Walter Berry (basketball)
Personal information | |||||||||||||||
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Born | New York City, U.S. | May 14, 1964||||||||||||||
Listed height | 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) | ||||||||||||||
Listed weight | 215 lb (98 kg) | ||||||||||||||
Career information | |||||||||||||||
High school | Benjamin Franklin (New York City, New York) | ||||||||||||||
College |
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NBA draft | 1986: 1st round, 14th overall pick | ||||||||||||||
Selected by the Portland Trail Blazers | |||||||||||||||
Playing career | 1986–2002 | ||||||||||||||
Position | Power forward | ||||||||||||||
Number | 21, 6, 15, 14, 12, 9, 8 | ||||||||||||||
Career history | |||||||||||||||
1986 | Portland Trail Blazers | ||||||||||||||
1986–1988 | San Antonio Spurs | ||||||||||||||
1988–1989 | New Jersey Nets | ||||||||||||||
1989 | Houston Rockets | ||||||||||||||
1989–1990 | Basket Napoli | ||||||||||||||
1990–1991 | Atlético Madrid Villalba | ||||||||||||||
1991 | Aris | ||||||||||||||
1992 | Basket Napoli | ||||||||||||||
1992–1993 | Olympiacos | ||||||||||||||
1993–1994 | PAOK | ||||||||||||||
1994–1995 | Iraklis | ||||||||||||||
1995–1996 | Olympiacos | ||||||||||||||
1997 | Aris | ||||||||||||||
1997–1998 | Polti Cantù | ||||||||||||||
1998–1999 | PAOK | ||||||||||||||
1999–2000 | Union Olimpija | ||||||||||||||
2000 | Makedonikos | ||||||||||||||
2000–2001 | Aurora Basket Jesi | ||||||||||||||
2001–2002 | Panteras de Miranda | ||||||||||||||
Career highlights and awards | |||||||||||||||
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Career NBA statistics | |||||||||||||||
Points | 2,882 | ||||||||||||||
Rebounds | 971 | ||||||||||||||
Assists | 292 | ||||||||||||||
Stats at NBA.com | |||||||||||||||
Stats at Basketball-Reference.com | |||||||||||||||
Medals
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Walter Berry (born May 14, 1964) is an American former professional basketball player. After spending three seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA), he had a very successful career in various leagues around Europe and the EuroLeague. Berry played the power forward position. Berry, who originated from New York City, New York, was nicknamed "The Truth", early in his playing career. He was inducted into the Greek Basket League Hall of Fame in 2022.[1]
College career
[edit]![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/02/St._John%27s_retired_numbers_21%2C21%2C21%2C_and_24.jpg/220px-St._John%27s_retired_numbers_21%2C21%2C21%2C_and_24.jpg)
Berry played college basketball for his hometown college, St. John's University, with the then called St. John's Redmen. At St. John's he won the John Wooden Award, the Big East Men's Basketball Player of the Year award, plus the USBWA College Player of the Year award in 1986, after averaging 23 points and 11.1 rebounds per game. Berry, nicknamed, "The Truth", was also the second leading scorer on St. John's 1985 Final Four team.
Professional career
[edit]NBA
[edit]Berry was selected by the Portland Trail Blazers with the 14th overall pick in the 1986 NBA draft. He only played 7 games for the Blazers before he was traded to the San Antonio Spurs in exchange for Kevin Duckworth. He spent three seasons in the NBA, from 1986 to 1989, with the Trail Blazers, Spurs, New Jersey Nets, and Houston Rockets. However, he did not get along with some of his coaches, including Mike Schuler while with the Portland Trail Blazers, Larry Brown (San Antonio Spurs) and Willis Reed (Nets).[2] He was released by the New Jersey Nets, after failure to conform to team policy.[3] He holds NBA career averages of 14.1 points and 4.7 rebounds per game.
Europe
[edit]In 1989, Berry went to Italy, where he played for Italian LBA League club Paini Napoli. After that, he spent much of his career playing in Greece, in the Greek Basket League and the EuroLeague, where he forged a reputation as one of the most savvy scorers, with a wide variety of shots and ways of scoring.
Later career
[edit]Berry would continue to play basketball for Jayson Williams' NBA Charity Team. He joined Jayson Williams at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, where Williams' NBA charity team played exhibition games.[citation needed]
NBA career statistics
[edit]GP | Games played | GS | Games started | MPG | Minutes per game |
FG% | Field goal percentage | 3P% | 3-point field goal percentage | FT% | Free throw percentage |
RPG | Rebounds per game | APG | Assists per game | SPG | Steals per game |
BPG | Blocks per game | PPG | Points per game | Bold | Career high |
Regular season
[edit]Year | Team | GP | GS | MPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PPG |
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1986–87 | Portland | 7 | 0 | 2.7 | .750 | – | 1.000 | 1.0 | 0.1 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 1.9 |
1986–87 | San Antonio | 56 | 45 | 28.0 | .529 | .000 | .648 | 5.4 | 1.9 | 0.6 | 0.7 | 17.6 |
1987–88 | San Antonio | 73 | 56 | 26.3 | .563 | – | .600 | 5.4 | 1.5 | 0.8 | 0.9 | 17.4 |
1988–89 | New Jersey | 29 | 17 | 19.2 | .468 | – | .683 | 4.0 | 0.7 | 0.3 | 0.4 | 8.9 |
1988–89 | Houston | 40 | 14 | 20.0 | .541 | .500 | .713 | 3.8 | 1.4 | 0.5 | 0.9 | 8.8 |
Career | 205 | 132 | 23.7 | .539 | .200 | .638 | 4.7 | 1.4 | 0.6 | 0.7 | 14.1 |
Playoffs
[edit]Year | Team | GP | GS | MPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PPG |
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1988 | San Antonio | 3 | 0 | 31.3 | .540 | .000 | .800 | 7.0 | 2.0 | 1.7 | 0.7 | 22.0 |
1989 | Houston | 4 | 0 | 14.3 | .500 | – | .875 | 2.3 | 1.3 | 0.5 | 0.3 | 8.3 |
Career | 7 | 0 | 21.6 | .526 | .000 | .826 | 4.3 | 1.6 | 1.0 | 0.4 | 14.1 |
References
[edit]External links
[edit]- FIBA EuroLeague Profile
- Berry's NBA stats @ Basketball-Reference.com
- Italian League Profile (in Italian)
- Spanish League Profile (in Spanish)
- Greek League Profile (in Greek)
- 1986 Oscar Robertson Trophy
- 1964 births
- Living people
- 20th-century African-American sportspeople
- 21st-century African-American sportspeople
- All-American college men's basketball players
- American expatriate basketball people in Greece
- American expatriate basketball people in Italy
- American expatriate basketball people in Slovenia
- American expatriate basketball people in Spain
- American expatriate basketball people in Venezuela
- American men's basketball players
- Aris B.C. players
- Aurora Basket Jesi players
- Basketball players from Manhattan
- Houston Rockets players
- Iraklis Thessaloniki B.C. players
- Liga ACB players
- Makedonikos B.C. players
- New Jersey Nets players
- Olympiacos B.C. players
- Pallacanestro Cantù players
- Panteras de Miranda players
- P.A.O.K. BC players
- People from East Harlem
- Portland Trail Blazers draft picks
- Portland Trail Blazers players
- Power forwards
- San Antonio Spurs players
- San Jacinto Central Ravens men's basketball players
- St. John's Red Storm men's basketball players