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Re: Leandro Barbosa has requested trade
Like who is Barbosa and why does he think he can request a trade? Bench fodder.
Like who is Barbosa and why does he think he can request a trade? Bench fodder.
The Rules of Pacers Digest
Hello everyone,
Whether your are a long standing forum member or whether you have just registered today, it's a good idea to read and review the rules below so that you have a very good idea of what to expect when you come to Pacers Digest.
A quick note to new members: Your posts will not immediately show up when you make them. An administrator has to approve at least your first post before the forum software will later upgrade your account to the status of a fully-registered member. This usually happens within a couple of hours or so after your post(s) is/are approved, so you may need to be a little patient at first.
Why do we do this? So that it's more difficult for spammers (be they human or robot) to post, and so users who are banned cannot immediately re-register and start dousing people with verbal flames.
Below are the rules of Pacers Digest. After you have read them, you will have a very good sense of where we are coming from, what we expect, what we don't want to see, and how we react to things.
Rule #1
Pacers Digest is intended to be a place to discuss basketball without having to deal with the kinds of behaviors or attitudes that distract people from sticking with the discussion of the topics at hand. These unwanted distractions can come in many forms, and admittedly it can sometimes be tricky to pin down each and every kind that can rear its ugly head, but we feel that the following examples and explanations cover at least a good portion of that ground and should at least give people a pretty good idea of the kinds of things we actively discourage:
"Anyone who __________ is a liar / a fool / an idiot / a blind homer / has their head buried in the sand / a blind hater / doesn't know basketball / doesn't watch the games"
"People with intelligence will agree with me when I say that __________"
"Only stupid people think / believe / do ___________"
"I can't wait to hear something from PosterX when he/she sees that **insert a given incident or current event that will have probably upset or disappointed PosterX here**"
"He/she is just delusional"
"This thread is stupid / worthless / embarrassing"
"I'm going to take a moment to point and
/ laugh at PosterX / GroupOfPeopleY who thought / believed *insert though/belief here*"
"Remember when PosterX said OldCommentY that no longer looks good?"
In general, if a comment goes from purely on topic to something 'ad hominem' (personal jabs, personal shots, attacks, flames, however you want to call it, towards a person, or a group of people, or a given city/state/country of people), those are most likely going to be found intolerable.
We also dissuade passive aggressive behavior. This can be various things, but common examples include statements that are basically meant to imply someone is either stupid or otherwise incapable of holding a rational conversation. This can include (but is not limited to) laughing at someone's conclusions rather than offering an honest rebuttal, asking people what game they were watching, or another common problem is Poster X will say "that player isn't that bad" and then Poster Y will say something akin to "LOL you think that player is good". We're not going to tolerate those kinds of comments out of respect for the community at large and for the sake of trying to just have an honest conversation.
Now, does the above cover absolutely every single kind of distraction that is unwanted? Probably not, but you should by now have a good idea of the general types of things we will be discouraging. The above examples are meant to give you a good feel for / idea of what we're looking for. If something new or different than the above happens to come along and results in the same problem (that being, any other attitude or behavior that ultimately distracts from actually just discussing the topic at hand, or that is otherwise disrespectful to other posters), we can and we will take action to curb this as well, so please don't take this to mean that if you managed to technically avoid saying something exactly like one of the above examples that you are then somehow off the hook.
That all having been said, our goal is to do so in a generally kind and respectful way, and that doesn't mean the moment we see something we don't like that somebody is going to be suspended or banned, either. It just means that at the very least we will probably say something about it, quite possibly snipping out the distracting parts of the post in question while leaving alone the parts that are actually just discussing the topics, and in the event of a repeating or excessive problem, then we will start issuing infractions to try to further discourage further repeat problems, and if it just never seems to improve, then finally suspensions or bans will come into play. We would prefer it never went that far, and most of the time for most of our posters, it won't ever have to.
A slip up every once and a while is pretty normal, but, again, when it becomes repetitive or excessive, something will be done. Something occasional is probably going to be let go (within reason), but when it starts to become habitual or otherwise a pattern, odds are very good that we will step in.
