Player to Watch: Leandro Barbosa

FanHouse previews a player to watch from each NBA team in advance of the 2009-10 season.

The conventional wisdom is that every Suns wing or guard champed at the bit for the end of Terry Porter's reign so that they could do what they do best, which is to run and gun. Upon taking over for the deposed Porter during the All-Star break, former D'Antoni assistant Alvin Gentry couldn't exactly replicate Seven Second or Less -- he still had Shaquille O'Neal, after all, and he lost Amar'e Stoudemire after only a few games.

But Gentry certainly unleashed Steve Nash, and by extension the offense. As we head into 2009-10, with Gentry still in place and with Shaq having become someone else's superhero/problem, the theory is that a fully unleashed Phoenix with Amar'e back in the saddle will be a massive improvement on last season. Top to bottom, the guards and wings most comfortable under D'Antoni should improve. This means Nash, of course, but also guys like Leandro Barbosa ...

Right?

Perhaps not. In comparison with the other high-minute Phoenix guards and wings, Barbosa thrived under Porter.



(All credit to Kevin Pelton of Basketball Prospectus for pointing out what should have been an obvious simplification of offensive rating to be used for our purposes.)

Barbosa was the most efficient among the Suns' top five backcourt players under Porter's slower system last year, scoring roughly 105 points per 100 individual possessions. If Porter + Shaq hurt anyone the most, it was Nash. Barbosa's style and on-court persona is so tied to D'Antoni's Suns that we conflate Nash's struggles to be shared by Barbosa. But that just wasn't the case under Porter. Nash suffered, but Barbosa held out fine.

But what happened upon the coaching change in February? Did Barbosa get even better?



Barbosa did improve ... a little, from 105 to 107 points per 100 possessions. Nash, meanwhile, saw a 20-point jump in his (simplified) offensive rating, which is incredible. With Porter, Nash as a scorer was below-average, run-of-the-mill. With Gentry, he was elite.

Richardson also improve mightily (from average to very good), and Barnes got a decent boost from the faster system. Hill suffered a touch ... but there have never been any concerns as to whether could play in multiple styles of basketball. Nash has heard those concerns, and those concerns were at least partly justified last season.

Barbosa has also heard those concerns, but the numbers don't bear it out. The numbers say that Barbosa isn't dependent on a Seven Seconds or Less style offense to be a great contributor. And that should be music to 29 NBA executives ears. No one can really tell which way Phoenix will go this season, with everything waiting on Amar'e, who could be traded at any moment or could sign a mega extension next summer. The Suns would probably like to cut some salary to slip under the tax line, but given the free agent moves the team made it doesn't seem like a mandate from owner Robert Sarver has been implemented. Phoenix could very well ride out the season with what it's got, especially if the team gets off to a hot start.

But if something goes wrong, or if for some reason the team needs to move Barbosa, NBA GMs shouldn't have fears about whether Leandro will fit into their non-D'Antoni system. Barbosa showed last year that he's not a one-trick pony.