence,' " McMillan said. "He took a big shot at a crucial time and made it."


AP
The Sonics' Desmond Mason lets out a roar of approval after Brent Barry's 3-pointer beat the Spurs yesterday.
It was something Barry thought about yesterday morning when he watched the videotape from Saturday's game in Dallas. There was a play in the fourth quarter when he had a 3-point opportunity and hesitated.

"I've got to be able to be ready to pull the trigger," Barry said. "Tonight, I wasn't going to let that opportunity slip by. I just didn't want to let an opportunity go by."

In the Sonics' first-round playoff series against the Spurs last April, Barry averaged 7.8 points and never scored more than 12 points. It's something that's gone but not forgotten -- a learning process, he said.

"It's a whole other year, it's a whole other season," he said.

Last night, they outscored the Spurs 26-16 in the final period, the third time this season the Sonics came back to win after trailing entering the fourth quarter.

But the previous two times were against Miami Nov. 9 and the Clippers Nov. 17. Last night was the first time the Sonics came back in the fourth quarter to beat a team that made the playoffs last season.

Instead of looking at the big-picture significance, Barry was satisfied to stop the losing streak.

"In order for us to gain some momentum and get off the slide you have to win," Barry said. "To do it in San Antonio, to do it against a power team, that's all well and good.

"But I think this early in the season, it's a matter of our team maintaining our confidence and realizing we have the potential to do some things as long as we keep working hard."

The Sonics worked their way out of a hole last night after they fell behind by as many as 18 points in the third quarter. They scored only seven points and had only one rebound in the first 7 minutes. The Spurs had 18 points in that span and five rebounds.

The Sonics made just two 3-pointers in the first 45 minutes, but sank their four in the final 3 minutes. Payton said that kind of comeback will ease the tension heading into Atlanta tomorrow for the third of the Sonics' four games on this trip.

"We needed this win to satisfy our mind, get our young guys to start relaxing," Payton said. "They were getting kind of timid and if we had lost four in a row it would have been really big on them to try and prove something on Atlanta.

"But right now, everybody is relaxed again."


SONICS 91, SPURS 90