Rick Barry | Rick Barry's Sports Journey: From Professional Basketball to Pickleball Championships

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That's my biggest disappointment. I didn't. I tried out for the Olympics in 64.

Totally agree. They don't talk about the IQ.

It's not IQ, it's just the knowledge. Okay, you didn't have the high iq. Just a matter of Studying it and learning it and understanding it. Ball man, relationships, screening off the boards, you know, learning how to put yourself in the right position to help your men to become a screener.

When did you determine that? I do this. And for those that are listening, not watching underhand, I have a higher percentage of making that versus the traditional.

I wish I'd been smart enough when I started in the pros to change the technique. I changed my technique late in my career. Welcome to MC Unplugged where we ignite potential and fuel purpose. Get ready for raw insights, bold moves and game changing conversations. Buckle up, here's Mick.

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to an exciting episode of Mick Unplugged. And today we have a first. You can't tell the story of basketball without talking about my very special guest today. Tons of accolades which we're going to get into. Fearless player, unorthodox style. And that style has become an icon. All that's great. But today he's changing the game of pickleball. We're going to talk about pickleball too. Golf, environmental advocacy and health. We are talking to the Miami Greyhound, my legend, Mr. Rick Barry. Rick, how you doing today, brother?

I'm doing just great. If I was doing any better, I'd be making a comeback in the NBA.

Oh, we can make that happen. I've seen the game, Rick. I don't know, you could probably still put up 10 and 10.

I'm trying to, I've been trying for decades to get him to put the designated free throw shooter rule in, but they're not going for that, man.

So Rick1, I'm honored too. I mean that when I say this, you can't tell the story of basketball without mentioning Rick Barry. I mean, you know, top 50 NBA player of all times, they redid it to 75 and you're, you're in the top 75. My personal opinion, if they had a top 10, you're in the top 10 as well. You mean that much to the game of basketball? Has that ever really set in that like you can't tell the story of basketball without Rick Barry?

Well, you know, I don't think about it. I mean I was just lucky enough to have a father who was a semi pro player and coach who taught me the game, the way the game is meant to be played. I had a great fundamental understanding of the game and I think that's a critical thing in all you do in life. When I talk to young kids or the companies and people, I say you have to have, you can't build a tall skyscraper, you know, well, that's redundant because the skyscraper is tall. Obviously you can't build a skyscraper on a small foundation because it'll topple over. So the bigger the foundation, the taller the building. Same thing. If you're playing any sport, if you're doing anything in music, whatever it may be, you have to learn the fundamental principles and concepts of whatever that is and give yourself the biggest foundation possible, then you can build on that. And if you're blessed, especially in athletics with, you know, great natural ability as far as coordination and things of that nature, you'll be able to maximize your full potential. There's a lot of guys in the NBA today who are there because they're so gifted athletically that they made it to the league. They'll never be as good as they should be because they don't have a real understanding of how to use all that God given talent in the most efficient manner possible. So it's very difficult for me when I watch games, especially when I'm listening to some of the broadcasters and talking about these players and I say, what game are you watching? Why aren't you talking about this? Why aren't you talking about that? They just are masters of the obvious. They talk about things that anybody in the world could possibly know. They're not really giving you an opportunity to teach you more about the game so you can understand it on a much more enjoyable basis or level.

I totally agree. They don't talk about the iq and I'm going to say in today's game a little bit, the lack thereof, right? They don't talk about the fundamentals.

It's not iq, it's just the knowledge. Okay? You didn't have the high iq. Just a matter of studying it and learning it and understanding it. Ball man, relationships, screening off the boards, you know, learning how to put yourself in the right position to help your men to become a screener. You know the terminology that they use in the game. I go crazy and I know I haven't seen Jeff Van Gundy in years. He probably hates me because everybody's telling, oh, God. Rick Barry always talks about you when he says about the fact that you're a coach in the NBA and you're talking about players setting a screen. You don't set a screen in basketball. You don't set anything. Setting a screen, that's saying that you have to do something. I have to set a screen. No, you don't. What you are is a stationary object. You have to learn to put yourself in the most advantageous position so that me, your teammate, so that I can use you effectively and turn you into a screener by running my man into you. You don't said anything. And so that's the part that drives me crazy. I. Years ago, when I was really watching stuff and doing the broadcasting, I charted a Chicago Bulls, Atlanta hawk playoff game. 59 moving screens took place, and the officials didn't call it. 59.

