November 8, 2022 • 30 mins
NBA Champion Brent Barry takes us inside his lifelong journey in the NBA. Brent talks about his time as a ballboy for the Golden State Warriors, his recruitment out of high school, and how he was the last to know where he got drafted in the NBA. Brent also shares stories about the 1996 slam dunk contest and his relationship with Manu Ginobili. Brent discusses the 2005 NBA title he won with the Spurs and what it's like being in a front office role.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Mary bread Berry Tony. Welcome to episode two of Sound
(00:37):
of Spurs, the podcast presented by Frostbank. My name is
Bill Shoening, and this is episode two and we follow
up George the Iceman Gurban with a guy who played
four seasons for the San Antonio Spurs during a very,
very productive era for the Spurs. He's done a little
bit of everything in basketball nearly fifteen years as a player,
an analyst, and now the vice president basketball operations and
(00:58):
the general manager for the Austin Spurs. Brent Barry, a
basketball lifer who comes from a basketball family. Good to
see it, Good to see you. I'm following the iceman.
You're following the iceman. That's pretty awesome. Yeah, he opened
the act for you. He was your opening act. I'm honored.
Good to be here, Bill, and good to see you.
And uh, you know, every year I get a chance
(01:20):
to see you. Mean so I still got a job
with the Spurs, so too. Yeah, it's great. The first
time I met you, you were a member of the
Seattle SuperSonics, and we have to explain what that is. Yes, okay,
the Oklahoma's the Thunder. Before they were the Thunder, they
were the Seattle SuperSonics, and you were nice enough to
grab me an interview. And this is back when the
NBA had the All Interview Team, so the I had
(01:42):
the opportunity after that a couple of months to put
you on my All Interview team. So the following year,
I thought I would do the same thing, and I
approach you in the locker room in Seattle and I
told you that I voted for you on the All
Interview Team, and you said, does that mean I'm obligated
to do another interview with you? So so I kind
of got your sense of humor right away. Let's art
at the beginning. Obviously a big basketball family, or dad's
a Hall of Famer, all of your brothers played. Take
(02:05):
us back to the very beginning. You were born in
New York, but you basically grew up in California. Yeah,
at the time, my dad was playing in the A B.
A for the New Jersey Nets, New York Nets at
the time, and so when I was I was born
in nineteen seventy one and basically was there for about
six months in New York. It's funny because there are
people sometimes even at this advanced stage for me, that
(02:29):
will hear a New York accent come out of me,
and I shrugged my shoulders, thinking I don't know where
that was six months that I was being weaned. Um.
Then moved to the Bay Area and basically grew up
just in the East Bay with with my mom and
my brothers, and uh, spent time on the West Coast
and through high school through college and uh and then
(02:50):
I got this great first job out of school, which
was playing in the NBA. That is a pretty good game. Uh,
there's so much to it. More to it too, because
your family obviously is a big basketball family, and everybody
noticed your dad was a Hall of Famer. But when
did you get the real basketball hitch? When did you
say to yourself, man, I want to really do this. Yeah.
I played a lot of sports growing up. I played
soccer and baseball till I was fifteen and just couldn't
(03:13):
hit the curveball. I troubled. I played. Yeah, I played
football one year. I knew that was a bad idea.
It was a sixth grade and I remember the Castro
brothers with Aligneman for our peewee football team, and they
they couldn't block anything. So after a few sacks and
a few big hits, I knew football wasn't for me.
Um and then um yeah. My brother's two older brothers,
(03:34):
one younger brother, and a younger sister, so five in
my family and around the gym a ton. I was
a ball boy when I was a young kid for
the Golden State Warriors, So it was always a treat
to as a player many years later to go back
to Golden State and have an opportunity to play underneath
my my dad's retired jersey and the hallways I used
to run around in as a kid, so lot lots
of hoops. Who was your favorite player on that team
(03:57):
when you were a ball boy? Yeah? When I was
a ball boy, I became very close with Clifford Ray,
who was you know, real tough player, big time rebounder
and screen setter uh for my dad and one of
the biggest hearts that you could ever be around. And
I became really close with Clifford and actually have a
decent story around that. I kept my blanket for a
(04:18):
long time. I was a lot like Linus in the
Peanuts cartoon, where I just didn't let my blanket get
out of sight. And I think I was around five
and a half years old when when my mother came
to me and says, you have to give your blanket
to somebody. It's time to get rid of it. And
I gave my blanket to Clifford ray And uh, years
(04:38):
later when I saw him after I was in the NBA,
he came to a game and he brought the blanket
to the game, which is one of the coolest things ever.
So he's still a good family friend. And that was
the player who as a young kid, I thought he
was in our family. I didn't realize he was not
part of our family. I thought he was like the uncle.
And uh, um, really special moments with Clifford ray on
(05:00):
the Delisle High School. You had a good high school
career a y Oregon State. Did you have a number
of opportunities, a number of offers? Yeah, not really. Um,
Oregon State came and recruited me. Uh. Sometime before my
senior season at Delasu High School, which is in Conquord, California.
It was an all boys Christian Brothers school and both
of my other brothers had graduated from there. My oldest brother, Scooter,
(05:22):
got a scholarship to play at the University of Kansas
and played for coach Brown, so he talked about full
circle stuff with Pop and and their relationship in RC
was there at that time. Um My brother John went
to University of Pacific down in Stockton on a scholarship,
decided that the classroom wasn't for him and did not
do well his first year. Had to transfer out and
(05:45):
ended up going, of all places, to Paris, Texas on
a junior for junior college to get his grades up.
Had an unbelievable year there playing basketball, and then was
recruited to Georgia Tech. So at the time I was
coming out of Delisle, my brother John was playing a
SEC basketball, but I was not a real high recruit.
In Oregon State was on me early, and I thought
(06:07):
that that was a place because they made an early commitment.
