In the NBA, where talented players gather, not everyone can become a superstar, and small roles can also be known by fans by relying on their unique charms.
The player introduced today, he experienced the ghost gate as a child, he loved basketball incomparably but was limited in height, he was a failed draft but played the role of "giant killer" in the Finals, his two wives were Miss Universe, he established himself in the NBA with a tough and agile style of play and a fearless spirit, he is: Jose Barria!
A blessing in disguise
Born in June 1984 in Mayaguez, a western city in puerto Rico, the U.S. autonomous state of Puerto Rico, José Barria Jr. accidentally inhaled some of his fluids during childbirth, causing his lungs to atrophy shortly after birth, and spent the next ten days in the hospital's pediatric intensive care unit.
Fortunately, after the timely treatment of the hospital, the problem of Baria's lung atrophy did not fall to the root of the disease, nor did it cause other respiratory diseases, and like ordinary children, Baria spent a healthy infancy.
Strictly speaking, Barria was born into a real sports family, his father Juemi was a professional water polo player, his mother Marta was good at tennis and volleyball, and the excellent sports genes were passed on to him and his two older brothers. The eldest brother was a member of the school basketball team and volleyball team during college, became a civil engineer after graduation, and the second brother chose to become a pediatrician after graduation.
Little Barria showed outstanding athletic talent from an early age, playing in the local children's basketball league at the age of three, becoming a member of the seven-year-old children's league at the age of five, and winning the national championship in the same age group tennis competition at the age of ten.
Tennis, an elegant sport without confrontation, obviously can't satisfy the hidden wild heart in Barria's heart, he prefers confrontation on the basketball court, and entering the NBA is a wish he has aspired to achieve since he was a child.
Height, the obstacle to dreams
At the age of 12, Barria's height was close to 1.7 meters, but in the following years, the stagnant height made Barria fall into a negative mood for a while, when his father, as a former professional player, helped The Little Barria to clear the dark clouds in his heart.
"If you want to join the NBA, height is not a big issue, but if you want to use an ordinary height to realize your dreams, you must pay more effort than others." —Father Huemi
After his father's order, Barria firmly believes that he can make up for the lack of height with hard work and mind, and at this time, Barria already has a strong character and a spirit of not accepting defeat. In order to give his son more professional basketball training, his father, Juemi, sent him to a Christian college in Miami, Florida, where little Barria met his first Bole: Alvarez.
As head of personnel for the Miami area AAU basketball team, Alvarez often organizes underage basketball tournaments, and in the summer of 2000, during the U16 basketball training camp he organized, Alvarez met Barria.
In a confrontation match, when all the children were showing their offensive talents, only Barria listened to the coach's arrangement to carefully sort out the team's attack, and his just right pass made Alvarez's eyes light up.
In order to prove his vision, Alvarez organized a basketball training session for Barria alone, during which he was shocked by Barria's extremely fast starting speed, and this small man with a height of less than 1.8 meters completely conquered the basketball personnel director.
'Barria is really good, he's the kind of player who looks better and better, and if you want him to do something, he can do it in the best way in front of everyone. - Alvarez
In order to make Barria become as soon as possible, Alvarez opened a small stove for him and developed a special training course for him, which made Barria's basketball level improve rapidly. In the 01-02 Florida High School League, Barria led Miami Christian High School to an impressive record of 38 wins and 2 losses, and won the state championship in the final against Cyprus Creek High School led by "Littles".
In this final, Barria scored 32 points and was named to florida's Team of the Year with an average of 24.8 points per game, and was named Miami-Dade County Player of the Year.
A career of continuous progress
Born with a shrunken lungs, Barria was ordered by doctors to strictly prohibit strenuous exercise, and although Barria proved his basketball talent in high school, this little episode left him automatically ignored by the scouts of the university team.
The university of Kansas coach frank Martin admired the little man so much that he decided to write a letter of recommendation from Northeastern University in Boston for Barria as the team's defender line was already overcrowded, recommending him to his friend Ron Everhart.
Everhart, head coach of Northeastern University basketball, came to the team when Barria came to the team to fill the shortage of point guard positions. In the 02-03 season, barria, a freshman, became the team's number one scorer with his skillful scoring skills, averaging 17.6 points, 3 rebounds and 3.9 assists per game, leading Northeastern University to win more than 50% in a single season, creating the team's best record in the past seven years.
In his sophomore season, the improving Barria averaged 20.7 points, 3.6 rebounds and 5.8 assists per game in 26 games, helping Northeastern University win more than 60%, but because the team's overall record ranked third in the University Eastern Conference, it ultimately failed to break into the NCAA Championship.
In the summer of 2004, Barria represented Puerto Rico in the FIBA U21 World Youth Championship qualifiers, where he was voted the top scorer with an average of 25 points per game in front of a group of tall and talented players. In the finals, he scored 27 points, six rebounds and six assists to lead the team to victory over the American youth team led by Chris Paul.