Wow. Yeah.

I mean, it's unbelievable. And then let's not even get into talking about carrying the ball. They carry the ball walking up the court. I mean, if I could carry the ball, how are you going to guard me if I can carry the ball and do what they allow these guys to do? And then how about traveling? How about the extra step that they get to take? I mean, it's just. It's so sad to watch the game with the amazing talent of these young players. They have such incredible natural skill and talent, and I just watched them not doing the things the way that they should do it, and it just breaks my heart. And I had heard years ago when I talked to people about you say, yeah, well, you don't. We don't have the time to do the coaching because I didn't coach in the NBA level. We don't have the time. Well, make the time. You need to make the time to teach them. The problem is they're not being taught at the young age. So now you have to spend so much more time to break a bad habit. I tell people one of the easiest things in the world to do is develop a bad habit.

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The most difficult things to do is break that habit.

Is to break it. Absolutely.

So anyway, you know, I love the game. I marvel at the incredible talent and skill. I mean, are you seeing where guys are shooting three sh for three points now? I mean, it's crazy. They're shooting the ball from 2830ft and they're shooting 40%. But the thing is it's still use it efficiently, use it at the right time. The best time to shoot a three point shot is three on two. Break. If you don't have a layup, you have the best opportunity to get an offensive rebound because you have two guys with their back to the basket backing up trying to guard three guys running at them. And if one guy pulls up and shoots it, if there's no layup, shoot the ball because you've got three guys moving towards the basket, two guys only there you got a better chance of getting an offensive rebound than they do. That's the most advantageous time to ever shoot a three point shot. Why you should play up tempo, go for the dunk. If you can't get the dunker, layup, shoot the three, you know, and so but now it's like they are, it's like they're forgetting the mid range game that's almost become a dying art form. And then you know, the inefficiency at the free throw line of players. I really don't understand and I say this every time I do any kind of a podcast or an interview. When is some general manager or coach of an NBA team going to demand that their player learns how to shoot underhanded free throws to get himself up to a better percentage? You are an employee getting paid millions of freaking dollars and you're telling and you tell your boss where the real world can you tell your boss that you're not going to do something he wants you to do to make his business better.

Rick, I've been waiting for all of my life, 46 years, the moment I saw my first Rick Barry film. Always been a huge fan. When did you determine that I do this? And for those that are listening, not watching underhand, I have a higher percentage of making that versus the traditional one handed.

I didn't want to do it. My father was a semi pro player and coach did it that way. Back in those days they shot two hand set shots and two hands underhand. And so thank God he was relentless about it. I only did it to get him off my but he was driving me nuts so I said okay, okay, let's do this. So I did it the summer before either my junior or senior year in high school. I remember which one it was. I was a 70 something percent shooter and when I started to do it, I gave it a sincere effort and really worked at it. And I said wow, this is really good. I mean it's, I'm comfortable, I'm relaxed. I mean everything you do is up here. You're gardening, you're playing your arms up here. I'm relaxed, my arms, I'm standing here in a natural position. I have two hands to control the flight of the ball. It's been proven by again physicists, it's the softer shot, there's less moving parts. It's the most efficient way to do it. And so I said yeah, this is great. And so I shot over 80%. I just getting better. And then I was smart enough, I wish I'd been smart enough when I started in the pros to change the technique. I changed my technique late in my career and you know, that's why I always admire Tiger woods, he's the best freaking golfer in the world. He changed his swing twice. Why? To get better. He thought he could get better. So in my case, I thought I could get better. And so I figured out something to do. I tried it and it worked my last six years. And I brag about this because it's the only part of the game you can be selfish and help your team. I shot over 92% my last six years. My last two years, I shot over 94% from the free throw line. I only missed. In my last two full seasons, I missed 19 total free throws. 19. Andre Drummond, when he was with the Pistons, missed 22 in one game.

One game, Right. One game, yeah. So my, my basketball claim to fame, Rick, is junior high. Back when there was junior high. Right. Junior high, game winning free throws, I shot underhand. And that whole year I shot underhand.

You took a lot of abuse. You probably took a lot of abuse from that.

