Great Moments in NBA Mix History: Brent Barry and the Houston Rockets

I love the NBA. I love the dunks, the no-look passes, and the stupid "hold me back" fights, but the biggest reason of all why I love the NBA has nothing to do with the game. It's because for every bench warmer in the league, there is somehow an "NBA mix" for them that is their highlight tape on YouTube. In what I hope will be a recurring feature, I'm going to bring those mixes to your attention and break them down.

Today, we start with Brent Barry. In 2008, the Rockets were on top of the world. They had won 22 games in a row and made the playoffs despite losing Yao mid-season, and had added Ron Artest to an already-talented team. In 2008-09, with Artest and a healthy Yao joining Tracy McGrady, who was an MVP candidate the previous year, the sky was the limit. However, there was even more reason for optimism. Brent Barry, shooting savante and wily veteran, had agreed to a bi-annual exception deal to bring him to Houston and provide spacing off the bench for a young second unit.

Barry would go on to have an uninspiring year, get passed by Von Wafer on the depth chart, and retire the next year in training camp. Still, we have this ridiculous YouTube video to remember him by. It's 70% one dude shooting a bunch of threes, but I'll annotate the better parts of it below.

:24 - Morey and Adelman look on as Barry puts up some shots. Adelman's khaki shorts and ankle socks combo is looking good.

1:33 - Yao roll around on the ground, dishes to Barry, who throws a behind-the-back pass to Carl Landry who finishes with a great finish in traffic. Not included in the video were Barry's 25 other, much less successful behind-the-back passes.

1:45 - Barry steps inside the three point line and has a nice finish on the other side of the basket. Immediately gets back outside the three point line to make sure he doesn't have a panic attack.

2:20 - Kevin Martin defense sighting!

2:45 - Barry offensively fouls the crap out of Russell Westbrook, somehow ends up with what I imagine is his only and-one of the season. Joey Dorsey happy.

There you have it. Three minutes and thirty-six seconds of a dude shooting threes. Hope it was as fun for you as it was for me.