There's always a small minority that like to push people's buttons and/or test their own boundaries with regards to the administrators, and in the case of someone acting like that, please be aware that this is not a court of law, but a private website run by people who are simply trying to do the right thing as they see it. If we feel that you are a special case that needs to be dealt with in an exceptional way because your behavior isn't explicitly mirroring one of our above examples of what we generally discourage, we can and we will take atypical action to prevent this from continuing if you are not cooperative with us.
Also please be aware that you will not be given a pass simply by claiming that you were 'only joking,' because quite honestly, when someone really is just joking, for one thing most people tend to pick up on the joke, including the person or group that is the target of the joke, and for another thing, in the event where an honest joke gets taken seriously and it upsets or angers someone, the person who is truly 'only joking' will quite commonly go out of his / her way to apologize and will try to mend fences. People who are dishonest about their statements being 'jokes' do not do so, and in turn that becomes a clear sign of what is really going on. It's nothing new.
In any case, quite frankly, the overall quality and health of the entire forum's community is more important than any one troublesome user will ever be, regardless of exactly how a problem is exhibiting itself, and if it comes down to us having to make a choice between you versus the greater health and happiness of the entire community, the community of this forum will win every time.
Lastly, there are also some posters, who are generally great contributors and do not otherwise cause any problems, who sometimes feel it's their place to provoke or to otherwise 'mess with' that small minority of people described in the last paragraph, and while we possibly might understand why you might feel you WANT to do something like that, the truth is we can't actually tolerate that kind of behavior from you any more than we can tolerate the behavior from them. So if we feel that you are trying to provoke those other posters into doing or saying something that will get themselves into trouble, then we will start to view you as a problem as well, because of the same reason as before: The overall health of the forum comes first, and trying to stir the pot with someone like that doesn't help, it just makes it worse. Some will simply disagree with this philosophy, but if so, then so be it because ultimately we have to do what we think is best so long as it's up to us.
If you see a problem that we haven't addressed, the best and most appropriate course for a forum member to take here is to look over to the left of the post in question. See underneath that poster's name, avatar, and other info, down where there's a little triangle with an exclamation point (!) in it? Click that. That allows you to report the post to the admins so we can definitely notice it and give it a look to see what we feel we should do about it. Beyond that, obviously it's human nature sometimes to want to speak up to the poster in question who has bothered you, but we would ask that you try to refrain from doing so because quite often what happens is two or more posters all start going back and forth about the original offending post, and suddenly the entire thread is off topic or otherwise derailed. So while the urge to police it yourself is understandable, it's best to just report it to us and let us handle it. Thank you!
All of the above is going to be subject to a case by case basis, but generally and broadly speaking, this should give everyone a pretty good idea of how things will typically / most often be handled.
Rule #2
If the actions of an administrator inspire you to make a comment, criticism, or express a concern about it, there is a wrong place and a couple of right places to do so.
The wrong place is to do so in the original thread in which the administrator took action. For example, if a post gets an infraction, or a post gets deleted, or a comment within a larger post gets clipped out, in a thread discussing Paul George, the wrong thing to do is to distract from the discussion of Paul George by adding your off topic thoughts on what the administrator did.
The right places to do so are:
A) Start a thread about the specific incident you want to talk about on the Feedback board. This way you are able to express yourself in an area that doesn't throw another thread off topic, and this way others can add their two cents as well if they wish, and additionally if there's something that needs to be said by the administrators, that is where they will respond to it.
B) Send a private message to the administrators, and they can respond to you that way.
If this is done the wrong way, those comments will be deleted, and if it's a repeating problem then it may also receive an infraction as well.
Rule #3
If a poster is bothering you, and an administrator has not or will not deal with that poster to the extent that you would prefer, you have a powerful tool at your disposal, one that has recently been upgraded and is now better than ever: The ability to ignore a user.