So the next year I didn't. So when I went to varsity, I didn't. And I'll tell you why in a second, what you just said. You take a lot of muscle fatigue, of mental angst out when you shoot underhand. Like, you have full control through the release, which you don't when you're here. Right.

And there's more moving parts.

Exactly, exactly. And so my coaches asked me and they were like, why are you doing it like that? And I said, I've been watching nothing but Rick Barry videos for the last two years, and if he can do it with all of his success, I'm pretty sure he's doing it for a reason. He wasn't doing it for publicity in the 60s and 70s. Right?

That's for sure.

Well, and then what my coach said to me, and I changed because he said it this way. And I got so mad at my older self. He said, well, it's a granny shot. You don't want to look like a granny. And I was like, well, Rick Barry's called it underhand shot forever. I didn't know it was a granny shot. Like, I didn't know because I watched you and everything you said was underhand. It was the moment that they said granny. I was like, oh, I guess guys aren't supposed to do this. So I want all the listeners and viewers to know it's the underhand shot. And if it's gonna you, you're gonna shoot a higher percentage. Like, I promise you today, there is no way.

If Shaq had taken me up on my offer, Shaq would Have won multiple more championships instead of a guy going to the bench because of the hacker Shaq.

Right?

And they. And to me, the most ludicrous thing that the NBA has done to me in my whole. In all the years I followed and watched it. They put in a rule to protect someone who had a horrible skill. One of the skills you should have as a basketball player on the professional level to protect that player. That is the most ridiculous thing I've ever seen in my life. Like, oh, it's ruining the game. No, what's ruining the game is a player not being able to shoot the ball efficiently from the free throw line and to put in a rule to protect it. That would be like baseball. No, let's take football. Since football season's on. Baseball's over now with the Dodgers winning. So let's take football. So you would say that, okay, you're playing against. Let's say. Okay, let's say. I don't know where you live.

South Carolina.

Oh, South Carolina. Okay. So let's take one of the football teams down there and anybody, whoever your quarterback is, and they're playing against X team and this team. Okay, well, this defensive back is not really good on a deep route. Well, you can only throw two deep routes to him. You can't only. You can only attack him twice because he's bad at that. I mean, that's stupid. I mean. Or the same thing. Okay, so you got a great guy doing stuff. You can't run to the left side because, I mean, you're putting in a rule saying that you should be able to do whatever you want to do in a game because what do you do? You exploit the weakness of your opponents. So if you're. You've got a guy that's not good on deep routes, you're going to run deep routes at him all day long. I mean. But no, they're putting in a rule that doing in the last two minutes, you can't foul off the basketball. Yeah, okay. Intentionally. That's what happened. We lost the game that way against Phoenix. We would have gone to the finals two years in a row if they had given that we lost the Phoenix In Game 7, we should have won a game that they fouled off the ball when I had it and my teammate unfortunately missed the free throws and we lost the game in Phoenix, which we wouldn't have lost. It makes no sense to put a rule like that in. So I'm ashamed of the NBA for having done that. That's ridiculous. You should never put a rule in to protect the deficiency of a skill of the players in the game ever.

Totally agree, totally agree. You know, aside from you can't tell the story of basketball without Rick Barry, I also tell people the Berry family to basketball is what the Manning family is of football. And I wholeheartedly believe that you have.

Well, yeah, I mean my other boys didn't reach the same level as a couple of his sons and everything. But the thing is his sons got better than he was, but they don't have the numbers. Okay, I have five boys and all five got Division 1 college scholarships and all five were played professionally. I mean the odds on that are so astronomical, it's ridiculous. Ridiculous. I was hoping one of them would be good enough to play basketball And I have five of them to get Division 1 college scholarships and all five play professionally. And you know, my one son just now can who made the Olympics in 3x3 should have been in the NBA. But that's a whole nother story. And people say, well, yeah, it's a son, you know, no, trust me. So if my son couldn't play, trust me, I'm not. I said my son can't play. But my son definitely should have been playing. I can give throw out numbers and stuff. Now to show you why, when he played for one of the teams, he was playing the team, the guy on the pro team for the NBA was, he was shooting 26% from threes, 36 from twos and 65 from the free throw line. My son was playing on the G league team. He was averaging, averaging 13 points a game on only seven shots. Coming off a lot of coming off the bench, you know, playing part time, shooting 48 from twos, 40 from threes, and 85 from the free throw line. And he couldn't get a 10 day contract. The other guy was making $7 million. So you tell me you know what's going on and I'm telling you the problem with the is that the general managers, if they make their decisions, they don't want to admit they made a mistake.

