Vine and Branches

Barry picks Spurs over Suns
Paul Coro
The Arizona Republic

Feb. 28, 2008 07:24 PM

Brent Barry will not be playing for Phoenix.

Suns General Manager Steve Kerr said the 36-year-old guard told him tonight that he chose San Antonio over Phoenix, as well as suitors like Boston, Dallas and Houston. Barry cleared waivers Tuesday after being traded by San Antonio last week to Seattle, which released him Friday to set off a week of recruiting.

Barry will not be able to sign a deal with San Antonio until March 21 because NBA rules prohibit a player from re-signing with a team that traded him until 30 days after the deal was made.


"I spoke with Brent and he informed me he was going to stay in San Antonio," Kerr said. "He said that it was a tough decision but he's going to stay."

Phoenix is now expected to turn its attention to Philadelphia 6-foot-6 guard Gordan Giricek, who the 76ers planned to release so that he could sign with Phoenix if Barry turned down the Suns. Giricek has not been bought out by the 76ers yet and would have to clear waivers for a 48-hour period before he could sign with Phoenix. The 76ers visit Phoenix on Saturday.

Barry, nicknamed "Bones" for his 6-foot-7, 210-pound frame, was targeted by the Suns to help them spread the floor better with another shooter and have another playmaking option with his ability to slide to point guard. Barry is a career 40.7 percent 3-point shooter and the Suns are trying to keep the floor spread as they work in Shaquille O'Neal, who can not play as wide as Shawn Marion did to start possessions.

Barry helped the Spurs win 2005 and 2007 titles and his family is settled in San Antonio. He was already guaranteed his full $5.7 million for the season from the Spurs but now can make a pro-rated veteran's minimum check in addition to it. The Spurs and Suns were offering a contract that was fully guaranteed for next season but the Spurs were believed to be adding a partial guarantee for 2009-10 as well.

Barry is in his 13th NBA season out of Oregon State and has been with San Antonio since 2004.

With Barry, Phoenix would have boasted four of the 17 most accurate NBA 3-point shooters in NBA history with Steve Nash (sixth), Leandro Barbosa (11th), Barry (14th) and Raja Bell (17th).

Giricek, 29, is a 36.7 percent career 3-point shooter who has rarely played since being traded to Philadelphia for Kyle Korver. He is not the playmaker that Barry is but is a better defender. Giricek, originally from Yugoslavia, has only appeared in six of the past 22 Philadelphia games.

He was a double-digit scorer for most of his first five NBA season with Memphis, Orlando and Utah but fell out of favor with Jazz coach Jerry Sloan this season before being dealt.

http://www.azcentral.com/sports/suns...0228barry.html

Welcome back, Brent Barry. This makes the Spurs trade for Kurt Thomas an A+. Oh, and the Spurs also beat the Mavs last night for their seventh straight win. GO SPURS GO!

Before God uses you greatly, He will hurt you deeply. --Jon Davis

Sorry for not updating in such a long time. School, friends, and being involved in campus ministries has been eating up a good chunk of my time. Plus I don't like to write just to write. I prefer to have a point to what I write.

This morning at church, Jon Davis gave an incredible message about "simple obedience" that hit me pretty hard. Some of the things he talked about reminded me of when God called me to missions, and how I just stopped where I was and followed that calling. And in the midst of doing that, God allowed me to experience a deep amount of pain. I didn't know why at first, but after hearing Jon's message this morning, I realize that it was to humble me, to make me realize that this isn't about me.

In other news, I turned 21 back on the 12th. It was a pretty good birthday. I went home the weekend before it, and my parents and some friends took me out to dinner at a Japanese steakhouse. I love those places. For my actual birthday, some friends and I went to IHOP because it was also National Pancake Day. So we got some free pancakes. It was pretty fun.

School is going okay. My accelerated Spanish class ends after this week. I'm pretty happy about that. I haven't decided if I want to take the second class or not yet though. We'll see.

In sports, the Spurs are doing pretty well right now. They traded for Kurt Thomas, which is awesome. It sucks they had to give up Brent Barry for him though. There is a chance Barry could come back to the Spurs in a month or so though because Seattle bought him out. I think the Spurs have a good chance to repeat their championship this season.

That's all for now. I hope everyone is doing well! Adios!

I have officially decided (with God's help of course) that, assuming I will be accepted, I am definitely going to transfer to Bethany College of Missions next semester to pursue God's calling for me into missions.

For those of you who don't know, BCOM is a very small school near Twin Cities, Minnesota that is entirely missions-focused. They train you for a year, then you go out on a 16-month overseas internship. When you come back, you stay for a 4-month "debriefing", then you graduate with a BA in Cross-cultural Studies. Even though BCOM isn't accredited, several schools such as Liberty and Asuza-Pacific accept BCOM graduates into their graduate programs.

Through Facebook I have already met a few people who will also be going there this Fall. I think God's going to go great things with me there. I can't wait. :-D

The Patriots lost to the Giants in what I think was the most intense Super Bowl since 2000 when the Titans came up one yard short against the Rams. It was an awesome game!

I'm glad the Patriots lost though. They are cheaters.

My favorite commercial was the one with Stewie and Underdog fighting over the Coke. I was in CSU's caf with about 200 other people, and we were all chanting and cheering for Stewie. Then we all booed when Charlie Brown came out of nowhere to take the Coke. What a bunch of crap. It was rigged!

Well, that's my obligatory Super Bowl blog. Here's to the Panthers actually doing something next season. Until then... GO SPURS GO!

Every person on this planet has at least one thing that always gets on his nerves... a "pet peeve" if you will. I'm going to attempt to list my Top 5 Pet Peeves in reverse order. This may be a bad idea on my part, because I'm sure somebody out there will use these against me. But I'll take that risk.

Adam Hunter's Top 5 Pet Peeves

5. When people sign their name on the attendance sheet, then leave the class
This is just outright lying. A worse alternative to this is when someone signs somebody else's
name on the sheet. That just plain pisses me off.

4. When people say or do things just because their pastor said so
I can't stand it when somebody says that something is a sin, or that we can or can't do something just because they heard somebody else (usually his pastor) say it. For instance, people will say that drinking alcohol or having a tattoo is a sin just because they heard their pastor say that in a sermon, even though there is no Biblical evidence for such a claim.

3. Drivers who don't use a turn signal when turning
Drivers in South Carolina are notorious for this, and it drives me nuts! Seriously, how hard is it to move your hand a couple inches over and flip the turn signal on when you're about to turn? Are you really so lazy that you can't do that? Is it really that much trouble? If your electronic turn signal doesn't work for whatever reason, then use the old fashioned hand signals. It's supposed to be against the law to not use a turn signal, and if I were a cop, I'd pull everyone over who didn't use one.

2. Drivers who insist on driving two feet off my bumper (aka. "Tailgating")
Okay, really... is driving two feet off my bumper really going to get you to where you want to go any faster? What makes this worse is when people do it on a multi-lane highway where they can easily pass me. I swear one of these days I'm gonna slam on my brakes when someone does it. But for now I take great satisfaction in driving 10mph below the speed limit just to piss them off.

1. When people don't confront those they have a problem with
This is one that I've personally dealt with recently. If you have a problem with someone, don't go complaining to other people about it. Go confront him about it yourself.