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raven
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Joined: 9/2/2002
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Canada
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Barrett Finds Kindred Spirit in Thomas
By STEVE POPPER
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/08/sports/basketball/08knicks.html
Published: July 8, 2004
REENBURGH, N.Y., July 7 - Andre Barrett is easy to pick out as the teams set up for a scrimmage at the Knicks' rookie camp, the shortest player on the floor by far. And when the scrimmage begins, he is easy to spot, too, because he is a blur, slipping around and past the other players.
It is a distinction that Barrett has had to make since junior high school, convincing coaches, scouts and teammates that he is not too small.
And as he played Wednesday, Barrett, the former Seton Hall point guard, found one person he did not need to convince. Standing off the court, Isiah Thomas, the Knicks' president of basketball operations, watched and smiled.
"He's good," Thomas said. "When you're good, you're good. Whether you're big or small, if you know how to do it, you know how to do it. He can do it. He can run a team. He knows where to go. He will be a tough cover. He's small enough to get in spaces where it's hard for the defense to react, so his size and his quickness can be an asset."
Maybe the critics have been thinking about Barrett all wrong. They look at his size, measured at a bit shorter than 5 feet 10 inches in shoes before the draft last month, and he was not selected. But Barrett bulked up during his four seasons at Seton Hall, adding strength to contend with players who try to post him up.
Barrett may not stick with the Knicks unless Thomas swings a deal involving one of the Knicks' backup point guards - Moochie Norris and Frank Williams - but he has a supporter in Thomas.
"He was probably one of those guys throughout his whole life they said, 'You're too short,' " Barrett said of Thomas, who is 6-1. "And at every level he performed. He came out and played. If you're a good player, it doesn't matter where you play at. You're going to perform."
Barrett said he was not highly regarded when he headed to Rice High School, which has a history of strong point guards.
"Nobody thought I was going to play varsity my freshman year," he said. "I proved everybody wrong and I was probably 5-foot-6 then.
"People say: 'Your height, I don't think you're going to be able to do it. There are bigger players.' But you've got to understand, at every level you get quicker, you get better, you get faster, you develop a better jump shot. It's just a matter of wanting to get better, and I have that desire in me."
It was enough to earn him a place on the Knicks' summer league team.
"He gives you an element - he really pushes the ball - that's really missing," Jeff Nix, a Knicks assistant general manager, said. "You watch a little bit of practice and you see guys catch the ball and he's on them 80 feet, 90 feet from the basket."
Nix said Barrett had so many qualities that "to me he looks 6-5."
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Is that coming from your typing fingers Briggs?
7/8/2004 12:32 PM