FanPost

Will this be Barbosa's last year as a Sun? Is it in our best interest to ship him off?


No true Suns fan can deny the dissapointing year that Leandro Barbosa has had; injury problems with his wrist and other ailments have really slowed him down. However, the problem with Leandrinho goes deeper than this. His production has slipped since his Sixth Man of the year campaign in 2006-2007, he has not really progressed as a basketball player, and he has become little more than an change of pace on this deep current Suns squad.

Year

G

GS

Min

FG%

3PT%

FT%

Reb

Ast

Stl

Blk

PPG

2006-07

80

18

32.7

.476

.434

.845

2.7

4.0

1.2

.2

18.1

2007-08

82

12

29.5

.462

.389

.822

2.8

2.6

.9

.2

15.6

2008-09

70

11

24.4

.482

.375

.881

2.6

2.3

1.2

.1

14.2

Career

422

104

25.9

.471

.404

.824

2.4

2.7

1.0

.1

12.9

2009-10

40

5

17.6

.431

.317

.866

1.5

1.5

.5

.2

9.7

As others have pointed out here on BSoTS, Barbosa's minutes have been eaten away at by Jared Dudley & Goran Dragic, who are both significantly better defenders than LB. What is really disappointing about Barbosa's defense is that he has the necessary tools to be great at that end of the court....he possesses out of this world quickness, length, & a 6'10" wingspan that should terrorize opposing playmaking guards. The truth is, without a major shift in his productivity, he will surely lose even more court time when Earl Clark finally gets a clue....provided LB is here next year.

I fear that LB's time as a Suns is drawing near. The Suns, while more balanced than in previous years still need a few pieces to be considered an "elite squad." LB's modest salary slot could bring the Suns the wing defender that they have been craving or another big off the bench. While he is a favorite of myself and most assuredly many Suns fans, LB getting 10-15 minutes a game may not be worthwhile for a man making 6.6 Million dollars. One Seth Pollack had a great post back in November - Most Tradeable Sun. Kind of sets the table for where we are today...

What do you all think. Is it time for Leandro to go?