I had visited the school. Gary Payton was the national
college player of the Year in n for that team,
and I felt like that might be a place where
I could continue uh to to try to learn and
grow and and and get a scholarship to go to
school there. Uncle Valence is a pretty cool town. You
just can't get there, right It's it's difficult to get there. Yeah,
(06:29):
it's about an hour and ten minutes from Eugene, a
couple hours from Portland, and and a bit in the
middle of nowhere. And uh, you know, it was an
interesting time for Oregon State, a very storied basketball program
through the eighties with legendary coach Ralph Miller who had
retired before I got there. Two seasons prior to that,
assistant coach Jimmy Anderson took over, who was there for
(06:51):
twenty seven years. And I was a really tough transition
from what it was that Ralph Miller represented for Oregon
State to the next phase of where uh the school
was going with this athletic program at the time, and
so our teams did not have a ton of success. Uh,
there are a lot of things to fight through and
get through. Um. Of course, I stayed pretty steady with
(07:11):
my my schooling there and uh eventually just grinded it
out really really to have an opportunity to to keep
playing after college. Well, you opened some eyes because you
were the fifteenth pick in the first round. Now Denver
actually took you right and then trading you to the
Clippers on draft night. Did you know that the Clippers
were targeting you or how did that work out? There
was some talk about that if we if we go
to the the draft nights specifically, but they have a good
(07:33):
story around the draft, pill is I. I Actually, you know,
when the draft happens, more often than not, the league
contacts players that are going to be picked in the
first round. They have an invitation to sit in the
green room, bring a couple of guests. We've all seen
that with the broadcasts, and you get to share with
your family and your friends, and you're fast becoming best
friend your agent. I guess for most guys at the time,
(07:55):
But um, I got called to go to the draft,
and I client going to the draft. I just wanted
to be home with my family. And this was about
four or five days before the actual NBA Draft. Well,
on a secret workout, I was contacted by the Chicago
Bulls and I flew to Chicago the night before the draft,
(08:17):
and Jerry Krauss was the general manager at the time,
and I had a ten o'clock workout for the Chicago
Bulls the night before the draft, very hush hush, and
Phil Jackson was there, Tex Winner was there, Frank Hamblin
was there. We ran through a bunch of concepts around
the triangle offense, and shot a few balls and ran
up and down, and after about the forty five minute
(08:37):
workout stopped when took a shower, had a late meal
with the coaching staff of the Chicago Bulls, and I
knew that they were in play to make some kind
of deal on draft day, but they wanted to have
a workout to confirm some of the things that they
had either seen on film or wanted to spend some time.
So we finished the workout. I go back to the
(08:59):
hotel and the next day is the draft, so I
don't sleep all that much. I'm a little exhausted from
really going hard in the workout. It's the Bulls for
for God's sakes. And I get to the airport the
next day and I have a flight that is around noon,
and so that's ten o'clock West Coast time. And I
get onto the plane, the plane leaves the gate and
(09:22):
then the engine shut off. And as you know, if
you travel enough, when planes leave the gate, you can't
return to the terminal. You have to wait until whatever
the issue is to be fixed to get fixed. So
we're sitting there, very nice woman next to me in
economy class asks are you going home? You go into it,
and I said, actually, and I never really talked about
(09:45):
things so abruptly, but I said, actually, I'm really excited.
I'm trying to go home. Today is the NBA Draft,
and at some point today I'm gonna get picked to
play in the NBA. She goes, oh, the NBA. What's that?
And I said, it's a professional basket colleague and you
know Golden States the team. We're flying to the Bay
Areas and she's like, oh, yeah, I know that. So
we wait. Captain gets on he says, we need a
(10:05):
part for the plane. It's gonna take about an hour
for us to get the part and put it together.
So I'm thinking, okay, well, this is gonna be a
long hour. Twenty minutes later, the lady asked me. She goes,
what time is the draft and I said, well, we're
gonna be landing and it's gonna be starting just about
that by the time I get home. She goes, Oh,
my gosh, that has got to be so exciting for you.
(10:26):
I said, it is. Captain gets on the plane after
an hour and says, we don't have the part for
the plane. You can speak anytime. Bill. People are asleep now,
so Now he says, we don't have the part. We're
gonna have to get the part from another airport. So
it's gonna we'll let you know as we go. A
(10:47):
whole other hour goes by. The lady asked me again,
like are you gonna miss this thing? And it's the
first time where I started thinking I want to miss
this thing. So the part comes, pilot gets on the
airwaves and says, you know, exprageon, I want feel we
have the park. It's uh, it's gonna take our maintenance
crew about an hour to get the So literally sat
(11:11):
on the tarmac for three hours and forty minutes before
taking off. Now I'm flying from Chicago to Oakland, so
this is a long flight, and you didn't have an iPhone,
no phone, no phone. Had a buddy that was picking
me up at the airport, so he knew the flight number.
So now I'm stuck on the plane. Kick it off,
the plane, can't contact anybody, and I have this really
(11:35):
nice lady continuing to ask me questions about do you
think you got picked yet? For the next three and
a half hours, the lady who knows nothing about baskomb
nothing about basketball, but all about what's happening on the
day and continues to ask questions about it. Landed Oakland Airport.
My friend, at this time, you could have your people
beep be at the gates many years ago, before security protocol.
(11:57):
He's waiting at the gate. I get off a plane
and he's just like, dude, what happened. And I'm explaining
to him the story. And as I'm talking to him,
I'm veering my way over to the bar in the
airport to try to find out what's gonna He grabs me, goes, no,
you can't. You can't watch that. I go, what are
you talking about? He goes, you can't watch that. I
promised your mom you're not gonna watch TV and you
(12:19):
can't listen to the radio on the way home. And
I said, Jason, listened. I've known you since eight years old.
If I've gotten picked by now and you don't tell me,
we're gonna have some problems. And he goes, I promise
your mom, dude, we're going home. So I get in
the car. It's forty five minute drive to get home.
This must be absolutely maddening to you. This is your
whole career, this is what you have built your entire
(12:40):
life around and here you don't know yet, right, Thanks Bill,
You just threw me right back into therapy. Thank you.
So I'm in the car with my buddy driving home
and I said, dude, might go Jason, is it is
it over? Like it's over? Right? He goes, Oh, yeah,
it's over. So I said, you know, He goes, yeah,
I know. So we drive home. I drive into the
driveway with my buddy. We parked the car. The draft
(13:03):
is over. That the NBA Draft for my draft year
is over. I was invited to go sit because I
was gonna be a first round pick. I decided not
to do that to miss the draft. Get out of
the car. My grandmother, who passed away recently nine you know,
she's eighties seven years old. She comes running out of
the house with a Phoenix Son's shirt on, and I'm like, Grandma,
(13:26):
what do you do? And behind her is my mom
with a Celtic shirt on, and my stepdad with a
Warrior shirt on, and my brother with a bullet like
everybody had on different teams. As if it wasn't excruciating enough,
go inside the house and literally watched the NBA Draft
on a VCR taped VCR to find out where it
(13:48):
was that I got picked. Sat down Stern comes out
fast forward, the number one pick goes to Golden State,
Joe Smith, fast forward, next pick rashi Wa was fast forward,
Kevin gar in it, and then finally you get drafted.
So sorry for the long winded story, but I missed
the draft. I mean, the fact of the matter is
(14:09):
I was in an airplane on the biggest day of
you know what your pro career is being around for
the draft. It's not about your highlight reel. It's about
reaching new heights each and every day. It's not about
if you sit in the nosebleeds a courtside. It's about
(14:30):
showing up. It's not about wins. It's about winning over
others by treating them right. It's about more than money.
