Barbosa

[Mainstreet]

When I see Barbosa play like tonight against the Hornets, the idea of trading him seems absurd.

My thought of possibly including Barbosa and pick(s) for the #5 pick in the draft (from Toronto) could make BC, Executive of the Year, several times over.

I'm not sure what position Barbosa plays at age 23, but he certainly can be a difference maker as his game improves.

 

[Chaz]

The original post of this thread is ridiculous.

Barbosa is a third year player out of the Brazilian league.
He has a lot of talent and is still learning the NBA game and his place in it.


What do people expect?

Not everyone has the basketball IQ of Diaw by their third year.

 

[cly2tw]

Barbosa has a talent and a shortcoming, with the former being part of the reason of the latter. He is fast! But he is, naturally, too eager to exploit this advantage, so that he has not learned how to control his body position to keep options open while driving to the hoop.

Very often, he'd lower his head and shoulders 4-5 steps away from his defender trying to run by dribbling the ball. With the added momentum, rarely anybody could stay with him even then. However, the same momentum causes the problem that he is too committed to certain ways of finishing his drives. Thus, when help defense comes or occationally when his defender catches up, he would not have enough time and space to re-adjust the way Nash with his controlled body could, or Wade if you want an example with comparable athletic ability.

The same tendency of committing to certain ways to go also hurts him at defense similarly. His fouls come mostly from situations where he fail to re-adjust quick enough.

So, if he ever could learn to control his speed, he'd be much better both as a scoring PG or a defender. My advice is for him to take some Taichi classes from a Chinese master, which teaches and trains you to better focus on your own weight center and to react to any changing situation around you.

In any way, barring a spectacular playoff performance, I don't think Barbosa's market value is too high now. He is not starter material yet, anywhere in the league. His value is much lower Bell's before he became a Sun. So, I'd expect they make a 3 year deal starting at about 2.5-3 mil.

 

[planaria]

Send Barbosa for the Denver Nuggets, please

 

[jibikao]

Barbosa has a talent and a shortcoming, with the former being part of the reason of the latter. He is fast! But he is, naturally, too eager to exploit this advantage, so that he has not learned how to control his body position to keep options open while driving to the hoop.

Very often, he'd lower his head and shoulders 4-5 steps away from his defender trying to run by dribbling the ball. With the added momentum, rarely anybody could stay with him even then. However, the same momentum causes the problem that he is too committed to certain ways of finishing his drives. Thus, when help defense comes or occationally when his defender catches up, he would not have enough time and space to re-adjust the way Nash with his controlled body could, or Wade if you want an example with comparable athletic ability.

The same tendency of committing to certain ways to go also hurts him at defense similarly. His fouls come mostly from situations where he fail to re-adjust quick enough.

So, if he ever could learn to control his speed, he'd be much better both as a scoring PG or a defender. My advice is for him to take some Taichi classes from a Chinese master, which teaches and trains you to better focus on your own weight center and to react to any changing situation around you.

In any way, barring a spectacular playoff performance, I don't think Barbosa's market value is too high now. He is not starter material yet, anywhere in the league. His value is much lower Bell's before he became a Sun. So, I'd expect they make a 3 year deal starting at about 2.5-3 mil.

I agree. Barbosa is quick but he is not Tony Parker, not yet. Parker is quick and is extremely good at controlling his body. He knows when to stop/go and when to do that teardrop that is almost unblockable. Parker also has learned how to pass better because his head is not always facing "down".

The question is, does coach D want Barbosa to become a Parker-clone whose primary focus is to score and penetrate defense?

 

[golfcardfan]

How about that Eddie House is a local product that has the all time scoring record at ASU! Thats why everyone gets pumped up when he is on. Have you not ever seen the ASU game where he poured in 62 I think in a game it was SICK!!!!!!!!!

 

[Gaddabout]

The question is, does coach D want Barbosa to become a Parker-clone whose primary focus is to score and penetrate defense?

If Barbosa were a Parker clone, or even close to a Parker clone, "Coach D" would wet his pants with excitment waiting for the second unit to hit the floor and Nash would be playing about 30 minutes a game. If Barbosa could create his own offense and maneuver an offense like Parker, the Suns probably would've won 10 more games this year.

The chasm between Parker and Barbosa is miles wide right now. One is an incredibly efficient point guard who knows how to play within a tight team concept. The other is a young combo guard with a limited skill set and more athleticism than he knows what to do with.

I like Barbosa, but I have to believe they could more production from the second unit with a dedicated PG. Barbosa should be allowed to develop his game as a full-time 2, and the Suns have to decide if they can afford to wait for his development as an undersized 2.

 

[elindholm]

Depending on how the draft looks, I might be in favor of trading Barbosa this summer. It isn't that I want to get rid of him, but his stock will be quite high, and it's possible that the same money could go to a player who would help the Suns more down the road.

By the way, confidence is still critical with Barbosa. I just looked this up and was amazed: His three-point accuracy is only .368 on the road, but it's .514 (!!!) at home. He makes more than half of his threes at home!

 

[nowagimp]

If Barbosa were a Parker clone, or even close to a Parker clone, "Coach D" would wet his pants with excitment waiting for the second unit to hit the floor and Nash would be playing about 30 minutes a game. If Barbosa could create his own offense and maneuver an offense like Parker, the Suns probably would've won 10 more games this year.

The chasm between Parker and Barbosa is miles wide right now. One is an incredibly efficient point guard who knows how to play within a tight team concept. The other is a young combo guard with a limited skill set and more athleticism than he knows what to do with.

I like Barbosa, but I have to believe they could more production from the second unit with a dedicated PG. Barbosa should be allowed to develop his game as a full-time 2, and the Suns have to decide if they can afford to wait for his development as an undersized 2.

I wouldnt go too far with this comparison. If Barbosa had as many open looks from outside as Parker, he'd score alot more points. LB is a much better outside shooter than Parker, though Parker is improving and closing that gap some. The point being that Tim Duncan runs the spurs offense, and defenders are always doubling and then running at Parker(or just letting him shoot, undefended) after he gets the pass back from Duncan. Surely, Parker is the better player, but this comparison must also include Duncan who creates many shot opportunities for parker. The TD factor, at least partly, invalidates statistical comparisons between them.

 

[Errntknght]

I agree with cly2tw that tai-chi would be useful for Leandro. He seems truly baffled by lots of the fouls called against him and they are often ones where he was crowding his man with his lower body so it seems he's unaware that he's doing it. Nash has talked about how he has worked on maintaining balance as he moved so he could probably give Leandro help in that regard - thats a lot more likely than tai-chi. Its a very long process so it's possible he is already working on it.

He's made considerable progress on both ends of the floor - his headlong dashes to the rim are much more under control, to the point that he can change direction now. I remarked in another post that he is pulling up for a jumper now and then - about one per game. The only bad sign is that he was doing better at the beginning of the year than he has since his injury.

Remember his first year how he hooked a shoulder every time he went around a screen? You don't see that any more and his decision making about which way to go around screens has improved as well. His 'chasse to the side' (shuffle) is better and occasionally much better - unfortunately he often combines it his lower body crowding which negates it. His help defense has improved though its still not first rate - the same narrow field of view or focus as on offense. Now, at least, he seems to have a better idea of what he is supposed to do.