By Sportswriters Li Yue and Huang Heng
LOS ANGELES, June 25 (Xinhua) -- Coming from a basketball family, as the son of NBA legend Rick Barry, Canyon Barry feels it has always been a blessing to grow up with this sport.
This summer, the 24-year-old shooting guard plys his trade in China with Hunan Yongsheng. His father Rick is a Basketball Hall of Famer, while his mother and four half-brothers all played professional basketball.
Compared to the Barry legacy on the basketball court, Hunan Yongsheng is a new team in China's second-tier National Basketball League, but the two-year-old club has an impressive 5-1 record so far this season. Serving as one of the two foreign players in the team, Barry thinks his team is different from many others in the 16-team league.
"A lot of teams rely extremely heavily on their foreign players scoring between 40 to 60 points one game, but our team is different because our coach really stresses the importance of teamwork," Barry told Xinhua. "We work really well together with our Chinese teammates and we trust them to succeed on the court."
That team spirit goes beyond the court, and even beyond the language.
During his first 45 days in China, the quintessential charm of basketball helped Barry to acclimatize more quickly to his new environment.
"Basketball is basketball regardless of where it is played," he said. "We are able to understand each other through the sport which is kind of a cool connection for people."
"We have definitely made a little bit of an adjustment but our teammates have been very helpful in helping me adapt to a different Chinese culture," he added.
Barry was introduced to the team by Gordon Hinkle, vice president at the California Center which offers business connections between China and the United States.
"My first impression of him was while he was playing at the University of Florida, he was one of their top players and set all kinds of records, including the most consecutive free throws in school history. That team made it to the Elite 8 in the NCAA tournament," Hinkle said.
Having graduated from the College of Charleston with a bachelor's degree in Physics, and still pursuing a master's degree in Nuclear Engineering at the University of Florida, Barry excels both athletically and academically.
Before heading to China, Barry finished the season playing in Finland and the Czech Republic. Hinkle thinks Barry's new chapter in China would help the Indiana native accumulate more international experience.
"He is incredibly smart," Hinkle said. "It is tremendous for Canyon to get international experience playing professionally. He has proven in a very short time that he can score a lot of points."
"It is nice to see how this sport has been grown and how big it has become in China," said Barry's father Rick, an NBA Top 50 player, "I think he can enjoy this experience and make the most of these opportunities that not many people have."
Although Rick Barry is not in China, he has been watching and following his son's games, and they exchange thoughts and feelings after every game.
"He has been playing very well, getting all of his teammates involved. He is not a selfish player," Rick Barry told Xinhua. For him, individual accolades are never enough.
"It is not about individual accomplishments. It is about trying to win as a team," Rick Barry told Xinhua that that is the way he was taught to play, and that his son now keeps that in mind in every game.
The most unique technique Canyon Barry inherited from his father is the underhand free throw, only used by a very small number of players.
"I showed him when he was younger, but I never told him to do it," Rick Barry said. "He tried that when he was in high school, and he has been very good at it."
"He had made a few changes in the technique, because the players today have longer shorts, and he has to keep away from his body a little bit," the Hall of Famer added, noting how basketball has evolved since he played the game.
"We are both smart players and understand the game. We are both very competitive," Canyon Barry said. "But I think every basketball player is different. We have different games, and the game of basketball has changed a lot, so the players have to adapt to a style of play."
Embracing and bringing his underhanded free throw to China, Barry hoped that the Chinese audiences are enjoying seeing something different.
For Barry himself, this journey also means exploring something different. "It is a great experience because you are able to meet new people, get out of your comfort zone and learn something else about yourself."
Standing at 1.98m, the shooting guard still retains his lofty goal of playing in the NBA at some point, but said that the most important issue is to focus on the task at hand, and strive to win a title.
"We are going to continue to do our best and try to make the city proud and win a championship," Barry promised.
