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Will Barbosa be here next season? Let's hope so
(Toronto Sun)
PHOENIX — With so much uncertainty surrounding the NBA’s landscape, there’s no telling where Leandro Barbosa will end up playing next year, assuming there is a season.
With no playoff position to grab, Barbosa continues to be as professional as can be amid the losing, health issues and a suspect roster.
Whether Barbosa comes back for his second season in Toronto, no one can say.
Whether Barbosa decides to be a Raptor only to allow the club’s general manager to trade the veteran, whether it’s Bryan Colangelo or someone the onerous and basketball-brainless Teachers’ Pension Fund deems worthy, no one knows.
All that is known in a climate of unknowns is that Barbosa has a player option for next season worth $7.6 million, a clause he can trigger this summer.
Business aside, Barbosa is one of those guys any team covets, especially a team such as the Raptors, a rebuilding club that can use low-maintenance players capable of high returns.
It’s no different when looking at Reggie Evans, the only difference being that Evans becomes an unrestricted free agent.
In a perfect world, you keep players such Barbosa and Evans, indispensable pieces that work hard, lead by example and are fully aware of the NBA’s grind.
“I don’t know what I’m going to do,’’ Barbosa said as he made his return to the desert for the first time since his trade to Toronto.
“Nobody knows if things will be changed. No one can expect anything. I enjoy Toronto and I enjoy the team. It’s too bad we’ve been losing a lot.
“If I come back to Toronto, I know I will do better. I will do my best.”
When the Raptors close out their five-game trip in Los Angeles on Saturday, Barbosa plans to meet with his representative, Sam Goldfeder.
It’s tough enough to entice players to Toronto, but when someone of Barbosa’s background comes along you want to keep him, make him feel part of the team and eliminate any doubt.
For now and for the foreseeable future, all there is with the Raptors is doubt and questions that will likely remain unanswered well into the summer.
Regardless of what happens in the future, Barbosa understands more than anyone the business of basketball.
It was business that forced the Suns to peddle him, but it was deeply personal when Barbosa returned to the place he called his basketball home for seven years.
When he stepped off the team bus and began to make his way to the court, an arena employee was waiting for Barbosa in the hallway.
“It was emotional for me,’’ the Brazilian Blur said. “I was a little sad. Like I said to him, it’s a business and I’m in a different situation.
“I’m happy to here in the desert, seeing the people I worked with and seeing the purple and orange.”
On Tuesday, an off day for the Raptors after they got drilled in Denver, Barbosa drove to nearby Mesa, where he had started to build a house before selling it.
“I just wanted to see how it was finished after I sold it to the guy,’’ Barbosa recounted. “It’s pretty, man, very pretty. That really made me emotional.
“The market is not good. It was a good thing for me to sell, even though I wasn’t expecting to get traded. It was a good feeling to see the house finished.”
Whether Barbosa will be finished as a Raptor after one season, only time will tell.
(Toronto Sun)
PHOENIX — With so much uncertainty surrounding the NBA’s landscape, there’s no telling where Leandro Barbosa will end up playing next year, assuming there is a season.
With no playoff position to grab, Barbosa continues to be as professional as can be amid the losing, health issues and a suspect roster.
Whether Barbosa comes back for his second season in Toronto, no one can say.
Whether Barbosa decides to be a Raptor only to allow the club’s general manager to trade the veteran, whether it’s Bryan Colangelo or someone the onerous and basketball-brainless Teachers’ Pension Fund deems worthy, no one knows.
All that is known in a climate of unknowns is that Barbosa has a player option for next season worth $7.6 million, a clause he can trigger this summer.
Business aside, Barbosa is one of those guys any team covets, especially a team such as the Raptors, a rebuilding club that can use low-maintenance players capable of high returns.
It’s no different when looking at Reggie Evans, the only difference being that Evans becomes an unrestricted free agent.
In a perfect world, you keep players such Barbosa and Evans, indispensable pieces that work hard, lead by example and are fully aware of the NBA’s grind.
“I don’t know what I’m going to do,’’ Barbosa said as he made his return to the desert for the first time since his trade to Toronto.
“Nobody knows if things will be changed. No one can expect anything. I enjoy Toronto and I enjoy the team. It’s too bad we’ve been losing a lot.
“If I come back to Toronto, I know I will do better. I will do my best.”
When the Raptors close out their five-game trip in Los Angeles on Saturday, Barbosa plans to meet with his representative, Sam Goldfeder.
It’s tough enough to entice players to Toronto, but when someone of Barbosa’s background comes along you want to keep him, make him feel part of the team and eliminate any doubt.
For now and for the foreseeable future, all there is with the Raptors is doubt and questions that will likely remain unanswered well into the summer.
Regardless of what happens in the future, Barbosa understands more than anyone the business of basketball.
It was business that forced the Suns to peddle him, but it was deeply personal when Barbosa returned to the place he called his basketball home for seven years.
When he stepped off the team bus and began to make his way to the court, an arena employee was waiting for Barbosa in the hallway.
“It was emotional for me,’’ the Brazilian Blur said. “I was a little sad. Like I said to him, it’s a business and I’m in a different situation.
“I’m happy to here in the desert, seeing the people I worked with and seeing the purple and orange.”
On Tuesday, an off day for the Raptors after they got drilled in Denver, Barbosa drove to nearby Mesa, where he had started to build a house before selling it.
“I just wanted to see how it was finished after I sold it to the guy,’’ Barbosa recounted. “It’s pretty, man, very pretty. That really made me emotional.
“The market is not good. It was a good thing for me to sell, even though I wasn’t expecting to get traded. It was a good feeling to see the house finished.”
Whether Barbosa will be finished as a Raptor after one season, only time will tell.