"He's playing in such a crazy state that he always reminds me of my college opponents Rick Carlisle, who all have a lot of willpower." --Coach Everhart
In the junior and senior seasons, Barria's average score per game was stable at more than 20 points, and the number of assists continued to climb, and the average number of assists per game reached 8.4 in the senior season. In his four years at the university, Barria scored a total of 2,290 points, second in team history behind Reggie Lewis, and ranked second in school history with 721 assists and 255 three-point shooting.
A spell that is difficult to overcome
Compared to Europe's more team-oriented style, the NBA is talent-first, which is extremely unfair to short players, but it is a fact that cannot be changed. In this way, Barria, who is only 1.83 meters tall, unsurprisingly lost the 2006 draft, even though he had excellent college statistics, but failed to lead the team to the NCAA Championship for four years, leaving him in the impression of NBA scouting as just a data brush.
Growing up in adversity, Barria did not concede defeat, and shortly after the end of the draft, the Warriors scouts threw him an olive branch and invited him to represent the team in the summer league, and the 22-year-old Barria did not hesitate and seized the only straw he could join the NBA.
In the five games in Las Vegas, Barria's performance was not outstanding, the height disadvantage made him inaccurate in the high-intensity confrontation, and the poor performance made his NBA dream fade away.
Fate always favors those who are prepared, and due to the start of the Salt City Lake Summer League, the Dallas Mavericks have cobbled together a team to participate, and Barria was lucky enough to be one of them, averaging 12 points and 6.7 assists in his three games, and the steady play won him a chance to join the Dallas Mavericks preseason training camp.
Objectively speaking, Barria can get this opportunity, mainly benefiting from the "global scouting excavation plan" executed by Dallas Mavericks owner Cuban, the Mavericks have placed their own scouts on all continents of the world, in order to find non-American talented players, as early as the Polo Rico national team played a famous Barria, early into the Mavericks scouting vision.
In the 05-06 season, Dallas Mavericks fans had just experienced the grief of being won four games in a row by the Heat in the Finals, and with an unfinished career, the Mavericks embarked on a new season journey, and Barria received an annual salary of $410,000 without guarantee.
Entering the dallas Mavericks who aspire to win the championship, Barria is the last player on the team bench, and the opportunities to play are concentrated in garbage time, no fans remember his debut game, the first score, the first steal, etc., and even his name is not on his training clothes.
The counterattack of the losing draft
In early 2007, the Mavericks sent Barria to the Development League for training, perhaps after accumulating too much energy to release, Barria exploded when he had the ball, averaging 27.3 points, 5 rebounds and 7.8 assists per game in eight development league games, including 43 and 41 points for two consecutive days, so the Mavericks could not wait to recall him, and the contract was fully guaranteed.
In the rookie season in Barria, the Dallas Mavericks achieved a record of 67 wins and 15 losses in the league, just when they were pointing to the championship, the first round of the playoffs against the Golden State Warriors, under the leadership of coach Nelson Sr., the Warriors were united in the whole team, and the style of the ball finally allowed them to complete the "Black Eight Miracle", and two consecutive seasons were out in a tragic way, which made the Dallas Mavericks fans unacceptable.
At this time, Barria only had 191 minutes of playing time throughout the season, ranking 93rd from the bottom in the league, and he was still a marginal player with no trading value in the team. The 07-08 season came as promised, and in the third game of the regular season against the Kings, Barria got the opportunity to start, scoring 25 points and 8 assists on 9-of-11 shooting, outpacing the league's original "porcelain king" Kevin Martin.
But with Devon Harris' comeback, Barria was thrown to the end of the bench until February 2008, when the Mavericks, who wanted to seek a change, made a deal with the Nets, sending Devon Harris back to point guard Jason Kidd. After the deal, Barria gradually gained more playing time, averaging 4.3 points per game, and signed a three-year, $5 million contract extension with the team at the end of the season.
"Only by getting better can you stay in the NBA!" So I just want to stay in the gym and the training gym and listen to the advice of the old players so that I can improve quickly, I'm confident and I'm ready. —Barria
In the following two seasons, Barria's playing time was stable at 20 minutes, and the average data per game also reached 7.7 points and 3.4 assists, becoming the most stable point guard in the bench lineup, and the Dallas Mavericks lost to the Nuggets and Spurs in the playoffs in the two seasons, and the first championship in team history is still far away.
A mountain in Puerto Rico
In the 10-11 season, the Dallas Mavericks ranked third in the West with a record of 57 wins and 25 losses, when most fans in the league were not optimistic that this "old" team could win the championship, but in the playoffs of the strong dialogue, the Mavericks first won the Blazers led by Roy in the first round, then swept the defending champion Lakers 4-0 in the Western Conference Semifinals, defeated the young Thunder in the Western Conference Finals, and reached the Finals again after five years.
