Dana Barros
Dana Barros | |
|---|---|
| Born | Dana Bruce Barros April 13, 1967 Boston, Massachusetts, U.S. |
| Occupation(s) | Professional basketball player, basketball coach, sports proprietor, basketball analyst |
| Years active | 1989–2004 (player), post-2004 (coach and proprietor) |
| Known for | NBA player, 1995 NBA Most Improved Player, 1995 NBA All-Star |
| Notable work | Proprietor of Dana Barros Gladiators AAU basketball organization; basketball analyst on NESN |
Dana Bruce Barros (born April 13, 1967) is a retired professional basketball athlete who competed in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played collegiate basketball at Boston College, where he ranked among the top scorers in the program’s history. Following his playing career, Barros took on the role of head coach for the men's basketball team at Newbury College in Massachusetts. Currently, he is the proprietor of the AAU basketball organization "Dana Barros Gladiators," located in Stoughton, Massachusetts. Barros has heritage tracing back to Cape Verde.
High school career
Barros was a four-year starter at Xaverian Brothers High School in Westwood, Massachusetts, amassing a total of 1,821 points. Notably, he set a tournament record by scoring 57 points against Needham. During his senior year, before the introduction of the three-point line, he averaged over 30 points per game. His accolades include being named the 1985 Catholic Conference MVP and earning Boston Globe All-Scholastic honors. He has been inducted into the Xaverian Brothers High School "Hall of Fame."
College career
During his college years, Barros competed for Boston College’s basketball team. In recognition of his contributions, Boston College retired his jersey number 3 on February 25, 2017.
Professional career
Standing , Barros played primarily as a point guard. His NBA journey began in 1989 when he was selected 16th overall by the Seattle SuperSonics. While with Seattle, he mainly played as a backup to point guard Gary Payton, often taking on duties as a shooting guard.
Prior to the start of the 1993–94 season, Seattle traded Barros to the Charlotte Hornets in exchange for Kendall Gill. Within two days, Charlotte sent Barros, along with Sidney Green and a draft pick, to the Philadelphia 76ers in return for Hersey Hawkins.
While playing for Philadelphia, Barros saw an increase in playing time to 31 minutes per game and improved his scoring average from 7.8 to 13.3 points compared to his tenure in Seattle. He was also the last player to wear jersey number 3 for the Sixers before it was famously donned by Allen Iverson.
The 1994–95 season marked Barros’ peak performance year: he averaged career-highs across multiple categories including 40.5 minutes per game, shooting 49.0% from the field and 46.4% from beyond the arc, while posting averages of 20.6 points, 3.3 rebounds, and 7.5 assists over all 82 games. His season highlights featured a 50-point outing against the Houston Rockets and recording a triple-double against the Orlando Magic. That year, he earned selection to the 1995 NBA All-Star Game and was honored with the NBA Most Improved Player Award. Additionally, Barros set an NBA record by making at least one three-pointer in 89 consecutive games spanning December 1994 to January 1996—a streak later surpassed by Kyle Korver in 2013. Between 1992 and 1996, he participated four times in the AT&T Long Distance Shootout during All-Star Weekend, finishing as runner-up twice.
After becoming a free agent following the 1994–95 season, Barros signed with his hometown team, the Boston Celtics. Over five seasons with Boston, he contributed as a supporting player alongside veterans such as David Wesley and Dee Brown, while also mentoring emerging talents like Antoine Walker and Paul Pierce.
In 2000, Barros was involved in a four-team trade that sent him from Boston to the Dallas Mavericks, a deal that also included the Utah Jazz and Golden State Warriors. Shortly thereafter, Dallas traded him to the Detroit Pistons, where he appeared in 89 games across two seasons and averaged 7.5 points per contest before being released in 2002.
Barros made a brief return near the conclusion of the 2003–04 season with the Celtics as both an assistant coach and player, scoring six points in his final appearance on court. He concluded his NBA career with averages of 10.5 points, 1.9 rebounds, and 3.3 assists per game while maintaining a three-point shooting percentage of 41.1%.
Life After Basketball
Following his retirement from professional play, Barros established the Dana Barros Sports Complex in Mansfield, Massachusetts, currently known as M-Plex. This expansive 65,000-square-foot indoor facility catered to multiple sports. Unfortunately, the project encountered financial overruns that resulted in substantial debt, prompting Barros to step away from the venture. In 2018, he successfully launched a new Basketball Club and Sports Complex located in Stoughton, Massachusetts. This venue includes five basketball courts and regularly hosts AAU competitions, tournaments, and training camps.
In 2006, Barros took on the role of assistant coach for the Northeastern University men's basketball team for a short period before resigning to accept the position of Director of Recreation for the city of Boston. Currently, he is engaged in media relations with the Celtics and serves as a basketball analyst on New England Sports Network (NESN), where he offers expert commentary on NBA games through NESN Daily.
Media Appearances
Barros contributed to the 1994 album B-Ball's Best Kept Secret, which showcased NBA players from the early 1990s. He appears on the track "Check It" and collaborated with NBA All-Star Cedric Ceballos as well as rappers Grand Puba, Sadat X, AG, and Diamond D on the song "Ya Don't Stop."