Frost the official bank of the San Antonio Spurs. You
did not miss the slam Dunk Championship, however, l slam
(14:53):
Dunk Champion, it's Brett Barry. I've got to ask you
a couple of questions about that. First of all, was
it stylish to wear the warm ups when you went out? There?
Was that something that uh you decided to do? And
is that warm up that L a Clippers red white
and blue warm up? Is that in the Hall of
Fame and Springfield mass because I was just up there
for the genobly deal. Say, I didn't say it. I
(15:14):
put it all over for yes, somehow they didn't ask
me for it. Um amazingly enough, as much time as
I spent in San Antonio now plus years here, that
that slam dunk contest was here, of all places, right
down the road at the Alamo Dome is just amazing.
I was super stoked just to be invited to. At
the time, it was just the shick rookie game. There
(15:35):
was no Rookie Sophomore International USA. It was all rookies.
So it's all your draft class. And uh, that was
a true honor just because they recognized you in your
year and that you know, you might have been one
of the more talented players in the league. At least
that's what they said to you. And Um, playing in
that game was great. The story behind the dunk contest
(15:56):
is a whole other one if you want me to
go into it. But that happened after the chic Rookie game.
So he played that game, you hung out with the press,
and then it was waiting around to get to the
dunk contest, which is after the three point contest. So
it made for a really long day, but ultimately decently
rewarding for me. What was your go to dunk? What
wanted for you? I took off from the free throw
(16:17):
line two different times, just to make people believe that
the first time I actually did it, I guess, and uh,
A lot of people ask me about the warm up
top thing, and honestly, I just forgot to take it off.
I didn't even think about the Alamo Dome. You were
there on that day, weren't you, So the Alamo Dome
was it's a bit breezy in there, there's a draft.
(16:38):
I just didn't think to take it off, so I
kept it on the whole time. And I guess nobody
else has done that except I just remember Bird too,
Like all these years later, I remember Bird and the
whole classic story about Bird walking into the room with
the three point shooters, the last guy into the room
and saying, all right, who's coming in second, you know,
And he didn't even take off his warm up top
and all the those things. One one one other quick
(17:01):
story about years later, Michael Finley joined US here in
San Antonio and Finn was in Dallas and we picked
him up and he wanted a chance to to win,
and ultimately he did that. But funny thing was, Finn
was in that dunk contest. Back in the fourth day
of us have an Open gym I asked Michael. I said, Michael,
would you you want to go get dinner tonight? You know,
(17:22):
you're new to town. You want to just hang and
having dinner. He kind of looked at me sideways like yeah, okay,
we'll do that. So we finished the work out that
day and end up taking Michael we go get a
bite t. I can tell he's nervous about why why
are you taking me to go get a bite? T
is a little off, you know, usually we do this
during the year. So we sit down and I said, hey, Michael,
the reason why you probably wonder why I'm taking your dinners.
(17:45):
I just want to make sure that you were able
to go back to Chicago after losing to me in
the dunk contest, and that we're all good, that we
don't have any beef around what happened and what trands like,
We're good, right, And he just started cracking up, and
you know, we just became tight. So I want to
share a quick story about you and Michael Finley that
I saw in person, and uh, it became a national story.
(18:05):
I didn't even mean it for it to. Uh. We
were at Hinklefield House in Indianapolis, home of Butler University,
had just signed Michael Finley. You were established in that position,
and I watched you take time with him and go
over the place. Terminology might be a little different than
it wasn't Dallas, and it was a training camp practice,
but you had a lot of one on one time
with him, and I thought, you know, Finn potentially could
(18:26):
take minutes from Brent, but he's being a good teammate here.
So I wrote a twenty second time out. I had
his column on Spurs dot com, and some national Christian
publication picked it up because they thought that was a
very kind of a Christian thing for you to do,
to be so selfless. And I don't even know about
this until someone pointed out to me, Hey, someone took
your article and showed what a great teammate Brent Barry is.
So um, so you got a big pat on the
(18:48):
back all around the country and didn't even know about that.
That's that's really nice, Bill. I appreciate you sharing that. Um.
It's one of the things about having been in San
Antonio and understanding, you know, what it takes to to
be at a championship level. There's a tremendous amount of
sacrifice and people always think about that in very different ways.
But as as a team goes, um, the most prominent
(19:11):
thing you think about is just playing time and statistics
to be able to go out and produce and do
what you need to do. But UM, my main reason
in deciding as a free agent to be part of
the Spurs was to do whatever it took to be
part of what winning was. It's something that throughout my
whole career I was lacking. It didn't mean that I
(19:32):
wasn't playing to win. I always was, but I was
in some interesting situations that I had very little control over.
What I could control is how my contribution to a
team could ultimately lead to whatever the goal was for
our team. And so the years of Oregon State never
participated in the postseason, always dying to compete and and
(19:53):
play at the highest level, never got that chance. Get
drafted fifteenth as you mentioned by Denver, and traded and
played for the Clippers, which at that time the organization
is not what kids know it today. Uh. It was
struggling mightily and was a laughing stock in terms of
the way it was run and stories that came out
of there. But you know, all those things didn't deter
(20:15):
me from still wanting to be part of what winning
feels like, always curious about what winning feels like, always
feeling like I was somebody that programmed myself to be
a winning player, and so coming to San Antonio didn't
change that. It just helped me become more educated about
it and experience that for firsthand. And I remember it
(20:37):
didn't take you long at least I don't recall it
taking you long to kind of fit in with these
guys because you're a team player obviously, and these guys
they needed a little boost off the bench, So that
was kind of your role there for a while. I
talked for a moment about the role that you had
with the Spurs, and I was just looking at the numbers, Brent,
pretty incredible. The four years you played for the Spurs
six wins, So you guys were contenders every year. You
(20:58):
want two championships during that stretch, But what was special
about going into that locker room and kind of witnessing
what was going on. Yeah, I think we're seeing it
now with the way the Golden State Warriors have played
over the past five seasons, sparring the year with the injuries,
it's this sort of uh uh impenetrable group that you
know when you go out onto the floor on any
(21:21):
given night during the regular season, that you're not going
to get beat and if you are, it's because you
didn't do something right. I don't know if I'm explaining
that well, but usually teams don't beat you. There were
before or five plays we could go back to, We're like,
oh man, we beat ourselves tonight. But that feeling just
being impenetrable in some ways and and walking into arenas
(21:44):
where you know you're the better team and that if
you do what it is that you've been coached to
do and you play together, you'll have the opportunity to
to walk out of their victorious. And the guys were
very accepting. Um. Obviously, the organization from our and Pop
in the way that you're treated the very first day
that you're initiated here resonates at all levels. But um,
(22:09):
it's clear, and it was clear. Then you know with Tony, Manu,
Tim that you're placed within the team. You had to
find a way because you weren't going to get in
those guys way, and Pop was going to ask you
to do things that helped contribute to the system, and
it might not have been the best things for you.