When you ignore a user, you will unfortunately still see some hints of their existence (nothing we can do about that), however, it does the following key things:
A) Any post they make will be completely invisible as you scroll through a thread.
B) The new addition to this feature: If someone QUOTES a user you are ignoring, you do not have to read who it was, or what that poster said, unless you go out of your way to click on a link to find out who it is and what they said.
To utilize this feature, from any page on Pacers Digest, scroll to the top of the page, look to the top right where it says 'Settings' and click that. From the settings page, look to the left side of the page where it says 'My Settings', and look down from there until you see 'Edit Ignore List' and click that. From here, it will say 'Add a Member to Your List...' Beneath that, click in the text box to the right of 'User Name', type in or copy & paste the username of the poster you are ignoring, and once their name is in the box, look over to the far right and click the 'Okay' button. All done!
Rule #4
Regarding infractions, currently they carry a value of one point each, and that point will expire in 31 days. If at any point a poster is carrying three points at the same time, that poster will be suspended until the oldest of the three points expires.
Rule #5
When you share or paste content or articles from another website, you must include the URL/link back to where you found it, who wrote it, and what website it's from. Said content will be removed if this doesn't happen.
An example:
If I copy and paste an article from the Indianapolis Star website, I would post something like this:
http://www.linktothearticlegoeshere.com/article
Title of the Article
Author's Name
Indianapolis Star
Rule #6
We cannot tolerate illegal videos on Pacers Digest. This means do not share any links to them, do not mention any websites that host them or link to them, do not describe how to find them in any way, and do not ask about them. Posts doing anything of the sort will be removed, the offenders will be contacted privately, and if the problem becomes habitual, you will be suspended, and if it still persists, you will probably be banned.
The legal means of watching or listening to NBA games are NBA League Pass Broadband (for US, or for International; both cost money) and NBA Audio League Pass (which is free). Look for them on NBA.com.
Rule #7
Provocative statements in a signature, or as an avatar, or as the 'tagline' beneath a poster's username (where it says 'Member' or 'Administrator' by default, if it is not altered) are an unwanted distraction that will more than likely be removed on sight. There can be shades of gray to this, but in general this could be something political or religious that is likely going to provoke or upset people, or otherwise something that is mean-spirited at the expense of a poster, a group of people, or a population.
It may or may not go without saying, but this goes for threads and posts as well, particularly when it's not made on the off-topic board (Market Square).
We do make exceptions if we feel the content is both innocuous and unlikely to cause social problems on the forum (such as wishing someone a Merry Christmas or a Happy Easter), and we also also make exceptions if such topics come up with regards to a sports figure (such as the Lance Stephenson situation bringing up discussions of domestic abuse and the law, or when Jason Collins came out as gay and how that lead to some discussion about gay rights).
However, once the discussion seems to be more/mostly about the political issues instead of the sports figure or his specific situation, the thread is usually closed.
Rule #8
We prefer self-restraint and/or modesty when making jokes or off topic comments in a sports discussion thread. They can be fun, but sometimes they derail or distract from a topic, and we don't want to see that happen. If we feel it is a problem, we will either delete or move those posts from the thread.
Rule #9
Generally speaking, we try to be a "PG-13" rated board, and we don't want to see sexual content or similarly suggestive content. Vulgarity is a more muddled issue, though again we prefer things to lean more towards "PG-13" than "R". If we feel things have gone too far, we will step in.
Rule #10
We like small signatures, not big signatures. The bigger the signature, the more likely it is an annoying or distracting signature.
Rule #11
Do not advertise anything without talking about it with the administrators first. This includes advertising with your signature, with your avatar, through private messaging, and/or by making a thread or post.
Whether your are a long standing forum member or whether you have just registered today, it's a good idea to read and review the rules below so that you have a very good idea of what to expect when you come to Pacers Digest.
A quick note to new members: Your posts will not immediately show up when you make them. An administrator has to approve at least your first post before the forum software will later upgrade your account to the status of a fully-registered member. This usually happens within a couple of hours or so after your post(s) is/are approved, so you may need to be a little patient at first.
