Bulpett: 'Barbosa strongly denies trade request report'

Steve Bulpett spoke to Leandro Barbosa, who reportedly asked for a trade recently, and Barbosa strongly denied that report.

Here are some of Bulpett's tweets,

Barbosa strongly denies report of trade request: "No, I want to play. I want to be here. That's it."
— Steve Bulpett (@SteveBHoop) January 17, 2013

Barbosa was shown both the translation and original story and denied ever making the statements.
— Steve Bulpett (@SteveBHoop) January 17, 2013

As for uneven playing time, Barbosa says, "I knew it was going to be like this when I came here."
— Steve Bulpett (@SteveBHoop) January 17, 2013

Those damn Brazilian to English translations will get you every time. It will be interesting to see what side of this story ends up being the right one as this plays out in coming weeks. I think most Celtics fans would agree that Barbosa clearly has more to give than what's been allowed. He's a legitimate bench scoring option, and that is something that many team's would be interested in.

He's great depth for the Celtics, but unless one of Bradley/Lee/Terry are dealt or injured, there is no way he's going to see consistent playing time.

Related:

Leandro Barbosa asked to leave the Celtics

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