And there have been players who have come through here
they have struggled with that, being asked to do things
(22:30):
that a lessoned roll where they wanted to do more.
And I had my time thinking about that and not
being used in certain ways. But again, look, I want
to win, so I'll do what it takes. And if
that means less is more, we're okay. You developed a
really cool on court chemistry with Manu, and then you
became very good friends off the floor, and I got
to see you play a couple of games a horse
(22:51):
against him, and it was just fun to watch you guys,
because you're both so creative. What about your relationship with
monit nob Yeah, Manu is uh for sure, and and
going sort of in my own head through my relationship
with him over the course of the past three months
with all the things that have happened to him and
for him because of his playing career, being elected into
(23:12):
the Hall of Fame and uh having the night here
just a few a few nights ago. UH here in
San Antonio to reveal his jersey once again with the
Hall of Fame under it, of course well deserved. Got
me thinking about uh, just the opportunity to play with
him and joking around about how for a time I
started over Manu, and and I always joked around that
(23:33):
there were black cars with Argentinian license plates outside of
my house for several weeks, that I was really worried
about the safety of of my family when that happened,
but that Uh, he was just the kind of guy
who was relentless, and UM felt like we compliment each
other when we played, just because he was willing to
take chances, and we fed off each other in such
(23:54):
great ways, and he became a fast friend, and Uh,
I really enjoy working with him in this capacity. Bill,
if you fast forward passed the playing career, is his
role within the organization now and the opportunity to be
a leader and to help our young guys as they
assimilate to San Antonio with a great voice and great person.
This is Sound of Spurs podcast I'm Bill Showening presented
(24:15):
by Frostbank, where with Brent Barry was now the vice
president of Basketball Operations general manager of the Austin Spurs.
There's so much more ground I want to cover, but
I wanted to ask you about those two particular championship
teams because what I remember most about the OH. Five
team was that lockdown defense that championship series, the finals
against Detroit where you had to buy points to get
to get to win, especially that the Game seven victory
(24:38):
n O. Five. And also the OH seven team, which
was a little bit different for Bricio had come in
and it was a little bit different type of ball club.
What do you remember most about those two particular teams
that won the titles. Yeah, first, the OH five one.
I mean I remember specifically some of the asking. As
you know, hordes of media come around during the finals,
and it's a much different atmosphere each round you advance,
And that was my first time being around something like that.
(25:00):
At the time, there were not a lot of people watching,
uh the stylistic play of the Detroit Pistons and San
Antonio Spurs. And somebody asked me one time, They're like, hey, Brent,
you know, nobody's really watching the finals because you guys
are playing games eighty two. And I was saying, well,
I don't work in TV. I work on TV. We're
not really concerned about that. We're trying to just win
(25:22):
this thing. Um and Detrey was such a well oiled machine.
And you go back through the history of Pop and
and Larry Brown and their relationship and knowing each other
and every counter move that was happening. That's the way
that series was. Series was for us, and Monty really
saved us in Game seven. We were down deep and
late into the fourth quarter and the switch went on
(25:43):
and Monty was the reason why we're able to pull
that series out and win that championship at home. Starts
in God was so horrible, he hesitated he did out
how close. Fast forward to you know, a couple of
(26:05):
years later where I felt like we should have won
in OH six as as well. We were primed to
do that and had a tough loss here at home
against Dallas. But the next year playing against Cleveland was
was great. It was a team that beat Detroit that
that very same Piston team on the shoulders of and
the very broad young shoulders of Lebron James, and that
(26:25):
team just wasn't ready to be there yet. Lebron was,
but the rest of the team was a little incomplete,
and I think the togetherness of our team and our
collective experience Tony had a great series was named the
m V p Uh. We really just managed those guys
kind of like a a varsity team would manage a
JV team. And I mean no disrespect by that, but
(26:45):
they had just not learned the things that the collective
group of the Spurs had at that time. We were
able to sweep the Calves and that ended up being
a title that we won on the road, which is
a different experience altogether, where we had a night on
the road just our team, and I remember that night
really specifically, just having that closeness. I think that Morton's
is still open. Yeah, I think there's still some Spurs
(27:08):
dragglers from that championship at seven. Uh. There's so many
things to talk about, and you're such an interesting guy.
You've got a lot of different layers. We talked about
the fact that you were a broadcaster for a while.
Now you're back in the front office. How are you
enjoying that aspect of this part of your career. I
really am thankful for the opportunity or see a few
years ago, I guess five now asking me if if
I wanted to join the front office in some capacity.
(27:29):
And of course I know many many former players who
who have done the role here in this way, Monty Williams,
Sean marks Um del demps, There's been a lot of
guys who have had a great opportunity to be around
the organization and see how you could take a peek
behind the curtain as to how things are run here.
It's super impressive. It's very educational on a daily basis.
(27:50):
I work with some incredible people who teach me uh
things about the game that I did not know as
a player or recognize as a player. We have tremendous
scouting group uh here in the States and international, and
so I'm exposed to all of those things and really
take a lot of pride in making sure that the
atmosphere and whatever it is we can provide for our
players gives them the best opportunity to be the best seals,
(28:13):
both on and off the floor. How about this new
role as general manager of the Austin Spurs. You're gonna
be working hands on. I would imagine with some of
the young yeah, a little bit more where UM with
with the Austin team, I'll be able to talk with
the coaching staff and work through the the early development,
especially this year having three first round picks where possibly
Malachi Brandum and Blake Wesley will spend a significant amount
(28:34):
of time in Austin UH learning how to become pros.
I feel like it's a good opportunity for me to
make sure that the atmosphere for those guys when they're
having an opportunity to play UM is something that I
can carry through the messaging what the coaches want them
to do. UM, have some touches with that team, travel
with them a little bit, work with the coaching staff,
and report back to what we're doing in San Antonio
(28:56):
so that we're just all on the same page. Before
I let you go, want to ask you about your music.
I know you'd like to strum the guitar and sing
a little bit. What's going on with that? Right? Well?
I wonder, Billy, we used to talk when I played,
because I didn't play guitar at the time, about your
music career, and I wondered, deep down if I would
I was jealous of of uh your talents. No, you
know to be jealous of my talent guitar. So yeah,
(29:17):
I've gotten I've gotten to know a couple of guys
here in town, and um, I playing a band that's
named Panic at the Costco. We've played a couple of
gigs around town and some bars that friends zone and
just have a good time practicing and playing the guitar
and trying to sing a little bit. It's a it's
a great outlet. Yeah, good's It's a good little hobby,
isn't it. Check our local listings for at the Costco.
(29:38):
The name of the show is Sound of Spurs, presented
by Frostbank. Brent Barry, uh the I'm gonna get your
title right, vice president Basketball Operations, General manager the Gostin Spurs.
