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James Herbert has a really great article up on Harrison Barnes relationship with Warriors head consultant Jerry West. Turns out that Barnes was very persistent towards getting one-on-one time with West.
"I had seen him at summer league my rookie year (in 2012 after he was drafted seventh overall out of North Carolina), and I would just jokingly say to him, 'Look man, when are we going to get some work in?'" Barnes told USA TODAY Sports about West, the 76-year-old Warriors consultant whose image has long been used as the NBA's logo. "And he would laugh and say, 'Yeah, we'll see about that.' The first summer goes by, and I'm calling and calling (West). He's busy. That's typical. So I'm like, 'OK, that's expected.'
"Then the next year goes by, and I say, 'Jerry, we still haven't gotten out on the court. What's going on? I'm trying to get some time with the Logo.' Then it keeps going on. And then the (2013-14) season was over, and he called me and said 'Look, you should come down to LA.' I said, 'I'm there, when do you want me to come?' He's like, 'How about next week?' We got a chance to work together, and it was great."
As summer basketball camps go, it doesn't get much better than this.
For five days, Barnes joined the Hall of Famer whose Bel-Air home is just down the street from one of the more infamous basketball courts you'll find. By day, they worked on the regulation-sized court that's inside the home of shoe mogul Steven Jackson - a replica of the Staples Center, "Lakers mausoleum," as West describes it, that visiting NBA teams will sometimes use for shoot-arounds or practices. By night, they all sat in the West's family dining room, where his wife, Karen, would take food requests from Barnes and try to replenish all those calories he'd burned learning tricks of the trade from her legendary husband.
That kind of tenacity will get you noticed these days. It's really neat to see West respond with a personal touch and invest so much of himself into the organization. Check out the full article at CBSSports.com.