Your thoughts on Barbosa?

[Komodo]

I was wondering if someone could break down Barbosa's game. From what I understand, he's not really a guy you can just give the ball to and expect him to create. He's best utilized on the fast break, so just give him the ball and let him blaze to the rim. That sound about right? Anything else?

[MaryvalesFinest]

Positives

-He can put points on the board
-One of the quickest players in the league
-A motviated and healthy Barbosa is a 6th man of the year candidate

Negatives

-Combo guard in a point guards body
-Poor defensive player
-Selfish

[Jimmy76]

dont give him the ball too much he's a complete black hole with the ball in his hands and seems to miss lay ups out of pnrs and isos just way too often, also his pull up is inconsistent if I remember right

youre usually much better off playing him off-ball and letting him spot up and cut to the rim

in transition he's just so much faster than anyone else the basket will be down before the defense crosses half court

[hunterxaz]

Wildly inconsistent. Lacks self confidence.

[Miklo]

Positives

-He can put points on the board
-One of the quickest players in the league
-A motviated and healthy Barbosa is a 6th man of the year candidate

Negatives

-Combo guard in a point guards body
-Poor defensive player
-Selfish

Pretty much.

It all depends how you utilize him though, really. If you use him as a spark off the bench and give him enough of the green light, he can easily be a 6MOY type. If you try to bring him in for playmaking, or honestly even if you start him in any capacity I don't think you'll like his efficiency.

[LV-Suns]

Plays best next to other ball dominant players.
Very good slasher to the basket.
Due to his speed, he is really good on the breaks.
Has a 6'10 wingspan, he uses it well in passing lanes.
Used to hit the 3 point shot at a higher clip.

Takes dumb shots when he has to create.
Low basketball IQ.
Poor defensive player.

His mom died couple years ago, they were very close. He has been very up and down ever since. I felt he had his best year last year under Porter/Gentry. http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/boxscore;_y ... 2009022021

[YFZblu]

Positives

-He can put points on the board
-One of the quickest players in the league
-A motviated and healthy Barbosa is a 6th man of the year candidate

Negatives

-Combo guard in a point guards body
-Poor defensive player
-Selfish

Pretty much.

It all depends how you utilize him though, really. If you use him as a spark off the bench and give him enough of the green light, he can easily be a 6MOY type. If you try to bring him in for playmaking, or honestly even if you start him in any capacity I don't think you'll like his efficiency.

Barbosa's efficiency is solid as a starter, even going up in some instances. I didn't fact check last season specifically because he only played 44 games, but I did look at the 11 games Barbosa started in 2008/2009 under Porter/Gentry. During those 11 games, Leandro Barbosa recorded the following:

20.1 points, 4.5rebounds, 4.2 assists

Field goals: 86/171 (50.3%)
Free throw throws: 29/37 (78%)
Three point field goals: 20/53 (38%)
Steals: 35 (3.1 per game)

Of course we all remember the February 20th game against OKC in which Leandro started the game and exploded for 41/7/7, while also chipping in 6 steals, shot 5/7 from beyond the arc and recorded only 1 turnover.

http://www.basketball-reference.com/box ... 00PHO.html

http://www.basketball-reference.com/pla ... elog/2009/

Edit: I would like to add that as other posters have indicated above, Leandro Barbosa is indeed best when playing off the ball. You won't often see Leandro recording 20/5/5 if the ball is in his hands and being asked to create offense from nothing. At that point you'll start to see the turnovers, missed shots and 'deer in the headlights' version of Barbosa that rears his ugly head from time to time.

[Komodo]

Thanks for the input. I have a feeling he's going to "Mike James" the Raptors this year, ie. average 20 points and push us just treadmill enough so we don't get a top 3 or top 5 pick, but I hope I'm wrong.

[TXSun]

his game is a blur. oh yeah the "brazilian blur".

[Miklo]

Good points YFZblu, and you're right.

Somehow I guess I based my post on just imagining him as a full time starter and I agree, he could score efficiently but he's so one-dimensional..but yeah on the right team I guess you're right he could be a solid starter.

[raff]

His scoring and speed are really useful when used in the proper situation.

It's his ball handing and on court decisions which can hurt him.

[lilfishi22]

He needs a real PG in a fairly uptempo system to be most effective. When things slows down and you don't have a very good PG to make things happen, he gets lost on the offense. Force him to make things happen by making him play point and he'll hurt you with his low BBALL IQ and poor decision making.