Why do we do this? So that it's more difficult for spammers (be they human or robot) to post, and so users who are banned cannot immediately re-register and start dousing people with verbal flames.
Below are the rules of Pacers Digest. After you have read them, you will have a very good sense of where we are coming from, what we expect, what we don't want to see, and how we react to things.
Rule #1
Pacers Digest is intended to be a place to discuss basketball without having to deal with the kinds of behaviors or attitudes that distract people from sticking with the discussion of the topics at hand. These unwanted distractions can come in many forms, and admittedly it can sometimes be tricky to pin down each and every kind that can rear its ugly head, but we feel that the following examples and explanations cover at least a good portion of that ground and should at least give people a pretty good idea of the kinds of things we actively discourage:
"Anyone who __________ is a liar / a fool / an idiot / a blind homer / has their head buried in the sand / a blind hater / doesn't know basketball / doesn't watch the games"
"People with intelligence will agree with me when I say that __________"
"Only stupid people think / believe / do ___________"
"I can't wait to hear something from PosterX when he/she sees that **insert a given incident or current event that will have probably upset or disappointed PosterX here**"
"He/she is just delusional"
"This thread is stupid / worthless / embarrassing"
"I'm going to take a moment to point and
/ laugh at PosterX / GroupOfPeopleY who thought / believed *insert though/belief here*""Remember when PosterX said OldCommentY that no longer looks good?
"In general, if a comment goes from purely on topic to something 'ad hominem' (personal jabs, personal shots, attacks, flames, however you want to call it, towards a person, or a group of people, or a given city/state/country of people), those are most likely going to be found intolerable.
We also dissuade passive aggressive behavior. This can be various things, but common examples include statements that are basically meant to imply someone is either stupid or otherwise incapable of holding a rational conversation. This can include (but is not limited to) laughing at someone's conclusions rather than offering an honest rebuttal, asking people what game they were watching, or another common problem is Poster X will say "that player isn't that bad" and then Poster Y will say something akin to "LOL you think that player is good". We're not going to tolerate those kinds of comments out of respect for the community at large and for the sake of trying to just have an honest conversation.
Now, does the above cover absolutely every single kind of distraction that is unwanted? Probably not, but you should by now have a good idea of the general types of things we will be discouraging. The above examples are meant to give you a good feel for / idea of what we're looking for. If something new or different than the above happens to come along and results in the same problem (that being, any other attitude or behavior that ultimately distracts from actually just discussing the topic at hand, or that is otherwise disrespectful to other posters), we can and we will take action to curb this as well, so please don't take this to mean that if you managed to technically avoid saying something exactly like one of the above examples that you are then somehow off the hook.
That all having been said, our goal is to do so in a generally kind and respectful way, and that doesn't mean the moment we see something we don't like that somebody is going to be suspended or banned, either. It just means that at the very least we will probably say something about it, quite possibly snipping out the distracting parts of the post in question while leaving alone the parts that are actually just discussing the topics, and in the event of a repeating or excessive problem, then we will start issuing infractions to try to further discourage further repeat problems, and if it just never seems to improve, then finally suspensions or bans will come into play. We would prefer it never went that far, and most of the time for most of our posters, it won't ever have to.
A slip up every once and a while is pretty normal, but, again, when it becomes repetitive or excessive, something will be done. Something occasional is probably going to be let go (within reason), but when it starts to become habitual or otherwise a pattern, odds are very good that we will step in.
There's always a small minority that like to push people's buttons and/or test their own boundaries with regards to the administrators, and in the case of someone acting like that, please be aware that this is not a court of law, but a private website run by people who are simply trying to do the right thing as they see it. If we feel that you are a special case that needs to be dealt with in an exceptional way because your behavior isn't explicitly mirroring one of our above examples of what we generally discourage, we can and we will take atypical action to prevent this from continuing if you are not cooperative with us.