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And that's the problem. That's a problem you Know, and I was going to talk about Canyon, because where I was going to say Rick was, you know, you have a lot of accolades. Canyon has the Olympics, right? Yes.

That's my biggest. That's my biggest disappointment. I didn't. I tried out for the Olympics in 64. It was a political thing. They had a quota system that they had to pick from all these teams. They lied to it. I didn't get. I was one of the top scorers in the country. Didn't even get invited. Didn't even get invited to the trials. The only reason I got to go is Gary Brads, who was at a high. Ohio State, backed out at the last minute. They tracked me down, and so I went up there. I wasn't even one of the initial infitees. And then they said, okay, you're going to be judged on what you do during the trials and the Games that you're going to be playing. So I did what I had to do. I came off the bench. I did. I thought I played really well. I, you know, I had to guard one of the best defensive guys on one of the AAU teams, and I thought I did a good job on him, and, you know, I scored points, I shot the ball well. Willie. I'm Willie Morell from. From K State. Played really well, as. Also, Wally Jones played really well. John Thompson never even got a chance to play. He was so mad I got there that I won't even tell. And so, yeah, so I walk off the court in St. John's when the crowd was yelling for me to get me back in the game. When I had played well, I started the game, went to the bench and, you know, just basically sat on the bench and hardly played again. And Joe lapcheck, the former NBA player and coach at St. John's very famous gentleman, comes up to me and says, he's on the committee, right? He says, young man, you're not going to make the Olympic team, but you're going to be a great pro basketball player. I'm going, whoa, wow. Okay. And I'm sitting, seeing myself, wait a second. I thought I played pretty good, and I thought they were supposed to evaluate this. Obviously, he already knew who was on the team, and I'll be perfectly honest with it, in the trials and do stuff. Bill Bradley did not play well. Okay. And he was a great college player that he deserved to be on the Olympic team then. With amateurs. Absolutely. He did. You know, so he had a bad, you know, tryout. In fact, the United States is the only team in the only country in the world that they don't take their best players. You have to try out and you have to have a bad time trying out. A lot of times you don't make it in track and field, you have a bad day, you might not make the track and field team. You might have the world record and you won't be on the team. There's no other country in the world that would not take the world record holder in their country and force him to go to a tryout and not put him on the team.

Yeah.

So it doesn't make any sense. So stuff like that. That's really kind of interesting. So I was so happy for Canyon after he had, you know, the sad experience of not getting a chance in the NBA to really play, which I thought he was capable of certainly doing, and to get to be an Olympian. And then sadly, Jimmer Fredette, you know who they were the top scorers on the team. They were the two best back then. You only get two and three on three, not three. It's a three point shot, though, and from distance wise.

And.

And my son was number one and Jimmer was number two the whole year in the world tour. And so, you know, you lose Jimmer, and they still lost three games by only two points. My son had two unbelievable games that they won. They almost had a chance to get to the medal round. Two free throws were missed, not by him, but two free throws were missed. That would have put him in the medal round playing with only three guys. So I was so happy for him to see the joy in his face and the experience that he had. And you know, I told him in life, I said, son, everything happens for a reason. It wasn't meant for you to be in the NBA, but you've been dealt with it so well. And he made a commitment to spend all those years he's done. Seven USA 3x3 national teams participated in five international events and had. Yeah. Was it five? No, six. Participated in six international events? No, he didn't participate because he didn't get to play in the Olympic qualifying. They went to their tournament. He got hurt two days before. They didn't qualify in the first Olympics in Tokyo. Well, I said to him, I said, son, listen, everything happens. I said, it's maybe better. I said, had you made it, that would not have been an Olympic experience with COVID Right. It would have been a totally different thing. And so. So he didn't get to make. Make that. But he was chosen to be on the team that went to qualify for it. So. But then he played and he was the only gold medal of the USA had never won years ago was the World cup in 3x3. And he played on that team with Robbie Humble, a bunch of other guys that are doing it, and Kareem Maddox. And they, they went undefeated and they won the gold medal. And then he played in two AmeriCups and one gold medal. He played in the. And was MVP of one of those tournaments. And then he also got a gold medal in the Pan Am Games as well. And then he got the Olympics. So the Olympics is the only one he didn't medal in only because Jimmer got hurt and they came so close as it was. But he set a record for the most points by one player in any one game and any. And two games in any one day because they played two games a lot of times in those events. And he had, he had. You know, I'm not sure if they got it totally right. One place at 16. One said 15 in one game against France. And that's only 21 points to score 15 or 16 of the 21 points. And he scored the last seven to win, to help win. And that was the first win they had because they were so disappointed and stuff. And then he had the winning basket and 14 points against China, the game after that. And so those are both records that we'll see how long they stand. Because they've only been in the Olympics now 3x3 two years. I mean, two, two Olympics.

