Rick Barry posits NBA All-Star Game changes, teases documentary on Warriors' 1975 NBA title: "It was really meaningful to me" (Exclusive)
Whenever he cues up his DVR, Rick Barry will soon feel validated why he declined to watch this year’s NBA All-Star game live both in person and on television.
Why waste his time watching the current NBA All-Stars play as if they are wasting their time even participating in it? Whenever Barry watches the replay, it will just spark frustrations with how the current product contrasts drastically about how he felt when he played in the All-Star game both with the NBA (eight appearances from 1966-67; 1973-78) and ABA (1969-72).
“I looked forward to the challenge of playing against the East and showing those guys that we can beat them,” Barry told Sportskeeda. “It was really meaningful to me.”
As for the current All-Stars? It might be meaningful to them for receiving the nod. Not enough to seriously compete, though. The Eastern Conference All-Stars set an NBA All-Star record for most points (211) partly because the Western Conference hardly played any defense. No wonder NBA Commissioner Adam Silver offered a pithy “congratulations” to the East team with an annoyed tone. “Embarrassing,” as Barry said.
That might prompt the NBA and the players union to brainstorm possible tweaks to revitalize the All-Star game. No matter what additional financial or competitive incentives both parties come up with, Barry expressed serious skepticism it will ever inspire the current NBA players to take the All-Star game more seriously.
“It’ll never happen,” Barry told Sportskeeda. “The owners, I don’t think they want that. The last thing they want is to have a super competitive game with these amazing great athletes, and they have somebody get hurt. There’s too much money involved. They’re not going to take a chance doing that.”
Rick Barry Exclusive (Part 1)
In part one of an exclusive interview, Barry spoke with Sportskeeda about the All-Star game’s various issues, why he’s skeptical they can be solved as well as details about an upcoming documentary on the Warriors’ 1975 NBA championship team.
Editor’s note: The following one-on-one conversation has been condensed and edited.
What do you make of this latest All-Star game as well as the recent ones that haven’t been enough of a competitive showcase?
Rick Barry:
“It hasn’t been that way for decades. It’s been a joke. I’ve talked about it for a long time. I’ve talked about it to, God rest his soul, to [former NBA Commissioner] David Stern about it as well as with Adam Silver. I’ve said, ‘What are you guys doing?’ This is embarrassing.’ Let’s call it what it is. It’s an exhibition. Don’t call it the All-Star game. Call it the ‘NBA All-Star weekend with an exhibition.’ That’s all it is. They’re putting on a show for people. It’s not a competitive game. I always prayed the last five minutes would be a close game because maybe their competitive juices would flow and they would get more serious about actually trying to win the game. Having been a part of this when it was a really, really serious game and meant something, that has changed dramatically. It’s not anywhere near light years of what it used to be.”
When you talked with former Commissioner Stern when he was around and with Adam Silver, what was your message to them?
Rick Barry:
“I talked to them all the time for decades and said, ‘This is a joke!’ [Adam] said they just set a record [the Eastern Conference All-Stars became the first All-Star team to surpass 200 points]. What record? Nobody is guarding you! Come on, give me a break. Back when it was competitive, there should be special records. Everything else after that should be a whole other series of what somebody accomplished. But it shouldn’t be a record for an All-Star game for when it was competitive and when there was no 3-point shot.”
What are the solutions?
Rick Barry:
“Just call it what it is. It’s an exhibition. The people are going out there to entertain the people and do some amazing things. But come on. They don’t even try to guard people sometimes. I didn’t even watch it. I heard about it. I’ve got it recorded, and I’ll probably take a look just to see how bad it really was. But one of the clips that I saw was pretty bad. I saw [Luka] Doncic and the Joker [Nikola Jokic} going down the court. So it’s fine if you want to watch it and see fun stuff. I still remember one of the games where Steph Curry threw a bounce pass and it went up to Giannis [Antetokounmpo]. He came from the other side and was perfectly at the basket to get a dunk. My God, that was an amazing freaking pass! So, they do some absolutely amazing things. So if you go there with the whole idea that you’re just going to see these incredible athletes do some amazing things out there and be entertained, then it’s fine. But as a person who knows what it was like when I played and did something, it’s meaningless to me.”
What do you think of the NBA trying to make changes in recent years with having a draft and then having the Elam Ending?