Also please be aware that you will not be given a pass simply by claiming that you were 'only joking,' because quite honestly, when someone really is just joking, for one thing most people tend to pick up on the joke, including the person or group that is the target of the joke, and for another thing, in the event where an honest joke gets taken seriously and it upsets or angers someone, the person who is truly 'only joking' will quite commonly go out of his / her way to apologize and will try to mend fences. People who are dishonest about their statements being 'jokes' do not do so, and in turn that becomes a clear sign of what is really going on. It's nothing new.
In any case, quite frankly, the overall quality and health of the entire forum's community is more important than any one troublesome user will ever be, regardless of exactly how a problem is exhibiting itself, and if it comes down to us having to make a choice between you versus the greater health and happiness of the entire community, the community of this forum will win every time.
Lastly, there are also some posters, who are generally great contributors and do not otherwise cause any problems, who sometimes feel it's their place to provoke or to otherwise 'mess with' that small minority of people described in the last paragraph, and while we possibly might understand why you might feel you WANT to do something like that, the truth is we can't actually tolerate that kind of behavior from you any more than we can tolerate the behavior from them. So if we feel that you are trying to provoke those other posters into doing or saying something that will get themselves into trouble, then we will start to view you as a problem as well, because of the same reason as before: The overall health of the forum comes first, and trying to stir the pot with someone like that doesn't help, it just makes it worse. Some will simply disagree with this philosophy, but if so, then so be it because ultimately we have to do what we think is best so long as it's up to us.
If you see a problem that we haven't addressed, the best and most appropriate course for a forum member to take here is to look over to the left of the post in question. See underneath that poster's name, avatar, and other info, down where there's a little triangle with an exclamation point (!) in it? Click that. That allows you to report the post to the admins so we can definitely notice it and give it a look to see what we feel we should do about it. Beyond that, obviously it's human nature sometimes to want to speak up to the poster in question who has bothered you, but we would ask that you try to refrain from doing so because quite often what happens is two or more posters all start going back and forth about the original offending post, and suddenly the entire thread is off topic or otherwise derailed. So while the urge to police it yourself is understandable, it's best to just report it to us and let us handle it. Thank you!
All of the above is going to be subject to a case by case basis, but generally and broadly speaking, this should give everyone a pretty good idea of how things will typically / most often be handled.
Rule #2
If the actions of an administrator inspire you to make a comment, criticism, or express a concern about it, there is a wrong place and a couple of right places to do so.
The wrong place is to do so in the original thread in which the administrator took action. For example, if a post gets an infraction, or a post gets deleted, or a comment within a larger post gets clipped out, in a thread discussing Paul George, the wrong thing to do is to distract from the discussion of Paul George by adding your off topic thoughts on what the administrator did.
The right places to do so are:
A) Start a thread about the specific incident you want to talk about on the Feedback board. This way you are able to express yourself in an area that doesn't throw another thread off topic, and this way others can add their two cents as well if they wish, and additionally if there's something that needs to be said by the administrators, that is where they will respond to it.
B) Send a private message to the administrators, and they can respond to you that way.
If this is done the wrong way, those comments will be deleted, and if it's a repeating problem then it may also receive an infraction as well.
Rule #3
If a poster is bothering you, and an administrator has not or will not deal with that poster to the extent that you would prefer, you have a powerful tool at your disposal, one that has recently been upgraded and is now better than ever: The ability to ignore a user.
When you ignore a user, you will unfortunately still see some hints of their existence (nothing we can do about that), however, it does the following key things:
A) Any post they make will be completely invisible as you scroll through a thread.
B) The new addition to this feature: If someone QUOTES a user you are ignoring, you do not have to read who it was, or what that poster said, unless you go out of your way to click on a link to find out who it is and what they said.
To utilize this feature, from any page on Pacers Digest, scroll to the top of the page, look to the top right where it says 'Settings' and click that. From the settings page, look to the left side of the page where it says 'My Settings', and look down from there until you see 'Edit Ignore List' and click that. From here, it will say 'Add a Member to Your List...' Beneath that, click in the text box to the right of 'User Name', type in or copy & paste the username of the poster you are ignoring, and once their name is in the box, look over to the far right and click the 'Okay' button. All done!