So.

But it may, it may last a while because in all the games I've watched, you know, for them playing all over the world, I've never seen another player, you know, score that many points in one game.

I totally agree. And one of the things that I appreciate about you and your sons, aside from the fact that I'm a Tar Heel and John and Drew had some time at Georgia Tech. Right, But I'm a Tar Heel.

Yeah, but John. But let me tell you, Brent wanted badly to go to Duke.

Oh, he would have been.

He would have been. He would have been such a great player for Mike. I mean, because of the way he plays the game and knows how to play the game. And same thing with Canyon. If Canyon. If Bobby Clemens hadn't gotten ill and had to pull out of coaching at college at Charleston after he left Georgia Tech, where my son Drew, John and Drew played for him. Canyon would. Had an amazing college career because Bobby would have played him 38 minutes a game. He went there because of Bobby and then Bobby left and then you know, then he had a lot of other crazy experiences that it's not worth talking about. So anyway, let's talk about some more pleasant things. My son was great, so I'm happy for him. He's now done with basketball. I'm more disappointed he's off doing stuff and doing freaking hang gliding and all kinds of other crazy stuff that scares me to death. And so I'm praying that everything goes well with him for that. He's got a job with L3. Harrison, who was so good about allowing him the freedom to go on that tour to qualify for the Olympics. So grateful for that. He's got a, he's got a new, you know, special lady in his life, Francis. I hope that all works out for him. So I'm happy for him. But I'm so disappointed because I got such joy out of watching my boys play. And especially with Canyon with streaming. I mean, I'm watching him play in Mongolia, I'm watching him play in Abu Dhabi. I'm watching him play all over the world with Scooter. When Scooter was overseas and Drew played overseas a little bit as well. After the NBA, I, you know, I had to fly overseas to go and see him play. I mean, so this stage is a heck of a lot nicer.

Yes sir. Yes, sir. So I want to go to all the great things you have going on now. Right. So again we can go over the accolades. NBA champion, ABA champion, five time all star or eight time all star scoring champion. What the heck are you doing with pickleball?

Well, you know, when I gave up, when I started, when I retired, the hardest thing was to retire because I could still play. I had an operation and had my knee cleaned out and I hadn't felt so good in 10 years. And the NBA, just to tell you, in 1980, to save money, the NBA cut their rosters from 12 to 11 to save money. Now they've got 16 players and two two way guys, like 18 guys. And so timing is everything. And I was going to go with the Celtics. I already had talked to them until that. And then they, they cut it back to only 11 players. And so I didn't go. I would have played with Bird and Mikhail. That would have been crazy. I, and then I went on tour and played with Pete Marich, a bunch of guys overseas. I had, I hadn't felt that good in 10 years, honestly. And so. But it wasn't meant to be, obviously. But had I had it worked out would be, been really good. It would have been crazy to get the chance to play for that team, and I think we could have won some championships. No doubt about it.

I agree. Agree. So now you're dominating pickleball, right?