Rick Barry:
“You always have to try as much as you can to make things more enjoyable. It is fan-based. The fans are the ones paying for it. So you got to make it as interesting and entertaining as you possibly can. I thought the early in-season tournament was kind of fun. The guys actually bought into it. The competitive part meant something because the wins and losses still counted. I thought that was good. It worked out terrific. It gave more meaning to the early part of the season, which usually was meaningless other than the fact that you were trying to get home-court [advantage], have a nice winning record and establish your playoff positioning. So that was a good tweak. They’ve had some good tweaks."
"They’ve changed stuff. But what they need to do is focus on other things. The 3-point shot is the one, true really good element of All-Star weekend. What Steph [Curry] and Sabrina [Ionescu] did was spectacular. God bless her. For her to go to the NBA 3-point line even though was shooting with the smaller balls, that was impressive. She shot as well as the other competitors that were in the 3-point contest that were top NBA players. She was really good. Steph had a really good route. But he had to shoot better than all of those other guys to beat her. It was really fun and great. That was a great addition, and I am glad they came up with that. That helped make the whole night."
"But with the dunk contest, how many different dunks can you possibly do? I give the winner [Mac McClung] credit. Two times he’s won it and he did a nice job and was very creative and he really worked it. You can see he has a guy that he’s worked with. When he had Shaq, you saw he was positioning Shaq in exactly the position that he needed him to be in because he’s done this and has been training for this. He knew where he needed to have him to do what he wanted to do. He put in some time and effort, and he deserved to win because of the fact it was exciting what he's done. He’s a little guy, but his head was at the rim. It was pretty impressive in regards to that. But again, how many dunks are that exciting and that different than what you have? I don’t know why they make a big thing out of the dunk contest [anymore]. They should make a big thing out of the 3-point shooting contest because that is a real skill that requires someone that is really good at what they’re doing. The other one is just about, ‘Can you jump?’”
Some have suggested different proposals, such as the league giving more financial incentives or granting Finals home-court advantage to the conference winner. What do you think of those ideas?
Rick Barry:
“That’s not going to get the guys to play the way they should be playing. It’s gone for so long with the way it is. The thing I was proudest about was when they gave me the opportunity to be one of the coaches at one of the Rising Stars games [in 2022]. Even though the assistant coaches with the Phoenix Suns were the ones we worked with the players, I did get to talk to them. I didn’t make the subs, but I was the honorary coach. I said to the guys, ‘I’m going to ask one thing of you. Your time will hopefully come and you can get in the Sunday game. However, it’s not even a game anymore; it’s just the fact that you can be an All-Star. So how about you guys go out there and show the people you know how to play this game and be serious about this? Play it like it means something. Show the people what kind of talent you are because you’re playing against some of the other young elite players in the league. Show off your skills, and don’t go out there and jerk around. If you make the All-Star game, then you can jerk around as an All-Star.’”
How did they receive the message?
Rick Barry:
“They did receive it. We won! I’m so proud of the guys.”
Do I take away correctly that there is no way, in your mind, that the All-Star game can ever get back to what it was?
Rick Barry:
“It’ll never happen. It’ll never happen. The owners, I don’t think they want that. The last thing they want is to have a super competitive game with these amazing great athletes, and they have somebody get hurt. There’s too much money involved. They’re not going to take a chance doing that.”
What did you cherish about the different All-Star games you played? (eight NBA; 1966-67; 1978-78 and four ABA: 1969-72)
Rick Barry:
“I missed an All-Star game. I was pissed I got hurt in Milwaukee before the Chicago All-Star game [in 1973]. I was so pissed off because I looked forward to that game. I looked forward to the challenge of playing against the East and showing those guys that we can beat them. It was really meaningful to me. Winning the MVP in ’67 was pretty special. There were so many top-50 players of all time that were in that game. I had a photo that had eight players in the photo, and all eight of them were top-50 players. This is another thing that I’ve talked about, and nobody freaking listens to me in the NBA. It is crazy that the NBA has a Most Valuable Player award for the entire league. That’s crazy. You don’t play a balanced schedule. You should have an MVP for the Eastern Conference and an MVP for the Western Conference. You can do it also for marketing – get another sponsor and you make more money. It makes more sense for honoring guys that deserve to be honored that are playing the same type of schedule. You played the other teams in the West twice, once on the road and once at home. That’s crazy. It makes no logical sense."
