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No Bones About it, The Sonics Miss Barry
By Robert Doyen November 07, 2004
 Brent Barry has earned the knickname "Bones" during his career due to his lean stature. At 6-6 and 215 pounds, his jersey hangs loosely on his frame like a wrinkly shirt on a coat hanger. But it's the size of his heart and his mind that makes this skinny man such a large presence on the court.
On Sunday he goes back to Seattle for the first time in a Spurs jersey. Sonics fans will no doubt look upon him whistfully.
Brent Barry. made the Supersonics a better team with his encouragement as much as with his play. Somehow Barry always seemed to know the right time to pat a player on the back or add a stimulating comment to the end of his coach's halftime speech. He also practiced individually with players to help them improve their game, just as his friend and mentor Chris Mullin tought Barry the finer points of shooting the basketball early in his career.
On the court his style of play made everyone around him better. He had a knack for finding his teammates in spots they liked with his passes.
"Court sense is something I've been given," Barry said. "Some players have a good feel for the game."
His phenomenal shooting ability also made him a favorite target for teammates in trouble.
"That's why we get the ball to him, because of confidence that he's going to make shots". said former teammate Gary Payton.
The most telling statistic of his importance to Seatlle was the Sonic's winning percentage with Barry on the court. They went 17-31 in the 48 games during which Barry was sidelined due to injury in his five years with the team. In that same span they were 191-163 when he played.
The Sonics made a mistake in Barry's last year with Seattle and didn't sign him to an extension when they had the chance. The following year in the free agent market he opted to leave a team that had become a ghost of what it once was in search of a championship contender.
Now that he has come to San Antonio it appears that Barry may have been born with a silver spur on his heel. He 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.
It helps that one of the things his family values most is winning. His father, Rick Barry, won an NBA Championship with Golden State. One of his brothers won an NCAA championship and all three of his brothers play professional basketball. But none of them would have gotten where they are without the support their 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 hellions on her own."
As much as he embodies Spurness off the court, he also plays basketball in archetypal Spurs fashion. He is unselfish with the ball--always looking to give a teammate a chance to make a play, but is also not shy about taking a big shot when the opportunity presents itself. He understands the flow of a basketball game and how best to act upon it.
Whereas in Seattle he was expected to star as one of the top two players, in San Antonio he can fall into a more natural role as a utility player. He is a shooting specialist, who also happens to be a passing specialist, who also happens to be a great floor leader.
Brent Barry is like a human swiss army knife. He can do so many things and he does them well. If Tony is having a bad game, Barry plays the point for a while. If Manu is playing too erratically, Barry comes in to calm things down. If the Spurs need a big three late in the game, Barry is your man. This gives Coach Pop a lot of freedom with his substitutions.
With Brent Barry on their team Seattle might have had a chance to beat the Spurs on Sunday. With the addition of Barry to the Spurs they have ultimate flexibility at the guard position and an even greater chance of winning the Championship.
It appears that he made the right decision when he came to San Antonio.
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