Barbosa, Ainge's most underrated pickup??

[cman88]

what a good pickup barbosa has been so far, and we were able to snag him at the last minute for the vet min...and he's been able to give Rondo some rest on the bench.

it seems like Doc throwing away the idea of getting an average PG who can "run the offense for 15minutes
" and instead having a 2 guard who can be aggressive/score when rondos on the bench is working

[action781]

what a good pickup barbosa has been so far, and we were able to snag him at the last minute for the vet min...and he's been able to give Rondo some rest on the bench.

it seems like Doc throwing away the idea of getting an average PG who can "run the offense for 15minutes
" and instead having a 2 guard who can be aggressive/score when rondos on the bench is working

Having a pg who can "run the offense" is great... when you have other bench players to have an offense run through.  Problem is we haven't had that for a while.  In which case, I like having an offensive firecracker like Nate or Barbosa or JET as the backup pg.

[mctyson]

It is amazing that this guy was just waiting around to be picked up off the scrap heap, but let's understand that he is a limited player, not a great defender, and not a passer.

He's almost the perfect contrast to Rondo though: a score-first, shoot-first, instant offense point guard who can thrive in pick-up style basketball.

[2short]

I like what he has given us especially with Lee not performing at a very good level so far.  Definately Ainge's most underrated pickup.  Of course the resigning of Wilcox is going to be underrated as well. 

[PhoSita]

Barbosa has been great.  Really makes you wonder why the heck he was still available.  It's not as though he's playing above himself right now -- he's putting up pretty much the same kind of numbers he put up the last few years.  And he's not really "old," either -- just 30.  Still in his prime.

Seems like Barbosa waited around until all the teams had come together to decide on where to go.  I'm thinking his role is only going to increase moving forward, probably at the expense of Courtney Lee.

We may not get Sixth Man of the Year production from Terry every night, or Barbosa every night, or Green every night.  But between the three of them, it seems like we have a good chance of getting that from one of them on any given night.  That's pretty exciting.

[crimson_stallion]

I agree with all of this - he has been a really great pickup. 

The funny thing is that everybody was so excited about the Courtney Lee pickup, and people had pretty much completely disregarded the Barbosa pickup.

Right now if I had to let a guard go, I would ditch Lee.  He has been the most 'replacable' guard on our roster in terms of his performances, while the rotation of Rondo -> Terry -> Barbosa has been very effective.

I think those three guys just complement so well.  Rondo is the playmaker, Terry the jump shooter, Barbosa the slasher.  It's such a well ballanced rotation, and once Bradley returns he'll be the defensive guy.

That leaves Lee pretty much in the shadow of everybody else...

[hwangjini_1]

i see your point above, but i believe it is still way, way too early in the season to make an accurate judgement on lee so far.

his career stats say he is a good player, so i am willing to give him the benefit of the doubt so far. he has played a total of 8 games on a new team. a new team that has new players all trying to learn new systems.

let's talk again about 1/2 through the season. who knows what lee will be then? he may be a very good starter or bench player once he gets time with the celtics.

but back to barbosa, yes, ainge was smart there. barbosa is the perfect guy to come off the bench and maybe 4-6 times a year he scores a ton and gives the team a victory. if all celtic bench players could do that, i will be happy.

[crimson_stallion]

The thing is, what we are seeing from those guards is exactly what's expected from their history.

Rondo was expected to be the elite playmaker, and he's been exactly that.

Terry was expected to be a clutch, knock down shooter - he's been exactly that.

Barbosa was expected to be a streaky scorer who will struggle when cold, but can light up the score boards in a REAL hurry when hot - he's been exactly that.

Lee was expected to be a jack of all trades guy who is pretty solid at eveything and not great at anything - he's been exactly that.

Lee is historically only going to give about 10 PPG even in starters minuts if his history is anything to go by.  He's not known as a great passer or ball handler, he's known as a solid (if not exceptional) defender.  He's also known as a bit of a steaky shooter.  All of that is what we have seen.

The only thing that I think will really improve with Lee is his three point shot, which he's clearly struggling with .  Even if he starts hitting those shots at his usual rate though, he's still the mmost expenable player on our roster.

Need late game shooting - put Terry in.  Need a spark of scoring energy - put Babosa in.  Need lockdown defence - put Bradley in. 

There is no scenario where you think "this is a perfect time to put Lee in!".  Right now the only such scenario is when you need his defense against a strong scoring guard, but that will get redundant when Bradley comes back healthy.

[SHAQATTACK]

Barbosa gives us alot of that missing Bradley "ENERGY" push the ball, make something happen ....Rondo starts walking the ball up court , if I'm DOc ...I jerk him out of the game. Rondo with slowdown ball "WALKIE" ball is a train wreck for the Celtics.

Pierce, Green , Bass , Wilcox ...all really come alive with Barbosa pushing the ball.

BTW..Wilcox is bringing his hardhat and doing good work when KG and his minnie me Sully go out.