Leandro Barbosa Day: Celebrating The Brazilian Blur

by TexSUN on Sep 4, 2007 9:39 PM MDT in Player Day Features

After failing to lead his Brazilian national team to the Olympics, I'm thinking Leandro Barbosa could use a bit of cheering up. So, how about we make him our next featured player with a tribute of YouTubes, trivia, and more. Just like we've been doing, we'll start with a facts and trivia post, and tomorrow we'll move on to the visuals. Feel free to mention your favorite LB moments and videos in the comments. You never know when they might show up in tomorrow's post. As for me, my favorite "Blur" moment is without a doubt watching Leandro take it to the Lakers over and over again during the playoffs in 2006. Each time he blew by every Laker on the floor for yet another layup, you could just see his confidence starting to grow. That game winner against the Bulls this past season wasn't bad either.

A Few Quick Facts about Leandro (from Wikipedia, Suns.com, LB's NBA player profile page, and other sources):

Full Name: Leandro Mateus Barbosa

Birth Date: November 28, 1982 (São Paulo, Brazil)

Height: 6'3" (with a 6'10" wingspan)

Weight: 188lbs

Trivia:

Was selected with the 28th pick by the Spurs in 2003 and traded to the Suns
Known as Leandrinho ("little Leandro") in Brazil
Almost didn't work out for the Suns prior to the draft because of an injury
Spent his first night as a Sun sleeping on the locker room floor
Has his own in-home movie theater (8:37)
Likes the movie Scarface (8:37) (Seems a little "un-Leandro-like" doesn't it?)
Starts his day with a liver and beans shake (15:19) (Ewww)
Winner of the Majerle Hustle Award and NBA's Sixth Man of the Year in 2007, making him the first to win both in the same year.

Also, if you haven't read it yet, be sure to catch Gregory Dole's Rolling with Leandro series for the story about how The Brazilian Blur became a Phoenix Sun.

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Comments

on rolling with Leandro series

I was hoping you'd have a link that had all the articles together, thanks

I like the sleeping in the locker room story, cool.
The movie theater thing is pretty cool, but here in Dallas, that's a normal thing. I looked at 40 + homes before we bought a home, 5-10 of them had full rooms dedicated to being a home theater. Some of the sellers were even selling everything in the theater room with the right offer. Plus some new home sellers offer $10,000 in incentives in the form of a media room.

On Barbosa, he comes across as a really thoughtful, happy to be where he is kind of guy. I think during Nash interview with Rose that a great comment was made that kind of applies to Barbosa and Batista. The thought, 10 years ago recruiting in Canada for a 6 ft 1 white guard was close to zero, but I think recruiters are more open to looking outside the US. Interesting how hard Barbosa had to tryout to get into the nba. The thought is this, there's great talent outside the US, all you have to do is take a chance.

Barbosa, like Nash, Bell, Marion is a strong reason I love the Suns. HAPPY BARBOSA DAY!!

by jasonsuns1 on Sep 4, 2007 12:22 AM MDT 0 recs

Rolling with Leandro series

That link I included at the bottom of the post is for the whole series, but just like our site does, since it's a blog, they have the posts listed in reverse order from what they were originally written. So basically, scroll to the bottom and work your way back up. I probably should have made that more clear.

You're right on the movie theater thing. Probably a staple for people with his income level. I still thought it was cool, though, especially with his name in lights and all.

by TexSUN on Sep 4, 2007 9:08 AM MDT up 0 recs

BTW...

...no baby yet? Or are you posting this from the hospital?

by TexSUN on Sep 4, 2007 9:14 AM MDT up 0 recs

no baby yet

we were sent home even though her contractions were consistent and under 7 minutes apart. That was 2 days ago, so, sometime in this upcoming week.
:-)

by jasonsuns1 on Sep 6, 2007 12:37 AM MDT up 0 recs

Home Theater

Homes in TX may have more home theaters, but the housing is much more affordable, in general, than the Phoenix area. I can't afford a home with a movie theater here, but in Houston we went looking at models one day and I could have a mansion if I sold my home here and moved there. But then I'd have to live in Texas.

Mmmmm ... Guinness

by JSun on Sep 5, 2007 12:51 AM MDT up 0 recs

like other things

There's good and bad to texas. Overall, we like it more, but thats us. Down sides to Texas include a much less organized and poorly kept road system vs Phoenix, which you might not know it, is really quite good. I especially liked being able to go from 180th ave and Camelback (roughly where my folks live) to 120th st and shea (our church) in 50 minutes on a sunday morning. It's 60 miles or so easily, but with 101, we can really fly.

by jasonsuns1 on Sep 5, 2007 11:05 AM MDT up 0 recs

Memorial Day?

Tex, I think you deserve a break sometime before camp..... ;)

BTW, looks like Babs' problems down the stretch can be, at least partially, attributed to a dislocated pinkie. Check the latest:

http://www.azcentral.com/sports/suns/articles/0904barbosa0904.html

Always remember to keep one foot in the groove

by SwingMan on Sep 4, 2007 2:52 AM MDT 0 recs

Break

Actually, I have a vacation planned in a few weeks. I didn't mean to post LB Day on Memorial Day. I just had some extra time and was bored, so I went ahead and wrote the post a day early. I was seeing how it looked on the blog (amazing how many times I write something in Word that I think sounds great, but once I actually see it on the blog it just doesn't work for some reason). Anyway, I was seeing how it was going to look on the blog, and accidentally hit 'submit' because 99% of the time, that's what I want to do. Classic case of fingers acting without waiting for orders from the brain. :)

by TexSUN on Sep 4, 2007 9:13 AM MDT up 0 recs

Gotcha - Just that yesterday was.....

....."Labor Day", not "Memorial Day" - hence my Break suggestion. ;)

Always remember to keep one foot in the groove

by SwingMan on Sep 4, 2007 3:21 PM MDT up 0 recs

Wow...

You're right! Good lord. How embarrassing. And I was still thinking "Memorial Day" today as well. Wow. Getting senile before my time I guess...

by TexSUN on Sep 4, 2007 3:33 PM MDT up 0 recs

Pinkie

Thanks for the info on LB's pinkie, BTW. The last broadcast mentioned something about an injury being the reason he wasn't in the game despite Brazil pulling close, but I didn't hear them elaborate and wasn't sure if it was something new, or just residual pain from the elbow surgery.

by TexSUN on Sep 4, 2007 9:17 AM MDT up 0 recs