Rule #4
Regarding infractions, currently they carry a value of one point each, and that point will expire in 31 days. If at any point a poster is carrying three points at the same time, that poster will be suspended until the oldest of the three points expires.
Rule #5
When you share or paste content or articles from another website, you must include the URL/link back to where you found it, who wrote it, and what website it's from. Said content will be removed if this doesn't happen.
An example:
If I copy and paste an article from the Indianapolis Star website, I would post something like this:
http://www.linktothearticlegoeshere.com/article
Title of the Article
Author's Name
Indianapolis Star
Rule #6
We cannot tolerate illegal videos on Pacers Digest. This means do not share any links to them, do not mention any websites that host them or link to them, do not describe how to find them in any way, and do not ask about them. Posts doing anything of the sort will be removed, the offenders will be contacted privately, and if the problem becomes habitual, you will be suspended, and if it still persists, you will probably be banned.
The legal means of watching or listening to NBA games are NBA League Pass Broadband (for US, or for International; both cost money) and NBA Audio League Pass (which is free). Look for them on NBA.com.
Rule #7
Provocative statements in a signature, or as an avatar, or as the 'tagline' beneath a poster's username (where it says 'Member' or 'Administrator' by default, if it is not altered) are an unwanted distraction that will more than likely be removed on sight. There can be shades of gray to this, but in general this could be something political or religious that is likely going to provoke or upset people, or otherwise something that is mean-spirited at the expense of a poster, a group of people, or a population.
It may or may not go without saying, but this goes for threads and posts as well, particularly when it's not made on the off-topic board (Market Square).
We do make exceptions if we feel the content is both innocuous and unlikely to cause social problems on the forum (such as wishing someone a Merry Christmas or a Happy Easter), and we also also make exceptions if such topics come up with regards to a sports figure (such as the Lance Stephenson situation bringing up discussions of domestic abuse and the law, or when Jason Collins came out as gay and how that lead to some discussion about gay rights).
However, once the discussion seems to be more/mostly about the political issues instead of the sports figure or his specific situation, the thread is usually closed.
Rule #8
We prefer self-restraint and/or modesty when making jokes or off topic comments in a sports discussion thread. They can be fun, but sometimes they derail or distract from a topic, and we don't want to see that happen. If we feel it is a problem, we will either delete or move those posts from the thread.
Rule #9
Generally speaking, we try to be a "PG-13" rated board, and we don't want to see sexual content or similarly suggestive content. Vulgarity is a more muddled issue, though again we prefer things to lean more towards "PG-13" than "R". If we feel things have gone too far, we will step in.
Rule #10
We like small signatures, not big signatures. The bigger the signature, the more likely it is an annoying or distracting signature.
Rule #11
Do not advertise anything without talking about it with the administrators first. This includes advertising with your signature, with your avatar, through private messaging, and/or by making a thread or post.
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Re: Leandro Barbosa has requested trade
Originally posted by 3rdStrike View PostArgh, I always get pissed at people when they pull stats out without context, and then I went and did the same thingOriginally posted by Nuntius View Post
I wouldn't compare DRtg across teams. Individual DRtg's are highly correlated to Team DRtg, and as the best defensive team in the league, our players benefit in this stat. A rising tide lifts all boats, so to speak. Quick eye test - DRtg says the best defenders on the team are Hibbert and George, which I don't think anyone would disagree with.
On the Heat, LeBron's 102 DRtg is the best on the team, which is as expected. It's just that the Heat aren't a good defensive team this year, they're 12th in the league right now.
On Barbosa, no one's claiming he's a good defender, least of all me, but presumably he'd do better in the scorer role. He'd have to; Green has been just atrocious.