It is worth mentioning that in the series with the Lakers, Barria played a brilliant role, in the 18 minutes of playing time, can average 11:5 points and 5.5 assists per game, his sharp breakthrough makes the Lakers "twin towers" Bynum and Dagaso helpless.
In the fourth game of the series, an angry Bynum lowered Barria to the ground with an iron elbow, the former was directly expelled, and the latter made a slight adjustment and hit two free throws steadily, which became a classic moment in the hearts of Mavericks fans.
The finals opponent is still the Miami Heat, unlike Wade's single-core team five years ago, this time the Heat gathered James and Persia, and the strength has been further upgraded. The immature Big Three took on the experienced Lone Ranger, and the series talent was ultimately lost to Experience, and the Lone Ranger eliminated the Heat by a score of 4-2 to win the first championship in team history.
In this series, Barria did not contribute much brilliant play, but he withdrew from the fierce attack with excellent lower limb strength when facing James' back, due to the 25 cm height difference and 20 kg weight difference between the two sides, barria also won the title of "a mountain in Puerto Rico".
Two beautiful wives
Throughout Barria's career, he averaged only 7.9 points and 3.6 assists per game, and his career salary was only about $50 million, deducting nearly 50% of the tax, and the actual salary was only $25 million. Such average data per game and ability to absorb money are very common in the NBA, but in terms of personal charm, Barria is definitely a man at the tip of the pyramid.
Barria's ex-wife, Rivera, was a Miss Universe Puerto Rico in 2006, and the two met and married in 2011, but since then, Zurica has been exposed to excessive intimate contact with other men, and Barria finally decides to divorce her ex-wife.
Current and former
Barria's current wife, Viviana, is 1.75 meters tall, and she was crowned Miss Universe Puerto Rico for two consecutive years in 2010 and 2011, the two were married in 2016, and now have two children, a very happy family of four.
Barria's current wife
Go around and back to square one
The summer of 2011 was a happy year for Barria, who won the championship with the team in June, helped Puerto Rico to the Olympic games at the Men's Basketball Championship of the Americas in September, and won the championship in the final of the Men's Basketball Team at the Pan Am Games at the end of October.
Immediately after, the NBA fell into a labor dispute, the players' union and the league could not reach an agreement, resulting in the league being postponed for dozens of days, during which the Timberwolves offered Barria a four-year, $19 million contract, and the Mavericks could not match due to tight salary space, remembering to send Barria to Minnesota.
When Barria learned of the Timberwolves' offer, he immediately dialed the boss Cuban's phone:
Barria: "Boss, what should I do?" ”
Cuban: "First of all congratulations on getting a big contract, we will definitely get you back!" ”
Cuban as the NBA's most humane boss is not a waste, after the official start of the 11th to 12th season, the Mavericks raised the championship flag in the opener but did not issue a championship ring, until January 2012 Mavericks home against the Timberwolves, the team that stayed in the team to win the championship and Barria received a beautiful championship ring.
Barria did not have a good time after coming to the Timberwolves, the core of the team at that time was Lefour and Rubio, the lineup was full of talent, this group of talented players did not obey the leadership of head coach Adelman, but focused more on internal consumption, which made the Timberwolves' talent unable to cash in, three consecutive seasons failed to break into the playoffs.
Best of the Career:
On March 24, 2012, during the Timberwolves' away game against the Thunder, although the Timberwolves lost to the opponent in overtime, Barria played 47 minutes in the whole game, shooting 10 of 22, and had a triple-double of 25 points, 10 rebounds and 14 assists, which was his first triple-double and the only triple-double in his career.
Fast forward to the 2014 offseason, the Timberwolves have been trying to send a contract expiring Barria, but the league is not interested, until two days before the new season, the Timberwolves announced that they bought out Barria's contract, and Cuban also made good on his promise at this time, re-recruiting him.
Lone Ranger Boss Cuban
Time flies back to the familiar environment, and the next six seasons, Barria's team has experienced a change of team name, Nowitzki's retirement and Doncic's maturity, as the spiritual leader of this young team, Barria has left Dallas fans and this group of young players with a spirit of perseverance, tenacity and never accept defeat.
In November 2020, lone ranger owner Cuban signed a one-year, $2.6 million contract with Barria to reward him for his 11 seasons, and immediately cut the 36-year-old veteran, and Barria officially announced his retirement.
Barria and Doncic
Where has Barria gone?
After retiring from the basketball court, Barria briefly joined the Spanish and Puerto Rican basketball leagues, and in the summer of 2021, after carlisle, the coach who coached the Lone Rangers for 12 seasons, announced his resignation, the 2011 champion Kidd took office, and Barria also returned to the Lone Ranger as an assistant coach, explaining the meaning of inheritance to fans around the world.