Easy Does It -- But Barros' Road To NBA Was Rougher Than It Looks

Easy.

The word comes up so often in conversations about the way Dana Barros shoots a basketball, it could be the Seattle SuperSonic rookie's middle name.

-- Sonic Coach Bernie Bickerstaff: ``He was doing a drill at my camp last summer, where he started inside and ended up almost back at halfcourt. And he was shooting with the same rhythm, no strain. It was almost easy.''

-- Former Boston College assistant Paul Brazeau: ``I once saw him score 60 points in high school, and it was the easiest 60 I've ever seen anyone score.''

Easy.

The word better describes the way Barros makes it look than the way it was, or the way it sometimes still is.

Being 5 feet 11, a midget in a game of giants, is not easy. Neither is being an NBA rookie, starting the past 17 games after injuries claimed your team's top two shooting guards, and averaging 16.2 points and 33.9 minutes. Not easy, unless the tough road Barros has traveled to get to this point is factored into the equation.

It started on the streets of Boston's inner city, where bouncing basketballs and ricocheting bullets provided an almost-daily soundtrack to the theater of life. It is where 90 percent of Boston's murders have been

committed this year.

Stephanie Mondesire, Barros' mother, said she was glad her son was not drafted by the hometown Celtics because, in part, ``there's too much violence in this city. Someone's always getting shot.''

If she only knew.

``I've been through a lot, and half of it my parents don't even know about,'' Barros said. ``I've been shot at four or five times. They were situations where a friend got into a fight. Then, all of a sudden, everyone's shooting and you're just running for your life.''

Barros never really stopped running, but violence proved to be a somewhat unshakeable shadow.

At Xaverian High School, he traded the violence of Boston's streets for the violence of the gridiron. He was a high-school All-America defensive back and star wide receiver. He was good enough to be courted by Michigan and Notre Dame.

``It was like no one wanted me for basketball,'' Barros said. ``I wanted to play basketball, but it made me think that maybe I should play football.''

Brazeau was one who thought otherwise.

``Dana was like one of the best players I'd ever seen, and I got scared,'' said Brazeau, the Boston College recruiter who now is at Ohio State. ``I'd be at these games, watching him light it up, and wonder why I was the only one there. No one bothered to check if he wanted to play basketball.''

Barros did, and Boston College got him almost without a fight. Michael Adams, the 5-11 Denver Nugget who helped pave the way for mini-guards such as Barros, was graduating. Having had a player as small as Adams made it easier for the Eagles to take someone as small as Barros. Plus, Brazeau says, BC coaches were ``hoping all along that Dana would grow out to be 6-4.''

What Boston College didn't know was that Barros had stopped growing when he was 13.

Being short for so long, having been toughened by the Boston streets and football, prepared Barros for a rigorous collegiate career. He was the best player on a mediocre team, so BC's opponents adhered to a simple game plan: Stop BC by stopping Barros.

Every night seemed to bring a new gimmick.

``It was a very frustrating situation for him,'' BC Coach Jim O'Brien said. ``What he did was amazing because it was not done in a comfortable environment. Everything he did was against something special geared toward stopping him.''

Still, Barros finished with a career average of 19.7 points a game. He became the first player to lead the Big East in scoring for two years and set the conference single-game record with 43 points.

A near-lifetime of playing against taller opponents taught him

a quick release and a sense of when to outleap a defender.

According to his college coaches, football hardened his legs, providing springs, and toughened his body, providing a sturdy foundation. One of the best ways to defend a shooter is to bump him off rhythm, yet such tactics don't usually work against Barros, even as small as he is.

Mostly, the key to Barros' offense is the uncanny range of his jump shot. As Bickerstaff points out, ``He's taken a lot of his shots two or three feet behind the three-point line.''

That's no easy feat - especially for someone 5-11. Long-range shooting is as much a product of leverage and physical power as confidence and mind set. The Sonics' Dale Ellis makes it look easy, but he's a sturdy 6-7.

``Being small and shooting so easily from that kind of range is like being small and dunking the ball,'' Sonic teammate Quintin Dailey said.

Whatever liabilities persist for Barros in the NBA are really residues from his college experience. Defense has been a re-learning experience - not because of size but because, as O'Brien admits, Boston College discouraged Barros from playing it. Then there's the matter of his unselfish streak.

The Sonics have spent much of the season convincing Barros to shoot more often. He says his inclination is to ``either shoot a little or shoot a lot - there's no in-between.'' He reported to the Sonics determined to prove he could do more than just shoot a basketball.

Barros had similar beginnings at Boston College, where as a freshman point guard he spent the early part of his career catering to senior teammates. That changed during an early-season tournament.

``We were playing a pretty good Wisconsin team and were tied with about 12 seconds left,'' Brazeau recalled. ``There was no way Dana was passing the ball. He went right up the court and stuck it. Right then, we knew we had something special.''

The watershed development with the Sonics came when Ellis, the team's leading scorer, was injured in an automobile accident Jan. 12. Two weeks later, his backup, Sedale Threatt, suffered a broken hand. For Barros, it was either shoot, or the Sonic season was shot.

There really was no decision to make, not for someone who literally dodged bullets in Boston and figuratively dodged them throughout his basketball career. Barros is shooting back these days, keeping the injury-weakened Sonics in pursuit of a playoff berth.

And if it appears Barros is unfazed by the challenge, maybe that's because he is. Flourishing on this level tends to look easy when getting here was so tough.

``Growing up in that environment, I felt I could do whatever I wanted to do,'' Barros said. ``You can't fear anyone or anything, or you won't survive.''

Sonic notes

-- Sedale Threatt yesterday participated in his first full-scale practice since suffering a broken right hand Jan. 27. Threatt impressed Coach Bernie Bickerstaff enough to consider activating the sixth-year guard for tonight's game. ``We need some help soon,'' Bickerstaff said. On the horizon is the return of forward Xavier McDaniel, who had arthroscopic surgery on his right knee Feb. 23. McDaniel's rehabilitative efforts are ahead of schedule, and the forward said he could resume jogging as soon as the end of this week. The prognosis for leading scorer Dale Ellis, who suffered broken ribs in a one-car accident Jan. 12, still is uncertain. The Sonics are 13-12 without Ellis, 10-7 without Ellis and Threatt and 4-4 since McDaniel's injury.