Thank you so much for joining us. It's been a
pleasure to have you. I enjoyed watching your career for
those four years were with us. You were a lot
of fun. I appreciated Billy good to see it. Thank you.
That's Brent Barry And until next time, I'm Bill Schoening.
(29:59):
So long at Body
Mary bread Berry Tony. Welcome to episode two of Sound
(00:37):
of Spurs, the podcast presented by Frostbank. My name is
Bill Shoening, and this is episode two and we follow
up George the Iceman Gurban with a guy who played
four seasons for the San Antonio Spurs during a very,
very productive era for the Spurs. He's done a little
bit of everything in basketball nearly fifteen years as a player,
an analyst, and now the vice president basketball operations and
(00:58):
the general manager for the Austin Spurs. Brent Barry, a
basketball lifer who comes from a basketball family. Good to
see it, Good to see you. I'm following the iceman.
You're following the iceman. That's pretty awesome. Yeah, he opened
the act for you. He was your opening act. I'm honored.
Good to be here, Bill, and good to see you.
And uh, you know, every year I get a chance
(01:20):
to see you. Mean so I still got a job
with the Spurs, so too. Yeah, it's great. The first
time I met you, you were a member of the
Seattle SuperSonics, and we have to explain what that is. Yes, okay,
the Oklahoma's the Thunder. Before they were the Thunder, they
were the Seattle SuperSonics, and you were nice enough to
grab me an interview. And this is back when the
NBA had the All Interview Team, so the I had
(01:42):
the opportunity after that a couple of months to put
you on my All Interview team. So the following year,
I thought I would do the same thing, and I
approach you in the locker room in Seattle and I
told you that I voted for you on the All
Interview Team, and you said, does that mean I'm obligated
to do another interview with you? So so I kind
of got your sense of humor right away. Let's art
at the beginning. Obviously a big basketball family, or dad's
a Hall of Famer, all of your brothers played. Take
(02:05):
us back to the very beginning. You were born in
New York, but you basically grew up in California. Yeah,
at the time, my dad was playing in the A B.
A for the New Jersey Nets, New York Nets at
the time, and so when I was I was born
in nineteen seventy one and basically was there for about
six months in New York. It's funny because there are
people sometimes even at this advanced stage for me, that
(02:29):
will hear a New York accent come out of me,
and I shrugged my shoulders, thinking I don't know where
that was six months that I was being weaned. Um.
Then moved to the Bay Area and basically grew up
just in the East Bay with with my mom and
my brothers, and uh, spent time on the West Coast
and through high school through college and uh and then
(02:50):
I got this great first job out of school, which
was playing in the NBA. That is a pretty good game. Uh,
there's so much to it. More to it too, because
your family obviously is a big basketball family, and everybody
noticed your dad was a Hall of Famer. But when
did you get the real basketball hitch? When did you
say to yourself, man, I want to really do this. Yeah.
I played a lot of sports growing up. I played
soccer and baseball till I was fifteen and just couldn't
(03:13):
hit the curveball. I troubled. I played. Yeah, I played
football one year. I knew that was a bad idea.
It was a sixth grade and I remember the Castro
brothers with Aligneman for our peewee football team, and they
they couldn't block anything. So after a few sacks and
a few big hits, I knew football wasn't for me.
Um and then um yeah. My brother's two older brothers,
(03:34):
one younger brother, and a younger sister, so five in
my family and around the gym a ton. I was
a ball boy when I was a young kid for
the Golden State Warriors, So it was always a treat
to as a player many years later to go back
to Golden State and have an opportunity to play underneath
my my dad's retired jersey and the hallways I used
to run around in as a kid, so lot lots
of hoops. Who was your favorite player on that team
(03:57):
when you were a ball boy? Yeah? When I was
a ball boy, I became very close with Clifford Ray,
who was you know, real tough player, big time rebounder
and screen setter uh for my dad and one of
the biggest hearts that you could ever be around. And
I became really close with Clifford and actually have a
decent story around that. I kept my blanket for a
(04:18):
long time. I was a lot like Linus in the
Peanuts cartoon, where I just didn't let my blanket get
out of sight. And I think I was around five
and a half years old when when my mother came
to me and says, you have to give your blanket
to somebody. It's time to get rid of it. And
I gave my blanket to Clifford ray And uh, years
(04:38):
later when I saw him after I was in the NBA,
he came to a game and he brought the blanket
to the game, which is one of the coolest things ever.
So he's still a good family friend. And that was
the player who as a young kid, I thought he
was in our family. I didn't realize he was not
part of our family. I thought he was like the uncle.
And uh, um, really special moments with Clifford ray on
(05:00):
the Delisle High School. You had a good high school
career a y Oregon State. Did you have a number
of opportunities, a number of offers? Yeah, not really. Um,
Oregon State came and recruited me. Uh. Sometime before my
senior season at Delasu High School, which is in Conquord, California.
It was an all boys Christian Brothers school and both
of my other brothers had graduated from there. My oldest brother, Scooter,
(05:22):
got a scholarship to play at the University of Kansas
and played for coach Brown, so he talked about full
circle stuff with Pop and and their relationship in RC
was there at that time. Um My brother John went
to University of Pacific down in Stockton on a scholarship,
decided that the classroom wasn't for him and did not
do well his first year. Had to transfer out and
(05:45):
ended up going, of all places, to Paris, Texas on
a junior for junior college to get his grades up.
Had an unbelievable year there playing basketball, and then was
recruited to Georgia Tech. So at the time I was
coming out of Delisle, my brother John was playing a
SEC basketball, but I was not a real high recruit.
In Oregon State was on me early, and I thought
(06:07):
that that was a place because they made an early commitment.
