Anyone have the feeling Leandro is the next to go?

[MaryvalesFinest]

Now if you look at the clues it looks like Leandro is on his way out

-Suns got J-Rich he plays the exact same position as Barbosa and I doubt he plays the SF considering its' full with Hill and Barnes, J-Rich will probally be getting between 30-35 minutes per game and not to mention not enough time would be left for Barbosa (only 10-15 minutes) to play so I'm assuming the time would be split between Dudley/Barnes/Hill/Tucker if Barbs is traded.

-Suns said they are looking for a vetran poing guard to back up Nash and are planning on getting one and Porter said the guy they sign will backup Nash along with Dragic which means Leandro isn't going to play the point.

-If the Suns were planning on signing a pg for the vets minimum wouldn't it have happened already? or wouldn't a list of names came up? It seems like the Suns are stalling around for some reason, maybe looking for a trade? The Dec 15 date is approaching which means players signed in the summer can be traded so maybe Kerr is waiting for one of them.

It kind of looks like the clues are pointing in that direction but what do you guys think?

[rsavaj]

Seems like Kerr is hell bent on getting rid of D'Antoni's guys, so yeah, I can definitely see a Leandro trade for a slow big guy, followed by a Nash trade for defensively minded Earl Watson or something like that.

CHAMPIONSHIP BABY!

[NashtyNas]

RSavaj, I think you are mistaken. Kerr isn't half as bad as you think. But yes, I have a feeling Barbs is gone for a backup PG.

[enigmatics]

Nice kid, but I cannot wait to see the guy go - strictly for basketball reasons. I cannot stand one more day watching him drive the ball with his head down into traffic along the side of the hoop, only to raise up and throw up some awkward shot or an errant pass back to the three point line that initiates the other team's fastbreak.

Leandro needs to know his role. He should be a shooter and nothing else.

[-SDU-]

i dont see barbs going anywhere

and getting a SG in the trade doesnt mean anything because we gave up our starting SG too

[HootieRules]

Can't see it.

We need the scoring off the bench. We shopped him this summer and couldn't get equal value. There really is no one out there. I thought maybe something along the lines of LB + filler for Hinrich but now that he's out for a while that's not happening. Plus Tucker hasn't proven anything so you can't count on him for minutes yet. With his decent contract you'll never get equal value for LB in return, especially a big.

I hope Kerr is looking at a veteran back up point guard and then he's done but you never know. Maybe he's got more shakeups in mind.

[A roc 23]

Keep in mind that Raja Bell is gone now so that's 32 minutes for J-Rich.

Now I know that's a little inflated with Barbosa missing time, but I think Porter will start to play Barbosa more at the point guard spot with Dragic being such a mess.

It also looks like we will be running more with smaller lineups so Barbosa still has a big role if that's the case.

[orange blood]

I think it all depends on ticker's production. If he proves he can provide any offense and shows an improved shot, there's a big possibility LB will be traded. We do need a vet point guard but with his small contract is gonna be hard to get one unless its a washed up 40 year old.. If we go for a big it'll have to be someone on a rookie contract... I liked the trade someone brought up earlier....

LB + pick for Sean Williams and some point point guard(don't remember the name but I'm sure is not Harris)

Wiliams has potential and plays good D which we need at the pf and well the point guard I'm sure no matter who it is it's probably better than Tragic....

[Train7492]

I know you guys don't want to here it but Tinsley would be the best fit. Moving him out west would be good for him. Moving to a back-up role would help him from being injured. I would say the off court trouble is over for him because he knows this is his last chance, Nash and Shaq would keep him in line. If he comes out and plays good his value is only going to go up, and he could be a good trading chip for the off season as his contract is a year shorter. That is if Nash is still going to be around. You get a pretty good trade from Indy.

Tinsley, Graham, 2nd / Barbosa
Tinsley, McRoberts, 2nd / Barbosa

[eastsidecrossover]

I think so. What I heard and read is during preseason; grant it, it was preseason, but porter liked how he played.

I think if there is going to be another trade it is going to be barbosa. But I don’t know who. I know they have to bring in another player soon, and the 15th is a day that some are thinking might be the end of barbs.