Note by the way, I didn't say Green is a bad defender, only that he is the worst on the team by the stats. On a team of good defenders that's not necessarily an insult (but being tied with DJA is kinda like an insult). So Nuntius is probably right that we'd lose defense and rebounding by replacing Green with Barbosa. But you know what? I'd still take that swap. When Sam Young comes back he can give us enough defense and rebounding from the wing.Comment
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Re: Leandro Barbosa has requested trade
http://www.csnne.com/basketball-bost...83&feedID=3352
Leandro Barbosa's private struggles
Leandro Barbosa was at the center of NBA trade talks on Thursday after ESPN Brazil reported the Boston Celtics guard requested to be traded.
Both Barbosa and Celtics President of Basketball Operations Danny Ainge shot down the report.
Barbosa found himself in the media spotlight for something he insists is not true. All the while, he has spent his life privately dealing with issues that are undeniably challenging to overcome.
***
Barbosa received the call in mid-December. A few days later, he was on a plane back to his native country of Brazil.
He missed four games for personal reasons and joined the Celtics in Sacramento against the Kings. Noticeably tired, he played four minutes on December 30. It was easy to assume Barbosa was jet-lagged from the travel. The reality was, the events that occurred during the trip were the most emotionally draining.
"My mother-in-law, she's in a coma," Barbosa told CSNNE.com. "I have to go and try to help, so it's kind of hard. At the same time, I have a job and I have to be here, so I had to come back. The situation is still going on."
Barbosa's mother-on-law needs a kidney transplant to survive. Last month she was placed in a medically-induced coma while doctors attempt to find a donor. Barbosa has been juggling the NBA schedule with a race against time to help his family. They look to him for a source of strength.
"The doctors were telling me she could have passed away any minute because she needed kidneys," he said. "She's in a line to get the kidneys so we're trying to figure what we can do to have them. I've been talking to some of the people here in America and internationally to see what we can do to fly kidneys over there, but it's a lot of work. It's hard. We know that she's in that situation that she can pass on."
The angst in Barbosa's eyes deepened as he continued to speak. The recent trip to Brazil evoked memories of another flight he took five years ago.
"The only time I had to do that (leave the NBA and fly to Brazil) was when my mama passed away and I had to go to the funeral," he said. "It made me think a lot about what happened with my mama. I had to be strong."
***
Now in his 10th NBA season, Barbosa, a 30-year-old guard, played for the Phoenix Suns, Toronto Raptors and Indiana Pacers before signing with the Celtics this fall. His basketball career has taken him to five-star hotels and luxury living accommodations with top-of-the-line amenities, a stark contrast to where he grew up in São Paulo.
"When you have time, Google 'favelas' in Brazil," he urged. "You will see houses on the hills and it is the most dangerous thing you can see . . . I don't think you guys have that here in America and probably can't even imagine how it is."
"Favelas" have been referenced in the media as "slums" or "shantytowns." Barbosa described houses pieced together by wood, constructed closely to one another. There were leaks. There were bugs. There was a bathroom that functioned inconsistently. And there was violence.
"The streets are really small," he said. "I would walk and I could see guys with guns shooting people or putting fires on the people, all that kind of stuff. I had to (look straight ahead). I couldn't look or say anything or say anything to anybody else or the cops because I could be the next one to be killed."
He continued, "When I was in school, I didn't know if I was going to come back to my place alive or if I would leave my place alive because there were people shooting people. It was surprising for me a couple times that nothing happened, no shooting. It could have happened any time."
Barbosa grew up caught between the constraints of his reality and the endless possibilities of his dreams.
The youngest of five children, he was raised under the watchful eyes of his parents and four older siblings. Together, the seven family members slept in one space that could hardly be called a bedroom.
"We didn't have beds to sleep on," he said. "It was just blankets and we would sleep on the ground."
Each morning the family would awake unsure if there would be food on the table that night. His mother, Ivete, sewed clothing by hand and his father, Vicente, worked as a hospital laboratory technician. By the time he was 3 years old, Barbosa joined his mother and brothers at the local food stores to help earn money. He offered to carry groceries for elderly women while the rest of his family sold fruit, hoping they made enough to pay for their next meal.
