Walter Berry (basketball)

Walter Berry

No. 21, 6
Power forward
Personal information
Date of birth	May 14, 1964 (1964-05-14)
Place of birth	New York City, New York
Nationality	American
Listed height	6 ft 8 in (2.03 m)
Listed weight	215 lb (98 kg)
Career information
College	St. John's
NBA Draft	1986 / Round: 1 / Pick: 14th overall
Selected by the Portland Trail Blazers
Pro career	1986–2002
Career history
Portland Trail Blazers (1986) San Antonio Spurs (1986–1988) New Jersey Nets (1988–1989) Houston Rockets (1989) Basket Napoli (Italy) (1989–1990, 1992) Villalba (Spain) (1990–1991) Olympiacos (Greece) (1992–1993, 1995–1996) PAOK Thessaloniki (Greece) (1993–1994, 1998–1999) Iraklis (Greece) (1994–1995) Aris (Greece) (1996–1997) Polti Cantù (Italy) (1997–1998) KK Union Olimpija (Slovenia) (1999) Makedonikos (Greece) (2000) Aurora Basket Jesi (Italy) (2000–2001) Panteras de Miranda (Venezuela) (2001–2002)
Career highlights and awards
Greek Cup MVP (1999) John R. Wooden Award winner (1986) Adolph Rupp Trophy winner (1986) AP Player of the Year (1986) Big East Player of the Year (1986) Consensus NCAA All-American First Team (1986)
Career NBA statistics
Points	2,882
Rebounds	971
Assists	292
Stats at NBA.com
Stats at Basketball-Reference.com
Medals Men’s basketball Competitor for United States FIBA U19 World Championship Gold 1983 Palma de Mallorca National team

Walter Berry (born May 14, 1964) is an American former professional basketball player. After spending three seasons in the NBA, he had a very successful career in various leagues around Europe and the Euroleague.

College career

He played basketball for his hometown college, St. John's University, and won the John Wooden Award and the Big East Men's Basketball Player of the Year award plus USBWA College Player of the Year in 1986, 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.

Pro career

Berry was selected by the Portland Trail Blazers with the 14th overall pick in the 1986 NBA Draft. He did not however want to play for the Blazers and soon after being drafted was traded to the Spurs in exchange for Kevin Duckworth. He spent three seasons in the NBA, from 1986 to 1989 with the Trail Blazers, San Antonio Spurs, New Jersey Nets, and Houston Rockets. He did however not get along with some of his coaches including Larry Brown while with the San Antonio Spurs. [1]. He was released by the New Jersey Nets after failure to conform to team policy. [2] Berry played the power forward position and was known for his very effective left-hand sky hook. He holds NBA career averages of 14.1 points and 4.7 rebounds per game.

In 1989 Walter went to Italy where he played for Paini Napoli. After that he spent much of his career playing in the Greek A1 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. He was particularly popular on Iraklis BC, whom he inspired to 3rd place in the Greek Championship in 1994-95 with a series of memorable performances.

Later career

He 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]}

External links

• NBA.com historical player file
• Fibaeurope.com profile
• Basketpedya.com
• 1986 Oscar Robertson Trophy
• Berry's NBA stats @ Basketball-Reference.com