I had visited the school. Gary Payton was the national
college player of the Year in n for that team,
and I felt like that might be a place where
I could continue uh to to try to learn and
grow and and and get a scholarship to go to
school there. Uncle Valence is a pretty cool town. You
just can't get there, right It's it's difficult to get there. Yeah,
(06:29):
it's about an hour and ten minutes from Eugene, a
couple hours from Portland, and and a bit in the
middle of nowhere. And uh, you know, it was an
interesting time for Oregon State, a very storied basketball program
through the eighties with legendary coach Ralph Miller who had
retired before I got there. Two seasons prior to that,
assistant coach Jimmy Anderson took over, who was there for
(06:51):
twenty seven years. And I was a really tough transition
from what it was that Ralph Miller represented for Oregon
State to the next phase of where uh the school
was going with this athletic program at the time, and
so our teams did not have a ton of success. Uh,
there are a lot of things to fight through and
get through. Um. Of course, I stayed pretty steady with
(07:11):
my my schooling there and uh eventually just grinded it
out really really to have an opportunity to to keep
playing after college. Well, you opened some eyes because you
were the fifteenth pick in the first round. Now Denver
actually took you right and then trading you to the
Clippers on draft night. Did you know that the Clippers
were targeting you or how did that work out? There
was some talk about that if we if we go
to the the draft nights specifically, but they have a good
(07:33):
story around the draft, pill is I. I Actually, you know,
when the draft happens, more often than not, the league
contacts players that are going to be picked in the
first round. They have an invitation to sit in the
green room, bring a couple of guests. We've all seen
that with the broadcasts, and you get to share with
your family and your friends, and you're fast becoming best
friend your agent. I guess for most guys at the time,
(07:55):
But um, I got called to go to the draft,
and I client going to the draft. I just wanted
to be home with my family. And this was about
four or five days before the actual NBA Draft. Well,
on a secret workout, I was contacted by the Chicago
Bulls and I flew to Chicago the night before the draft,
(08:17):
and Jerry Krauss was the general manager at the time,
and I had a ten o'clock workout for the Chicago
Bulls the night before the draft, very hush hush, and
Phil Jackson was there, Tex Winner was there, Frank Hamblin
was there. We ran through a bunch of concepts around
the triangle offense, and shot a few balls and ran
up and down, and after about the forty five minute
(08:37):
workout stopped when took a shower, had a late meal
with the coaching staff of the Chicago Bulls, and I
knew that they were in play to make some kind
of deal on draft day, but they wanted to have
a workout to confirm some of the things that they
had either seen on film or wanted to spend some time.
So we finished the workout. I go back to the
(08:59):
hotel and the next day is the draft, so I
don't sleep all that much. I'm a little exhausted from
really going hard in the workout. It's the Bulls for
for God's sakes. And I get to the airport the
next day and I have a flight that is around noon,
and so that's ten o'clock West Coast time. And I
get onto the plane, the plane leaves the gate and
(09:22):
then the engine shut off. And as you know, if
you travel enough, when planes leave the gate, you can't
return to the terminal. You have to wait until whatever
the issue is to be fixed to get fixed. So
we're sitting there, very nice woman next to me in
economy class asks are you going home? You go into it,
and I said, actually, and I never really talked about
(09:45):
things so abruptly, but I said, actually, I'm really excited.
I'm trying to go home. Today is the NBA Draft,
and at some point today I'm gonna get picked to
play in the NBA. She goes, oh, the NBA. What's that?
And I said, it's a professional basket colleague and you
know Golden States the team. We're flying to the Bay
Areas and she's like, oh, yeah, I know that. So
we wait. Captain gets on he says, we need a
(10:05):
part for the plane. It's gonna take about an hour
for us to get the part and put it together.
So I'm thinking, okay, well, this is gonna be a
long hour. Twenty minutes later, the lady asked me. She goes,
what time is the draft and I said, well, we're
gonna be landing and it's gonna be starting just about
that by the time I get home. She goes, Oh,
my gosh, that has got to be so exciting for you.
(10:26):
I said, it is. Captain gets on the plane after
an hour and says, we don't have the part for
the plane. You can speak anytime. Bill. People are asleep now,
so Now he says, we don't have the part. We're
gonna have to get the part from another airport. So
it's gonna we'll let you know as we go. A
(10:47):
whole other hour goes by. The lady asked me again,
like are you gonna miss this thing? And it's the
first time where I started thinking I want to miss
this thing. So the part comes, pilot gets on the
airwaves and says, you know, exprageon, I want feel we
have the park. It's uh, it's gonna take our maintenance
crew about an hour to get the So literally sat
(11:11):
on the tarmac for three hours and forty minutes before
taking off. Now I'm flying from Chicago to Oakland, so
this is a long flight, and you didn't have an iPhone,
no phone, no phone. Had a buddy that was picking
me up at the airport, so he knew the flight number.
So now I'm stuck on the plane. Kick it off,
the plane, can't contact anybody, and I have this really
(11:35):
nice lady continuing to ask me questions about do you
think you got picked yet? For the next three and
a half hours, the lady who knows nothing about baskomb
nothing about basketball, but all about what's happening on the
day and continues to ask questions about it. Landed Oakland Airport.
My friend, at this time, you could have your people
beep be at the gates many years ago, before security protocol.
(11:57):
He's waiting at the gate. I get off a plane
and he's just like, dude, what happened. And I'm explaining
to him the story. And as I'm talking to him,
I'm veering my way over to the bar in the
airport to try to find out what's gonna He grabs me, goes, no,
you can't. You can't watch that. I go, what are
you talking about? He goes, you can't watch that. I
promised your mom you're not gonna watch TV and you
(12:19):
can't listen to the radio on the way home. And
I said, Jason, listened. I've known you since eight years old.
If I've gotten picked by now and you don't tell me,
we're gonna have some problems. And he goes, I promise
your mom, dude, we're going home. So I get in
the car. It's forty five minute drive to get home.
This must be absolutely maddening to you. This is your
whole career, this is what you have built your entire
(12:40):
life around and here you don't know yet, right, Thanks Bill,
You just threw me right back into therapy. Thank you.
So I'm in the car with my buddy driving home
and I said, dude, might go Jason, is it is
it over? Like it's over? Right? He goes, Oh, yeah,
it's over. So I said, you know, He goes, yeah,
I know. So we drive home. I drive into the
driveway with my buddy. We parked the car. The draft
(13:03):
is over. That the NBA Draft for my draft year
is over. I was invited to go sit because I
was gonna be a first round pick. I decided not
to do that to miss the draft. Get out of
the car. My grandmother, who passed away recently nine you know,
she's eighties seven years old. She comes running out of
the house with a Phoenix Son's shirt on, and I'm like, Grandma,
(13:26):
what do you do? And behind her is my mom
with a Celtic shirt on, and my stepdad with a
Warrior shirt on, and my brother with a bullet like
everybody had on different teams. As if it wasn't excruciating enough,
go inside the house and literally watched the NBA Draft
on a VCR taped VCR to find out where it
(13:48):
was that I got picked. Sat down Stern comes out
fast forward, the number one pick goes to Golden State,
Joe Smith, fast forward, next pick rashi Wa was fast forward,
Kevin gar in it, and then finally you get drafted.
So sorry for the long winded story, but I missed
the draft. I mean, the fact of the matter is
(14:09):
I was in an airplane on the biggest day of
you know what your pro career is being around for
the draft. It's not about your highlight reel. It's about
reaching new heights each and every day. It's not about
if you sit in the nosebleeds a courtside. It's about
(14:30):
showing up. It's not about wins. It's about winning over
others by treating them right. It's about more than money.
Frost the official bank of the San Antonio Spurs. You
did not miss the slam Dunk Championship, however, l slam
(14:53):
Dunk Champion, it's Brett Barry. I've got to ask you
a couple of questions about that. First of all, was
it stylish to wear the warm ups when you went out? There?