Yeah, I'm pretty good at pickleball. I've. I've won multiple national championships in the US Open and USA Pickleball Nationals. And I decided this year to take on another challenge. And so I hadn't played singles. I was worried how my knee would be with no cartilage to play singles. But I said, you know what? It's not going to be that difficult because I'm playing against so much older guys now. You know, two, three hits, maybe. It's not going to be like you're out there killing yourself. So I practiced. At the end of last year, I got a bunch of really good players and friends of mine in Florida, where I spend the winters, to work with me. And I went in the US Open and competed there and won the Triple Crown singles, mixed doubles and men's doubles. And I got nice partner Fred Schuey in men's doubles. We've won a lot of titles together, and he's 80 years old as well. And then I found Sue Matthews, who we won the US Open. She played really well. And so I was able to do that because when you play doubles, it's all about your partner. Because if your partner's not good, they're going to run through him. They're going to go and exploit your partner. So both of them did the job. We won convincingly. And then I just won the US World Seniors in Utah and, you know, won the singles again there pretty easily. And my partner was Alice Tim, who was a former number 13 in the world during the Billie Jean King Day in tennis and played with Alice and won easily. And then also Freddie and I played and. And we won the men. So now I'm coming up for the USA Pickleball Net Nationals in another week and a half or so. And then I've got the US Senior pickleball that I'll be playing in in December. So I'm trying to win the Triple Crown in those four things. You always got to have challenges. You know, I had gone to golf for long drive and golf and won 4 world long driving Championships there. And then they eliminated the old farts. So I had to find something else. And my wife suggested pickleball. So I'm really immersed in that. You know, got a company called Pickle Zone. That's going to be pretty interesting to see what happens. Just doing a lot of things in that world. And. And it's good, you know, using Selkirk. You know, use the Selkirk paddles, which have been great for me. They're one of the top, top paddle manufacturers and just have a lot of fun stuff going on. So, yeah, that's good. Life is. Life is great. And health, which is good because every time I turned around, I was so sad when I heard about Bill Walton, who was a friend that I used to go on bike rides with Bill and. And then Jerry west, who was. Who I knew was since a rookie year. And we're friends. I mean, I knew he had a little health issues and no idea that it was, you know, that bad. So, yeah, Chet Walker. I mean, I just go on and on. All these guys that. A lot of them younger than me, you know, some of them older, but most of them are younger and they're all passing away. So I wish their families all the best and sorry for their loss, without question, but anything quick you want to get into. If I only got a couple of minutes because I have to get on another important phone call that I still work for a living. I still do a lot of business stuff, mainly because, you know, you just have to do that. I didn't hear that word million in my contract negotiation. So, no.

But I'll tell you what.

Let me. Let me give you a couple of sites. You can put it on your sites and stuff.

Stuff.

Go go sleeves.com so you can write these down. You can get them to go sleeves.com alomd.com and medicleaf. M E D I C-I-L-E-A F.com and the code is small. RB my initials 24. To get a discount on any of the products in any of those sites. Two of them are cannabinoid sites. Unbelievable products that I use on a regular basis. Just incredible stuff. And the Ghost sleeves are amazing. I mean, for my knee, they're a sleeve with Kinesio tape built into them. Everybody that I've gotten into them said, rick, these are unbelievable. Check them. We got a lot of football players using them now. Runners are going nuts over it. If you have, you got to wear some sleeves and you got issues with your calves or other things, check that site out. Use the code for any of the products there. On the Alo MD1, it's ultra repair. X is the cream that. That I use all the time. But they got a lot of great products for women there, so feel free to use any of those that discount code on any of the products in those three sites. So we'll get a chance.

Yeah, we'll make sure I put it everywhere. I'll post it on the show. Okay, that'd be great. I'll put it out on Social. Rick, I know you're busy.

Yeah, well, we could talk another time, you know, give me a call next year when we're doing some stuff because I'm going to. I'm going down. I'm doing something. I'm doing something down in Australia actually. Going fishing in the South Island, New Zealand. I'm into fly fishing as my two passions, pickleball and fly fishing. So stuff will be going on in the NBA or whatever it is. I know I had to be a little short here. We couldn't get connected in time. So give me a call then and we'll do something. Meanwhile, I got to get onto the other call. I wish everybody blessed holiday seasons and let's hope that things continue to improve for our country and we stop with all this divisiveness and whoever is the president, let's all work together to make this a great upcoming four years.

Amen. Ladies and gentlemen, Rick Barry. Rick, I appreciate you. Love you. Thank you for who you are. You mean the world to me, brother.

Thank you. My pleasure. Bye bye. Thank you for tuning in to Mickham plus Plug. Keep pushing your limits, embracing your purpose and chasing greatness. Until next time, stay unstoppable.