Filed under: Pacers, Suns

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Leandro Barbosa, the Suns speedy Shooting Guard has been medically cleared and will likely play for the first time in over 6 weeks Friday against the Los Angeles Lakers. Since losing Barbosa to injury on 1/22/2010 against the Chicago Bulls the Suns have gone 15-5 and moved up 2 spots in the Western Conference playoff race. On the other hand, earlier in the season Barbosa was out for 15 games and they only were able to muster a 6-9 record without him. Over recent weeks, the Suns schedule has been arduous and numerous Suns are battling fatigue and minor nagging injuries. Based on this alone, Barbosa’s re-addition to this team seems to be just in the nick of time. Or is it?

In the most recent stint without Barbosa in the lineup the Suns have consistently moved the ball with precision passing with has allowed for wide open opportunities for players like Jared Dudley and Channing (Paquiao) Frye. Although the “Brazilian Blur” has been blessed with a great deal of offensive skill, passing isn’t exactly in his vocabulary. The other question is where does he fit? The players off the bench dubbed “Planet Purple” thrive off of hustle and lock-down defense. Barbosa certainly is high energy, but his chances of stopping someone from scoring are slim to none. The other issue is whose minutes are going to be reduced as a result of Barbosa’s return? During Barbosa’s absence, Goran Dragic’s minutes were largely unaffected (19.9 minutes per game in February vs. 17.3 and 19.4 in January and December respectively). The answer to this question is that Jason Richardson’s minutes will be reduced from the mid-30’s to the upper 20’s, low 30’s. In my opinion, Jason Richardson is the most versatile scorer on the team. Everybody is aware of the statistic of when Jason Richardson scores more than 20 points, the Suns are 19-3. Having him on the court for even 5 minutes less a game can be detrimental to his scoring rhythym and being a streaky shooter we need Richardson to stay hot. If Barbosa could play point guard, Dragic could be shifted over to the 2 guard. However, Barbosa has consistently proven that he is not a point guard and plays with his head down a majority of the time. Therefore, a lineup consisting of Dragic and Barbosa is undersized on defense and will be prone to giving up easy baskets.

As the Suns head into the stretch run, the health of all of their major cogs is extremely important in obtaining home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs. However, I simply don’t see Barbosa as one of these cogs and I truly hope Barbosa does not hurt the current dynamic that is helping this Suns team win.