"Then for the All-Star game, there should be two awards. The Most Valuable Player isn’t necessarily the Most Outstanding Player. You can have two awards. Sometimes it might be both guys. But you really should have two awards when the game meant something. Now, the All-Star game doesn’t mean squat. But you could have that there and in the Finals – having your Most Valuable Player and your Most Outstanding Player. The Most Outstanding Player may be the guy on the losing team. In the All-Star game when it was serious and the year that I won, if they had the Most Outstanding Player and Most Valuable Player, I should’ve gotten the Most Outstanding Player and the Most Valuable Player should have been Nate Thurmond. Nate Thurmond went up against a frontline of Wilt Chamberlain, Bill Russell and Jerry Lucas. It was unbelievable. I thought he was super valuable to us in what he did at that position and was valuable to the team success. I had a great offensive game and scored 38 points. So I get the Most Outstanding Player and Nate gets the Most Valuable Player."
What feedback have you gotten when you’ve shared that idea?
Rick Barry:
“They never listen to anything that I say. I have a lot of good ideas, but nobody ever listens to me. That one makes so much sense. It’s beyond my comprehension.”
In two different NBA All-Star weekends, you were part of both the 50-year anniversary team [in 1996] and the 75-year anniversary team [in 2022]. What were the highlights for you during both All-Star weekends?
Rick Barry:
“The 50 one was certainly a great honor, though the most important thing is not individual honors. Individual honors without a championship are like this picture: put icing, cherries, candles and all of that wonderful stuff on a plate without any cake. What does it look like? The cake is what you want. Fortunately, I got the cake. I also have a bunch of stuff to decorate it with. The thing I remember about that is the quality of the players and all that were there. I was so sad that Pete [Maravich] wasn’t able to be there because I got to become friends with Pete. That was very sad that he wasn’t with us. But to see all the guys and be together with them at one time and be with my guy, Jeff [Hamilton], who laid all the jackets for us. He has amazing stuff that he’s created. He created a really cool jacket too for the 75th [anniversary team]. It was nice to be there and people were congratulating me. I said, ‘Thank you very much. But to be honest with you, I would’ve been a little shocked and disappointed if I wasn’t on the 75th team since I made the top 50’ (laughs). But it’s always nice to be recognized. To me, though, the most meaningful thing is having my championship ring in ’75 with the way we won it. Thank God. Finally."
"I was working so hard to try to get a documentary made. How in the world does the biggest upset in the history of major sports in the United States of America happen, and there has never been a documentary about it?’ It was an unbelievable story. So I had some very important and big-name people ready to finally do this. Then my teammate, Charles Dudley – ‘The Hopper’ – had already started doing something himself. I asked him, ‘Are you really doing something?’ He said, ‘Yeah we got some stuff and we’ve done a few interviews.’ He asked if I wanted to get involved. I said, ‘Yeah, but I want to make sure it’s being done the way I want it to be done.’ I said, ‘Don’t take me wrong. This is to make sure that it's done so that you and our teammates get the recognition they deserve that they never got.’ I said, ‘I don’t want this to be about me. It’s not about me. This is about the Golden State Warriors and the amazing group of guys that we had. I want to make sure the focus is on that. So, I want to talk to your director, and the guy doing this thing and see what it is that he's trying to do. That’s the angle that I want. I want this to be about giving our team credit for what we were able to accomplish and see how close we were as a group. That’s the way I always felt it should be to get that recognition.’"
"Fortunately, we got it going. I think they’re going to have it ready this year and hopefully they can do it sometime at the end of the year. The cool thing would be to do it at the beginning of next year because it would be 50 years. It’ll be the 50th anniversary of this team, so we could have a big premiere for it and have it done at Chase Center so the fans can see it there and do the premiere for January 2025. I think that would be awesome.”
Do you have any details on where that stands?
Rick Barry:
“No, we have no idea. But supposedly it’s going to be done and ready to go later this year. My hope is Joe Lacob and Peter Guber [the Warriors’ majority owners] will want to have the premiere at Chase Center. I think we should hold off until January, so that it’s 50 years afterwards and not wait until later because the playoffs would be going on and you don’t want to take away from that. But due to the fact that it’s 50 years since 1975 when we won and the documentary is coming out in 2025, that would be pretty cool.”
Is it also premature to know if the documentary will be distributed on a certain streaming channel or anything like that?
Rick Barry:
“I have no idea on what they’re planning on doing with that. That’s not something I’m involved with in that. But I told them that I’d be more than happy once we do it to try to talk to Joe and Peter and see if they’d be willing to do it. Why not? It would be a great honor. It would be fun to have everybody get together and have the fans be there. Plus, if they did that, they probably could make some money because the fans would pay to be there (laughs). We could do some really cool stuff: get some memorabilia and some shirts and other things made up. They could make it into a really nice event. I’m hoping that they do that. We already lost a bunch of the guys. But hopefully, everybody that is alive will still be alive to be there for that.”