Was that something that uh you decided to do? And
is that warm up that L a Clippers red white
and blue warm up? Is that in the Hall of
Fame and Springfield mass because I was just up there
for the genobly deal. Say, I didn't say it. I
(15:14):
put it all over for yes, somehow they didn't ask
me for it. Um amazingly enough, as much time as
I spent in San Antonio now plus years here, that
that slam dunk contest was here, of all places, right
down the road at the Alamo Dome is just amazing.
I was super stoked just to be invited to. At
the time, it was just the shick rookie game. There
(15:35):
was no Rookie Sophomore International USA. It was all rookies.
So it's all your draft class. And uh, that was
a true honor just because they recognized you in your
year and that you know, you might have been one
of the more talented players in the league. At least
that's what they said to you. And Um, playing in
that game was great. The story behind the dunk contest
(15:56):
is a whole other one if you want me to
go into it. But that happened after the chic Rookie game.
So he played that game, you hung out with the press,
and then it was waiting around to get to the
dunk contest, which is after the three point contest. So
it made for a really long day, but ultimately decently
rewarding for me. What was your go to dunk? What
wanted for you? I took off from the free throw
(16:17):
line two different times, just to make people believe that
the first time I actually did it, I guess, and uh,
A lot of people ask me about the warm up
top thing, and honestly, I just forgot to take it off.
I didn't even think about the Alamo Dome. You were
there on that day, weren't you, So the Alamo Dome
was it's a bit breezy in there, there's a draft.
(16:38):
I just didn't think to take it off, so I
kept it on the whole time. And I guess nobody
else has done that except I just remember Bird too,
Like all these years later, I remember Bird and the
whole classic story about Bird walking into the room with
the three point shooters, the last guy into the room
and saying, all right, who's coming in second, you know,
And he didn't even take off his warm up top
and all the those things. One one one other quick
(17:01):
story about years later, Michael Finley joined US here in
San Antonio and Finn was in Dallas and we picked
him up and he wanted a chance to to win,
and ultimately he did that. But funny thing was, Finn
was in that dunk contest. Back in the fourth day
of us have an Open gym I asked Michael. I said, Michael,
would you you want to go get dinner tonight? You know,
(17:22):
you're new to town. You want to just hang and
having dinner. He kind of looked at me sideways like yeah, okay,
we'll do that. So we finished the work out that
day and end up taking Michael we go get a
bite t. I can tell he's nervous about why why
are you taking me to go get a bite? T
is a little off, you know, usually we do this
during the year. So we sit down and I said, hey, Michael,
the reason why you probably wonder why I'm taking your dinners.
(17:45):
I just want to make sure that you were able
to go back to Chicago after losing to me in
the dunk contest, and that we're all good, that we
don't have any beef around what happened and what trands like,
We're good, right, And he just started cracking up, and
you know, we just became tight. So I want to
share a quick story about you and Michael Finley that
I saw in person, and uh, it became a national story.
(18:05):
I didn't even mean it for it to. Uh. We
were at Hinklefield House in Indianapolis, home of Butler University,
had just signed Michael Finley. You were established in that position,
and I watched you take time with him and go
over the place. Terminology might be a little different than
it wasn't Dallas, and it was a training camp practice,
but you had a lot of one on one time
with him, and I thought, you know, Finn potentially could
(18:26):
take minutes from Brent, but he's being a good teammate here.
So I wrote a twenty second time out. I had
his column on Spurs dot com, and some national Christian
publication picked it up because they thought that was a
very kind of a Christian thing for you to do,
to be so selfless. And I don't even know about
this until someone pointed out to me, Hey, someone took
your article and showed what a great teammate Brent Barry is.
So um, so you got a big pat on the
(18:48):
back all around the country and didn't even know about that.
That's that's really nice, Bill. I appreciate you sharing that. Um.
It's one of the things about having been in San
Antonio and understanding, you know, what it takes to to
be at a championship level. There's a tremendous amount of
sacrifice and people always think about that in very different ways.
But as as a team goes, um, the most prominent
(19:11):
thing you think about is just playing time and statistics
to be able to go out and produce and do
what you need to do. But UM, my main reason
in deciding as a free agent to be part of
the Spurs was to do whatever it took to be
part of what winning was. It's something that throughout my
whole career I was lacking. It didn't mean that I
(19:32):
wasn't playing to win. I always was, but I was
in some interesting situations that I had very little control over.
What I could control is how my contribution to a
team could ultimately lead to whatever the goal was for
our team. And so the years of Oregon State never
participated in the postseason, always dying to compete and and
(19:53):
play at the highest level, never got that chance. Get
drafted fifteenth as you mentioned by Denver, and traded and
played for the Clippers, which at that time the organization
is not what kids know it today. Uh. It was
struggling mightily and was a laughing stock in terms of
the way it was run and stories that came out
of there. But you know, all those things didn't deter
(20:15):
me from still wanting to be part of what winning
feels like, always curious about what winning feels like, always
feeling like I was somebody that programmed myself to be
a winning player, and so coming to San Antonio didn't
change that. It just helped me become more educated about
it and experience that for firsthand. And I remember it
(20:37):
didn't take you long at least I don't recall it
taking you long to kind of fit in with these
guys because you're a team player obviously, and these guys
they needed a little boost off the bench, So that
was kind of your role there for a while. I
talked for a moment about the role that you had
with the Spurs, and I was just looking at the numbers, Brent,
pretty incredible. The four years you played for the Spurs
six wins, So you guys were contenders every year. You
(20:58):
want two championships during that stretch, But what was special
about going into that locker room and kind of witnessing
what was going on. Yeah, I think we're seeing it
now with the way the Golden State Warriors have played
over the past five seasons, sparring the year with the injuries,
it's this sort of uh uh impenetrable group that you
know when you go out onto the floor on any
(21:21):
given night during the regular season, that you're not going
to get beat and if you are, it's because you
didn't do something right. I don't know if I'm explaining
that well, but usually teams don't beat you. There were
before or five plays we could go back to, We're like,
oh man, we beat ourselves tonight. But that feeling just
being impenetrable in some ways and and walking into arenas
(21:44):
where you know you're the better team and that if
you do what it is that you've been coached to
do and you play together, you'll have the opportunity to
to walk out of their victorious. And the guys were
very accepting. Um. Obviously, the organization from our and Pop
in the way that you're treated the very first day
that you're initiated here resonates at all levels. But um,
(22:09):
it's clear, and it was clear. Then you know with Tony, Manu,
Tim that you're placed within the team. You had to
find a way because you weren't going to get in
those guys way, and Pop was going to ask you
to do things that helped contribute to the system, and
it might not have been the best things for you.
And there have been players who have come through here
they have struggled with that, being asked to do things
(22:30):
that a lessoned roll where they wanted to do more.
