An Advanced (Stats) Look at Leandro Barbosa

     Leandro Barbosa comes to us with some preconceptions. Hes a speedy guard, shoot-first guy, isn't great defensively, and is mostly an electrifying shot taker and maker. But do the advanced stats support what the eye test tells us? Lets find out. Lets see what his impact will be on our two biggest problems, rebounding and turnovers.

     Barbosa has a career TRB% (total rebound %) of 5.2. That is below average. His career high is a TRB% of 6.4, in the 2004-05 NBA season, which is around league average for guards. Clearly Barbosa is not going to give us much in terms of rebounding, as hes both an underwhelming offensive and defensive rebounder.

     Barbosa has a career TOV% (Turnover %) of 11.9. This is actually very good. Especially for such a guy touches the ball a lot. Barbosa has a career USG% (Usage %) of 22.8 (above average). The most interesting things about Barbosa is that his TOV% actually doesn't go up with increased USG% like most other players. Barbosa's highest USG% (26.5% in 2011-12) is also the season where he posted only his 4th highest TOV% (12%). His career high TOV% (19.5% in 2003-04) actually came where in one of the few seasons where his USG% was under 20% (18.6%). For a team that throws the ball away A LOT, Barbosa's track record with turnovers is a small breath of fresh air.

     So in summary, Barbosa will help us a lot by not turning the ball over when hes on the court, but he won't help us much on the boards. Barbosa came to this team knowing he was going to have a limited role. Hes gonna be asked to handle the ball a little, score a little, and thats basically it. This article was just a small insight on what kind of player Barbosa is, and how our expectations should not be that hes going to be some kind of game changer. I hope he'll do great in his role as a backup combo guard. I love these kind of no risk medium reward signings, and Danny should be commended once again for his work. Barbosa's skill at not turning the ball over will also be a very welcome sight to this team.