Player Of The Day 7/9/12: Dana Barros

[King Taharqa]

One of the NBA's best players ever under 6 feet....

#1, #3, #11, #13 Dana Barros

Position: Guard ▪ Height: 5-11 ▪ Weight: 163 lbs.

Born: April 13, 1967 (Age 45) in Boston, Massachusetts

High School: Xaverian in Westwood, Massachusetts

College: Boston College

Draft: Seattle SuperSonics, 1st round (16th pick, 16th overall), 1989 NBA Draft

NBA Debut: November 3, 1989

The 5' 11", 165 lb point guard who attended Xaverian Brothers High School in Westwood, Massachusetts and later Boston College, began his professional basketball career in 1989 when he was taken in the NBA Draft by the Seattle SuperSonics with the 16th pick. Most of his time spent in Seattle was as a back-up to 6' 4" point guard Gary Payton who was considered to be a much more competent ball handler and defender than he, as Barros was deemed more usable at the shooting guard position, although at his size, he could not seem to find his role in the Sonics' offensive flow.

Prior to the 1993-94 season, the Sonics traded Barros to the Charlotte Hornets in exchange for Kendall Gill. Two days later, Charlotte traded Barros, Sidney Green, and their 1993 draft choice, Greg Graham, to the Philadelphia 76ers in a swap for veteran Hersey Hawkins.

In Philadelphia, Barros received much more playing time (31 minutes per game) with the Sixers, who were at that time a lowly team in the East, than when he was with the Western Conference stalwart SuperSonics (18 minutes per game). This allowed him to improve on his scoring output the previous season with Seattle from 7.8 to 13.3 points per game.

His second season with the Sixers (1994-95) proved to be a breakout year, achieving career highs in minutes per game (40.5), field goal percentage (49.0%), three-point percentage (46.4%), scoring average (20.6 points per contest), rebounding (3.3 per game) and assists (7.5) while playing all 82 regular season games. Highlights include a 50-point, 8-rebound performance against the Houston Rockets in March 1995, and a 25-point, 10-rebound, 15-assist triple-double effort against the Orlando Magic a few weeks later. Barros was selected to play in the 1995 NBA All-Star Game and at season's end was voted the league's Most Improved Player. He also set an NBA record by making at least one three-pointer in 89 consecutive games from December 23, 1994 until January 10, 1996. He appeared four consecutive times at the AT&T Long Distance Shootout during the All-Star Weekend from 1992 to 1996 coming in second twice.

However, his stay in Philadelphia appeared to be just a short-term joyride, as his stellar production allowed him the freedom to explore newer opportunities when he became a free agent at the end of the 1995-96 season. He signed with his hometown Boston Celtics, and although he never regained the same form he had with the Sixers, he carved out a niche in Boston, where he remained for five seasons in a slow but steady decline as a solid contributor as a role player alongside David Wesley and Dee Brown and mentor to younger players such as Antoine Walker and Paul Pierce.

In the offseason of 2000, Barros was traded to the Dallas Mavericks as part of a four-team deal that also involved the Utah Jazz and Golden State Warriors. By the time the 2000-01 season had commenced, the Mavs had shipped Barros to the Detroit Pistons, where he played 89 games over two seasons, averaging 7.5 points per game until they waived him in 2002.

After that, he was out of the NBA for almost two years, before rejoining the Celtics towards the end of the 2003-04 regular season first as an assistant coach and later as a player. He scored six points in one final game. He retired from the league with career averages of 10.5 points, 1.9 rebounds, 3.3 assists and a career three-point accuracy of 41.1%.