http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/nuggets/article/0,1299,DRMN_20_2189967,00.html Nuggetshaven't let guard down Vandeweghe says Jon Barry to sign deal by midweek By Chris Tomasson, Rocky Mountain News August 18, 2003 Members of the Barry family have played for 12 of the NBA's 29 teams. Soon, it will be 13. Denver Nuggets general manager Kiki Vandeweghe said Sunday that free-agent shooting guard Jon Barry, son of Hall of Famer Rick Barry and brother of two NBA Barrys, will sign with the Nuggets by the "middle of the week." " Jon Barry spent the past two seasons with Detroit, bringing the Barry collection of teams to a dozen. Rick played for Golden State, Houston and with the Nets while they were in the ABA. Brent is with Seattle after having played with the Los Angeles Clippers, Miami and Chicago. And Drew played with Atlanta, Golden State and Seattle from 1997 to 2000. But no Barry has traveled more than Jon, 34. In his first 11 seasons, he also played for Milwaukee, Golden State, Atlanta, the Los Angeles Lakers and Sacramento. "That will be great having him in Denver," said Rick Barry, who lives in Colorado Springs. "I'll be able to see the grandkids a lot more now (Jon Barry has two sons)." Rick Barry said his son called him during the weekend to say he would be signing a one-year contract with the Nuggets. The deal is believed to be worth more than $2 million. Vandeweghe and head coach Jeff Bzdelik spent the past week looking at free-agent shooting guards. Others in the mix were Dion Glover, Stephen Jackson, Voshon Lenard and Steve Smith. Glover came to Denver last week for a two-day tryout, and Vande- weghe said he still could be signed. For now, though, the Nuggets, whose oldest current player is 29, want a savvy veteran. "He has the experience," Vande- weghe said. "He has a lot of playoff experience (in recent years) with Sacramento and Detroit." Barry, who averaged 6.9 points for the Pistons last season and has compiled a career average of 5.7, brings the Nuggets some much- needed outside shooting. He was 11th in the NBA last season in three-point percentage at .407, and he has posted a career percentage of .391. "He's always going to give maximum effort," said Rick Barry, a pro from 1965-80. "He knows how to play, and Kiki likes guys like that." Jon Barry doesn't know how to shoot free throws quite like his father, who used an underhand method to put up a career percentage of .900. But Jon Barry, a career .847 marksman, still figures to shoot plenty of technicals for the Nuggets. Jon Barry, who could not be reached, had conversations during free agency with several contenders, including Detroit and Indiana. Apparently, though, he did not receive an offer to his liking. "There were some opportunities for longer-term deals, but they fell through," Rick Barry said. "He didn't want to wait around anymore." Rick Barry said his son doesn't mind if he starts or comes off the bench, but is "looking for an opportunity to play." Jon Barry averaged 18.4 minutes with the Pistons during the regular season but had his minutes cut to 12.3 during the playoffs. ETC.: The signing of free-agent point guard Earl Boykins will become official today, and he will be introduced at a 2 p.m. news conference at the Pepsi Center. Boykins' deal is worth $13.7 million over five years . . . Final auditions for the Nuggets Dancers will be at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the Universal Lending Pavilion in the Pepsi Center parking lot, and they are open to the public. Celebrity judges will help narrow the 35 finalists to 15 to 18 dancers. "It should be a lot of fun,"' Vandeweghe said. Many of the team's players will be available to sign autographs at the event and later in the evening at the downtown nightclub Rise. Vandeweghe said Boykins will be on hand and Barry might be.
Additions this offseason for the Nuggets include: SF - Camello Anthony SG - Jon Barry PG - Andre Miller, Earl Boykins Pretty decent additions to a team with Nene, Skita, White and Camby. I also think they will have enough money NEXT year to sign a big time FA since they only used HALF of their available monies this year on Andre Miller.
So White plays SG? He was hyped up a lot right before the draft and has seriously dissapointed - will he turn into something good or decent? Good signings though. Additions they need to think about are at SG (a bigger SG as they seem undersized) and C, but they've done better than I had expected.
White has been playing SG but I don't think that is really his position. I think he is more of a back up SF. They still need to address the SG and C positions but might not be able to adequetely do that THIS year. They still will have decent money next year to bring in a quality SG/C.
White is like 6'9'' 235. Not sure if he can play SG effectively. From what I remember of him, hes more of a slasher/post up guy than he is a shooter. You are right about them needing a quality starter at SG and a backup bigman. Isn't Tskidtislkjsldfkj more of a SF than a PF?? If so, assuming Camby and Nene start, that leaves on Anderson as their backup big man. Regardless, they are only a player or two away from passing up Memphis IMO.
If White is 6-9 then they have a lot of big guys, but as is the trend these days, they all play SF, so they do need some more help upfront. And we'll have to see how Andre Miller plays this year. But I like the Boykins and Barry acquisitions...role players have more of an impact that people think, imo (a reason I think the Piatkowski/Griffin acquistions for the Rox could be very helpful).
I am with you on all that Jay. The Midwest is not going to be a picnic at all this year (one of the reasons why I think the Rockets won't improve (win wise) by much). Dallas, SA and Minny are elite. Memphis and Denver will be capable of beating any team, including us, based on their talent alone. There will be no gimmies in the Midwest this year (or in the West for that matter). PS - When is the last year we had where we couldn't look at any teams in the conference say "that team sucks"????? Even the weak teams (Mem, Den, LA, Sea, GS) will all be somewhat competitive. OK, maybe not GS. This is going to be a fun year to watch!
Why not GS? They are as good with NVE/AJ as Arenas/EB and if Dunleavy Jr has improved as much as advertised may cause AJ not to be missed.
PG -- Miller, Boykins, Harrington SG -- White, Barry, Trepagnier, Yarborough SF -- Melo, Harvey, Bowen PF -- Nene, Skita, Andersen C -- Camby, Elson <b>SKITA IS A PF.</b> He's 7' tall, he's too slow to be a SF. Think Nowitzki. That's Sktia. Especially now that he's bulking up. White isn't a shooter, but is going to be a SG for us, at least for the time being. incredible talent, great slasher, weak defender. Should be an adventure. That's why we brought in Barry, he's a shooter. We're also still looking at Predrag Drobnjak (C, Seattle -- UGH! Please no!!), Stephen Jackson, Dion Glover and Voshon Lenard.
I could easily see Nene, Skita and Camby sharing the minutes for PF and C. I look foward to seeing how much Skita improves this year. By the end of the season I could see Skita starting at PF and Nene at C (hopefully not due to an injury from Camby)