Hes a good kid, a nice spark at times off the bench.

[realfung]

Now, it might be he is staying

[JohnVancouver]

[quote="MaryvalesFinest"]Now if you look at the clues it looks like Leandro is on his way out

-
-Suns said they are looking for a vetran poing guard to back up Nash and are planning on getting one and Porter said the guy they sign will backup Nash along with Dragic which means Leandro isn't going to play the point.

--- we also have trade exceptions we can use, don't we?

[Mr. Sun]

LB isn't going anywhere.

[AZWildByNature]

Now if you look at the clues it looks like Leandro is on his way out

-
-Suns said they are looking for a vetran poing guard to back up Nash and are planning on getting one and Porter said the guy they sign will backup Nash along with Dragic which means Leandro isn't going to play the point.

--- we also have trade exceptions we can use, don't we?

The Suns have a $3.9 Million Trade Exception from the Marion/Banks-Shaq trade that happened last year. Unfortunately, I do not see the Suns adding more payroll to this team unless its a Veteran's Minium Contract. However, I have been looking at Backup PG that the Suns could trade for a player for 2 players that slove the Backup PG spot.

I present to you the PHX/MIL Trade that will happen after Monday the 15th of December.

Suns trade Leandro Barbosa to the Bucks and Tyronn Lue and Charlie Villanueva.

SUNS: Lue solves the Backup PG spot, which the Suns tried to bring him in last off-season, and he does not play that much for the Bucks now, so he might be asking to be moved. Villanueva adds depth to the now thined Suns frontcourt and can be very effective on this team.

BUCKS: Barbosa provides a spark off the bench and can develop more as a player without living under Nash's and the memories of the D'Antoni's system. He gets a fresh start.

[lilfishi22]

I thought Barbs would've been gone long before Bell was even in trade talks. I don't think this trade affects Barb's role much at all. He's still going to come off the bench and be the spark when we need it.

However since the trade included Diaw, our front court is quite thin at the moment. Barbs value is still relatively high and there's a good chance we would trade him for a big and a back up point like the Bucks/Suns trade AZ brought up. Or maybe, we trade Barbs for a back up SG who can play D and a backup point, and use the TE or whatever to sign a big.

If it was up to me, I'd be inclined to keep him in Phoenix because he's such a good 6th man regardless of his crappy PG skills.

[Phoenix1977]

I don't think trading LB is the answer. The person that Nash has the most chemistry with is LB by far. They get a few EASY baskets just by looking at each other...ruining that chemistry would be a bad idea in my mind. However, if we can trade LB straight up for a decent big man, I'd like to think we'd do it. We've got plenty of guys who can play SG/SF so it's almost redundant. With Shaq missing every few games, it's even more important to get a little deeper on the front line. As we saw last night...Lopez still isn't quite good enough to guard premier big men...It'll just take some more time.

[rsavaj]

If Tragic continues to suck, I think they might look into dealing for Andre Miller.

[lilfishi22]

Is there a combo guard out there who can competently distribute the ball. I prefer getting someone who can play both guard spots.

[KJ7]

BTW, Barbosa has been in great form lately. Last 4 games he hasn't scored less than 15pts while avging 24mpg. I think the sparkplug is back.

I know his another offensive weapon and we already have plenty but quite frankly I rate him highly and I think he's close to finding his form from 2 seasons ago. When I've seen him play he hasn't disappointed. So if we trade him I'd want a seriously good package in return not just some avg big man.

I'd like to see him playing PG a bit more but be surrounded by good passes and/or go-to players. So players like Hill, Shaq, Amare & JRich when he's not playing SG. We should only be turning to him occassionally for some one-on-one moments. There are just very few young PG's I'd be willing to trade him for. A lot of those players are just untouchable like Deron, CP and D.Rose. So what's the point of trading him?

I'd rather just get a vet PG for cheap at this stage. I've got faith that LB's gonna bounce back.

[rsavaj]

What is a little interesting is that Kerr comes in, than all of a sudden Marion wants out, Raja wants out, and Boris is unhappy. And then you have Nash unhappy and Amare publicly unhappy.

Not really a pattern I enjoy.