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Meet Dana Barros

Dana Barros

 2004-Present: Dana Barros Basketball Club, Stoughton, MA
  2003-2004: Boston Celtics, Boston, MA
  2000-2002: Detroit Pistons, Detroit, MI
  1995-2000: Boston Celtics, Boston, MA
  1993-1995:
Philadelphia 76ers, Philadelphia, PA
  1989-1993:
Seattle Supersonics, Seattle, WA
1985-1989:
Boston College, Boston, MA
1985-1989:
Xaverian Brothers High School, Westwood, MA

Dana Barros (born April 13, 1967) is a retired National Basketball Association (NBA) Professional Basketball Player.

The 5′ 11″, 165 lb. Barros started his basketball voyage as the starting point guard and four-year varsity letterman at Xaverian Brothers High School in Westwood, Massachusetts. At Xavierian Brothers he tallied 1,821 points, including a record 57 points in a tournament game versus Needham. He went on the become the 1985 Catholic Conference MVP and Boston Globe All-Scholastic, averaging over 30 points per game during his senior campaign in an era before the 3-point shot was implemented. He was also a four-year starter at cornerback and safety for the football team, receiving several Division 1 scholarship offers to play football.

Dana accepted a scholarship to stay home and play basketball at Conte Forum for the Boston College Eagles from 1985-89. In his first year in Chestnut Hill, he was named the 1986 Big East Rookie of the Year after averaging 13.7 points per game in his freshman season. He was selected three times as an All Big-East player and became the first Boston College player to reach the 2,000-career point mark. Dana still ranks 3rd on the all-time scoring list, finishing his career with 2,342 points. On February 25, 2017, Barros’ number 3 was retired at Boston College.

Dana began his professional career in 1989 when he was selected with the 16th overall pick in the first round of the NBA draft by the Seattle SuperSonics. During most of his time in Seattle, Dana was used as a backup to 9x NBA All-Star and 9x All-Defensive First Team point guard, Gary Payton. The Sonics also discovered that Dana’s versatility could become a key component to their offense and often shifted him to the shooting guard position to capitalize on his outside shooting prowess.

Dana stayed in Seattle for four seasons before being traded to the Charlotte Hornets for Kendall Gill prior to the 1993–94 season. But just two days later, Charlotte then traded Dana, Sidney Green, and their 1993 draft choice, Greg Graham, to the Philadelphia 76ers for Hersey Hawkins.

Upon arrival in Philadelphia, Dana was a perfect fit for the type of offense the 76’ers played. He received much more playing time (31 mins per game opposed to 18 mins per game with the Sonics). This change in scenery allowed him to improve his scoring output to his highest yet as an NBA player, increasing from 7.8 pts per game in Seattle to 13.3 points per game as a 76’er.

In his second season with Philadelphia (1994–95) Dana achieved career highs in minutes per game (averaging 40.5), field goal percentage (49.0%), 3-point percentage (46.4%), scoring average (20.6 points per game), assists (7.5 per game) and rebounding (3.3 per game) while playing in all 82 regular season games. Highlights from the season included a 50-pt, 8-rebound performance against the Houston Rockets in March 1995, and a 25-point, 10-rebound, 15-assist triple-double effort against the Orlando Magic a few weeks later. He was selected to play in the 1995 NBA All-Star Game and at season’s end was voted as the NBA’s Most Improved Player. Dana also set an NBA record by making at least one 3-pointer in 89 consecutive games from December 23, 1994 until January 10, 1996. This record was then broken by Kyle Korver in December 2013.  He was selected to appear in the NBA 3-Point Contest during the All-Star Weekend for 4 consecutive seasons from 1992 to 1996, finishing second twice.

Dana became a free agent at the end of the 1994-95 NBA season. It didn’t take long for him to come home to Boston, signing with his hometown Celtics. Unfortunately, Boston was suffering through several losing seasons under Chris Ford and current Head Coach/former player, M.L. Carr. After the team finished 15-67 in the 1996-97 season, they decided to make a bold move, bringing in Kentucky Head Coach, Rick Pitino to try and restore the Celtics to dominance. The Celtics were the favorite to land the #1 overall pick and draft future Hall of Famer, Tim Duncan. Unfortunately, this didn’t happen, and the team continued to flounder. But throughout that time, Dana remained a steady influence for the Celtics for five seasons, most of that time as a role player alongside David Wesley and Dee Brown, mentoring some of the younger players they had drafted like Antoine Walker and Paul Pierce.

After the 1999-2000 season, Dana was traded to the Dallas Mavericks as part of a four-team deal that also involved the Utah Jazz and Golden State Warriors. By the time the 2000–01 season had commenced, the Mavs had again traded Dana to the Detroit Pistons. Over the next two seasons, Dana played 89 games, averaging 7.5 points per game, until they waived him in 2002.

After being waived by the Pistons, Dana was out of the NBA for almost two years, before rejoining the Celtics towards the end of the 2003–04 regular season. He first joined the team as an assistant coach under then Head Coach Jim O’Brien before joining as a player later in the season for one more game. He played 11 mins and scored 6 points in his one final game as a Celtic. Dana retired from the league with career averages of 10.5 pts, 1.9 rebounds, 3.3 assists per game and a career 3-point percentage of 41.1%.

He may have retired from the NBA, but Dana never left the game. Dana still works part-time in Media Relations for the Celtics. Since 2004 he has worked in several capacities teaching and coaching the game that he loves to the youth of Massachusetts. As we embark on the all-new Dana Barros Basketball Club here in Stoughton, we look forward to Dana teaching and coaching the youth of the Metro-South area.

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