And I had my time thinking about that and not
being used in certain ways. But again, look, I want
to win, so I'll do what it takes. And if
that means less is more, we're okay. You developed a
really cool on court chemistry with Manu, and then you
became very good friends off the floor, and I got
to see you play a couple of games a horse
(22:51):
against him, and it was just fun to watch you guys,
because you're both so creative. What about your relationship with
monit nob Yeah, Manu is uh for sure, and and
going sort of in my own head through my relationship
with him over the course of the past three months
with all the things that have happened to him and
for him because of his playing career, being elected into
(23:12):
the Hall of Fame and uh having the night here
just a few a few nights ago. UH here in
San Antonio to reveal his jersey once again with the
Hall of Fame under it, of course well deserved. Got
me thinking about uh, just the opportunity to play with
him and joking around about how for a time I
started over Manu, and and I always joked around that
(23:33):
there were black cars with Argentinian license plates outside of
my house for several weeks, that I was really worried
about the safety of of my family when that happened,
but that Uh, he was just the kind of guy
who was relentless, and UM felt like we compliment each
other when we played, just because he was willing to
take chances, and we fed off each other in such
(23:54):
great ways, and he became a fast friend, and Uh,
I really enjoy working with him in this capacity. Bill,
if you fast forward passed the playing career, is his
role within the organization now and the opportunity to be
a leader and to help our young guys as they
assimilate to San Antonio with a great voice and great person.
This is Sound of Spurs podcast I'm Bill Showening presented
(24:15):
by Frostbank, where with Brent Barry was now the vice
president of Basketball Operations general manager of the Austin Spurs.
There's so much more ground I want to cover, but
I wanted to ask you about those two particular championship
teams because what I remember most about the OH. Five
team was that lockdown defense that championship series, the finals
against Detroit where you had to buy points to get
to get to win, especially that the Game seven victory
(24:38):
n O. Five. And also the OH seven team, which
was a little bit different for Bricio had come in
and it was a little bit different type of ball club.
What do you remember most about those two particular teams
that won the titles. Yeah, first, the OH five one.
I mean I remember specifically some of the asking. As
you know, hordes of media come around during the finals,
and it's a much different atmosphere each round you advance,
And that was my first time being around something like that.
(25:00):
At the time, there were not a lot of people watching,
uh the stylistic play of the Detroit Pistons and San
Antonio Spurs. And somebody asked me one time, They're like, hey, Brent,
you know, nobody's really watching the finals because you guys
are playing games eighty two. And I was saying, well,
I don't work in TV. I work on TV. We're
not really concerned about that. We're trying to just win
(25:22):
this thing. Um and Detrey was such a well oiled machine.
And you go back through the history of Pop and
and Larry Brown and their relationship and knowing each other
and every counter move that was happening. That's the way
that series was. Series was for us, and Monty really
saved us in Game seven. We were down deep and
late into the fourth quarter and the switch went on
(25:43):
and Monty was the reason why we're able to pull
that series out and win that championship at home. Starts
in God was so horrible, he hesitated he did out
how close. Fast forward to you know, a couple of
(26:05):
years later where I felt like we should have won
in OH six as as well. We were primed to
do that and had a tough loss here at home
against Dallas. But the next year playing against Cleveland was
was great. It was a team that beat Detroit that
that very same Piston team on the shoulders of and
the very broad young shoulders of Lebron James, and that
(26:25):
team just wasn't ready to be there yet. Lebron was,
but the rest of the team was a little incomplete,
and I think the togetherness of our team and our
collective experience Tony had a great series was named the
m V p Uh. We really just managed those guys
kind of like a a varsity team would manage a
JV team. And I mean no disrespect by that, but
(26:45):
they had just not learned the things that the collective
group of the Spurs had at that time. We were
able to sweep the Calves and that ended up being
a title that we won on the road, which is
a different experience altogether, where we had a night on
the road just our team, and I remember that night
really specifically, just having that closeness. I think that Morton's
is still open. Yeah, I think there's still some Spurs
(27:08):
dragglers from that championship at seven. Uh. There's so many
things to talk about, and you're such an interesting guy.
You've got a lot of different layers. We talked about
the fact that you were a broadcaster for a while.
Now you're back in the front office. How are you
enjoying that aspect of this part of your career. I
really am thankful for the opportunity or see a few
years ago, I guess five now asking me if if
I wanted to join the front office in some capacity.
(27:29):
And of course I know many many former players who
who have done the role here in this way, Monty Williams,
Sean marks Um del demps, There's been a lot of
guys who have had a great opportunity to be around
the organization and see how you could take a peek
behind the curtain as to how things are run here.
It's super impressive. It's very educational on a daily basis.
(27:50):
I work with some incredible people who teach me uh
things about the game that I did not know as
a player or recognize as a player. We have tremendous
scouting group uh here in the States and international, and
so I'm exposed to all of those things and really
take a lot of pride in making sure that the
atmosphere and whatever it is we can provide for our
players gives them the best opportunity to be the best seals,
(28:13):
both on and off the floor. How about this new
role as general manager of the Austin Spurs. You're gonna
be working hands on. I would imagine with some of
the young yeah, a little bit more where UM with
with the Austin team, I'll be able to talk with
the coaching staff and work through the the early development,
especially this year having three first round picks where possibly
Malachi Brandum and Blake Wesley will spend a significant amount
(28:34):
of time in Austin UH learning how to become pros.
I feel like it's a good opportunity for me to
make sure that the atmosphere for those guys when they're
having an opportunity to play UM is something that I
can carry through the messaging what the coaches want them
to do. UM, have some touches with that team, travel
with them a little bit, work with the coaching staff,
and report back to what we're doing in San Antonio
(28:56):
so that we're just all on the same page. Before
I let you go, want to ask you about your music.
I know you'd like to strum the guitar and sing
a little bit. What's going on with that? Right? Well?
I wonder, Billy, we used to talk when I played,
because I didn't play guitar at the time, about your
music career, and I wondered, deep down if I would
I was jealous of of uh your talents. No, you
know to be jealous of my talent guitar. So yeah,
(29:17):
I've gotten I've gotten to know a couple of guys
here in town, and um, I playing a band that's
named Panic at the Costco. We've played a couple of
gigs around town and some bars that friends zone and
just have a good time practicing and playing the guitar
and trying to sing a little bit. It's a it's
a great outlet. Yeah, good's It's a good little hobby,
isn't it. Check our local listings for at the Costco.
(29:38):
The name of the show is Sound of Spurs, presented
by Frostbank. Brent Barry, uh the I'm gonna get your
title right, vice president Basketball Operations, General manager the Gostin Spurs.
Thank you so much for joining us. It's been a
pleasure to have you. I enjoyed watching your career for
those four years were with us. You were a lot
of fun. I appreciated Billy good to see it. Thank you.
That's Brent Barry And until next time, I'm Bill Schoening.
(29:59):
So long at Body
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