Visit with teen keeps Barnes grounded amid ascent

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As polished as a second-year player can be, Harrison Barnes stood undaunted in front of a crowded room and spoke over blaring music about the path Cole Vitiritto took to the Bay Area, instead of meeting with LeBron James in South Beach or Kobe Bryant in Hollywood.

Then, five words caught the Warriors' forward wholly off guard.

"You're already better than Kobe," Vitiritto interrupted.

Suddenly, Barnes' usual composure was lost.

He looked down to find his bearings. He opened his mouth and then paused again to soak up the moment. Finally, he took a gulp that seemed to regain his breath.

"Man, I appreciate that," Barnes said.

This past week was supposed to be all about Vitiritto, and there's no question that his Make-A-Wish request was satisfied in the fullest by Barnes and the Warriors. But the experience might have ended up impacting Barnes just as much as his 14-year-old fan.

"It just makes you appreciative of - not just getting to play basketball - but of getting to live life," Barnes said. "Whether you're in the NBA, a college student or working a 40-hour-a-week job, this makes you look at life totally differently and appreciate the little things."

Barnes is sarcastic and fun-loving, but he takes an exceedingly serious approach to his job.

In some part of his head, Barnes still views himself as the awkward teenager who had to shovel driveways until he was the No. 1 college recruit in the country, the North Carolina freshman who had to sweat through struggles in the shadow of Michael Jordan and the NBA rookie who couldn't find consistency until his passion paid off in the playoffs.

He's a creature of habit, and his habit is to work. Asked when he could meet at the team's training facility to do an interview for this story, he genuinely said, "Anytime. I'm always there." When head coach Mark Jackson tried to give the team a night off in Miami last season, Barnes asked if a gym could be opened for a workout as an alternative.

Cole Vitiritto (center) sat courtside with brother Luke and forward Harrison Barnes before Wednesday's Warriors game. Cole Vitiritto (center) sat courtside with brother Luke and forward Harrison Barnes before Wednesday's Warriors game. Photo: Brant Ward, The Chronicle Photo: Brant Ward, The Chronicle Image 1 of / 4 Caption Close Visit with teen keeps Barnes grounded amid ascent 1 / 4 Back to Gallery

That grit doesn't leave much time for fun. Even when he played at the Team USA mini-camp in Sin City this summer, Barnes couldn't find a way to relax.

"I was blown away by the opportunity, and that was probably the highlight of my summer," he said. "I wish I could say it was enjoyable, but it was grueling. I turned it into early mornings and long days. It got to a point that I thought, 'The season doesn't start for two months, what am I doing here?'

"But those are the same guys who said, 'LeBron James, we want you to play on our team. Kobe Bryant, we want you to play on our team.' "

Barnes is desperate to prove that he is a rising talent who can eventually reach the same stratosphere as those NBA greats. After his breakout playoff run, during which he put up the best numbers of any rookie since David Robinson in 1990, Barnes is continuing the upward trend.

He's averaging 13.9 points on 47.6 percent shooting from the floor and 39.6 percent three-point shooting. He has posted 4.3 rebounds, 1.9 assists and 1.2 steals per game. His numbers in each stat category have increased since his rookie year.

Barnes has scored double-digit points in 14 of his past 16 games and has put up at least eight points in 17 straight.

That's no news to Vitiritto, an Iowa native who has been following Barnes since his days at Ames High. He can recite Barnes' high school, college and pro stats, and "even knows his middle name," said Vitiritto's mom, Michelle.

Almost five years ago, Vitiritto was diagnosed with osteosarcoma, a bone cancer that formed a solid tumor in his leg. After six months of chemotherapy, the tumor was removed - along with his knee and his femur - and he was fitted with a knee replacement and a titanium rod in his leg.

He did another year of chemotherapy, missing 120 of 180 possible school days and spending more nights in the hospital than he did at home.

"He just acted like it was part of life," said Vitiritto's dad, Chad.

"It's almost like it's an out-of-body experience," Michelle Vitiritto said. "You look back and say, 'How did we make it through that?' "

Cole Vitiritto still walks with a limp, but you have to look hard past his affable disposition to notice it. He wanted to feel his best before submitting a "Wish," so he waited nearly five years and gave Barnes a little head's up.

When he saw that Barnes was doing an autograph signing in Des Moines this summer, Vitiritto rushed his family to be the first in line. They were seventh.

Still, when he got to the front, he told Barnes that he submitted a "Wish" that included seeing a Warriors game, playing video games with Barnes and having dinner with the forward.

"Whew, this is truly what it's all about," Barnes said. "You work hard all of your life to get to the NBA, and when you see the effect it can have on somebody, it strikes you."

The Warriors went all out for the Vitiritto family. The team gave them a VIP entrance to Wednesday's game and sat them courtside - where David Lee dropped by to pose for photos after his pregame routine.

Barnes gave the family a tour of the locker room - where Kent Bazemore felt as though Vitiritto's 10-year-old brother was being left out and presented Luke with a pair of signed shoes that "he'll talk about for the rest of his life," according to his dad. Hours later, he placed his 4 1/2-size feet into Bazemore's size-16 shoes and strutted around the family's hotel room.

After the tour, the Warrior Girls escorted the family to the arena's club for dinner, and then they watched courtside as the Warriors overcame an 18-point deficit to beat Dallas on a Stephen Curry buzzer-beater.

"It just never stops. It just keeps on going," Michelle Vitiritto said. "Cole was supposed to write a paper about what he envisioned his wish with Harrison to be, and every single detail that was mentioned has been made a reality. We kind of laughed with the Make-A-Wish (representative) about some of the stuff, saying, 'I don't know if that's going to happen,' but it's all happening."

The day after Wednesday's improbable comeback, Barnes met Vitiritto at the Warriors' practice facility and played some one-on-one. The first game was decided when Vitiritto challenged Barnes to finish a left-handed dunk. He did.

"OK, he wins," a grinning Vitiritto said.

Then, Vitiritto's brother joined the action for a game of two-on-one, and Barnes got serious. He took off his jacket and blocked one of the 10-year-old's shots as the little guy said, "I'm like 4-foot-7. He's 6-8."

When it was announced that the next basket won, Barnes missed a shot. Vitiritto made a game-winning layup, and before the ball could get the through the net, Barnes said, "Do you want to run it back?"

Instead, they went up to the team's conference room. They played video games and ate Oreos.

Vitiritto smiled big, and Barnes smiled bigger.

"After this, how do you go back to just being normal again?" Michelle Vitiritto said.