Personal Details
Barros is a father to two sons, Jordan and Jayson. Both are student-athletes attending Boston College, with Jordan participating in basketball and Jayson competing in tennis.
Regular Season
|- | style="text-align:left;"| 1989–90 | style="text-align:left;"| Seattle | 81 || 25 || 20.1 || .405 || .399 || .809 || 1.6 || 2.5 || 0.7 || 0.0 || 9.7 |- | style="text-align:left;"| 1990–91 | style="text-align:left;"| Seattle | 66 || 0 || 11.4 || .495 || .395 || .918 || 1.1 || 1.7 || 0.3 || 0.0 || 6.3 |- | style="text-align:left;"| 1991–92 | style="text-align:left;"| Seattle | 75 || 1 || 17.7 || .483 || style="background:#cfecec;"|.446* || .759 || 1.1 || 1.7 || 0.7 || 0.1 || 8.3 |- | style="text-align:left;"| 1992–93 | style="text-align:left;"| Seattle | 69 || 2 || 18.0 || .451 || .379 || .831 || 1.6 || 2.2 || 0.9 || 0.0 || 7.8 |- | style="text-align:left;"| 1993–94 | style="text-align:left;"| Philadelphia | 81 || 70 || 31.1 || .469 || .381 || .800 || 2.4 || 5.2 || 1.3 || 0.1 || 13.3 |- | style="text-align:left;"| 1994–95 | style="text-align:left;"| Philadelphia | style="background:#cfecec;"| 82* || style="background:#cfecec;"| 82* || 40.5 || .490 || .464 || .899 || 3.3 || 7.5 || 1.8||0.0|| 20.6 |- | style="text-align:left;"|1995–96 | style="text-align:left;" | Boston |80||25||29.1|| .470|| .408|| .884||2.4||3.8||0.7||0.0||13.0 |- | style="text-align:left;" |1996–97 | style="text-align:left;" | Boston |24||8||29.5|| .435|| .410|| .860||2.0||3.4||1.1|| 0.3||12.5 |- | style="text-align:left;" |1997–98 | style="text-align:left;" | Boston |80||15||21.1|| .461|| .407|| .847||1.9||3..6||1..0||0..1||9..8 |-
|style="text-align:left;" |1998–99 |style="text-align:left;" |Boston |style="background:#cfecec;" |50*||16||23..1|| .453|| .400|| .877||2..1||4..2||1..0||0..1||9..3
|-
|style="text-align:left;" |1999–00 |style="text-align:left;" |Boston |72||0||15..8|| .451|| .410|| .866||1..4||1..8||0..4||0..1||7..2
|-
|style="text-align:left;" |2000–01 |style="text-align:left;" |Detroit |60||0||18..0|| .444|| .419|| .850||1..6||1..8||0..5||0..0||8..0
|-
|style="text-align:left;" |2001–02 |style="text-align:left;" |Detroit |29|||20|||20..1||| .385||| .338||| .778|||2..0|||2..7|||0..5|||0..1|||6..7
|-
|style="text-align:left;" |2003–04 |style="text-align:left;" |Boston |1|||0|||11..0||| 667||| .000||| 1000|||00|||00|||00|||00|||6..0
|- class="sortbottom"
|style="text-align:center;" colspan=2 Career |850|||264|||22..9|||46..0|||41..1|||85..8|||19|||33|||09|||01|||10..5
|- class="sortbottom"
|style="text-align:center;" colspan=2 All-Star |1|||0|||11..0|||40..0|||33..3|||00|||10|||30|||00|||00|||5..0
Playoff Performance
|- |style="text-align:left;"|1991 |style="text-align:left;"|Seattle |3||0||8.3||.692||.400||.750||1.3||1.7||1.0||0.0||7.7 |- |style="text-align:left;"|1992 |style="text-align:left;"|Seattle |7||0||13.7||.525||.588||–||1.0||1.1||0.6||0.0||7.4 |- |style="text-align:left;"|1993 |style="text-align:left;"|Seattle |16||0||8.5||.468||.313||.750||0.8||0.8||0.3||0.0||3.4 |- |style="text-align:left;"|2002 |style="text-align:left;"|Detroit |4||0||1.5||.333||.000||–||0.0||0.3||0.0||0.0||0.5 |- |style="text-align:left;"|2004 |style="text-align:left;"|Boston |1||0||1.0||.000||–||–||0.0||0.0||0.0||0.0||0.0 |- class="sortbottom" | style="text-align:center;" colspan="2"| Overall Playoff Career | 31 || 0 || 8.5 || .510 || .436 || .750 || 0.7 || 0.8 || 0.4 || 0.0 || 4.3
See also
External links
- Pages with script errors
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- 1967 births
- Living people
- American men's basketball players
- American people of Cape Verdean descent
- Basketball coaches from Massachusetts
- Basketball players from Boston
- Boston Celtics assistant coaches
- Boston Celtics players
- Boston College Eagles men's basketball players
- Detroit Pistons players
- NBA All-Stars
- New England Sports Network people
- People from Westwood, Massachusetts
- Philadelphia 76ers players
- Point guards
- Seattle SuperSonics draft picks
- Seattle SuperSonics players
- Shooting guards
- Xaverian Brothers High School alumni
- 20th-century American sportsmen