"Sometimes we had food, sometimes not," he said. "I always had food because I was the youngest, so my sisters and brothers always saved food for me if we had a hard time to eat. I was the lucky one and I really appreciated that."
Barbosa's parents tried to provide him with the best childhood they could. They emphasized the importance of hard work and education, and they also encouraged him to do what most children his age enjoyed -- play sports. Barbosa began playing soccer when he was 4 years old. His family could not afford proper footwear and he often played barefoot -- "That's why my feet are so ugly," he laughed as he looked down at a bright green pair of sneakers now protecting them.
He took an interest in basketball when he was 5, tagging along when his older brother shot hoops. Barbosa enjoyed the game but did not know much about it outside of Brazil.
"Many people come up to me and say, 'Did you think you were ever going to be an NBA player?' " he recounted. "I had a dream. When I used to go to school, all my friends used to talk about Michael Jordan and all those guys, but I really didn't know them because I couldn't watch [the games]. We didn't have a TV and cable to see ESPN and those kinds of channels. I only heard them say things, and that's why I got really interested in them. When I got older, that's when it was possible for me to watch. I would sleep over my friends' house when my mama would let me and I could see the NBA."
Barbosa's mother recognized her son's passion for basketball. She sat him down for a very mature conversation when he was 8 years old. What he did want to do with his life? There she listed out three options based on his environment. Then she included one based on his drive.
"She said, 'It's either you're going to go to school, be a builder, [or] be a criminal -- you choose which one you want to be and then you let me know,' " he recalled. "Then she put basketball last and I picked basketball. That's when I realized I really needed to work really hard in my life to be somebody. She was proud of me because I could have said basketball but at the same time done other things. But I really focused on basketball and I started to build up a dream, and that's when I became really tough and a man. I had to think old. I had to think big to change in the situation we were in. It was really hard. It was either you're going or you're not going. It was when I had to change everything."
Barbosa couldn't control how much money his family had or the material items they could afford, but he could shape his own career path.
There were costs associated with the sport, though. Take sneakers, for example. Barbosa admits there were opportunities when he could have stolen from his teammates, but his parents' influence of right versus wrong steered him in the best direction.
"I'm really happy I didn't do it," he said. "I learned when you want something, you definitely have to work for it and go through what you have to go through to have it. It's not easy, it's hard, but nothing's impossible. Everything's possible."
Instead, he found creative ways to get the sneakers he needed to sprint up and down the court. Barbosa received hand-me-downs from his teammates. Others who were more financially sound gave him extra pairs. But when he needed to buy a pair on his own, one of his older brothers would dig through garbage to find empty soda cans and sell them for money.
"Many times, he did that for me," said Barbosa.
The efforts would not be in vain. Barbosa dedicated himself to basketball and turned his back to the negative influences in his life. He ignored the temptations and lures to go down the wrong path. He saw the roads people he knew were traveling on, and none of them pointed to the NBA.
"I think I would be dead [without basketball]. I'm being realistic," he said. "[My parents' influence] was high, especially making sure I was growing up and being a good man. I definitely wouldn't be here. I had many opportunities to be in drug situations and maybe not be alive, be stealing, shooting people, all that kind of stuff. I had my friends and they're all killed or in jail. So I think the impact that they had in my life was unbelievable. Not only them, but my sisters and my brothers, too."
As a teenager, Barbosa earned national recognition and began playing in tournaments against other countries. Houston Rockets forward and Argentina native Carlos Delfino met Barbosa when they were 15 years old. He recalled a quiet, laidback athlete who exploded on the floor.
"I always remember the first time we played against him," said Delfino. "It was in a South American tournament and he was a big star from Brazil. When you're a kid and you have a competition, you find out people are really good. Leandro was already a beast. It was like, 'Wow, this guy is really fast. He can play. He can handle the ball.' We won the tournament, I was MVP (laughs) . . . but you could see [Barbosa was] somebody who could play in the NBA."
When Barbosa began traveling more often, his mother made the trips with him. Fellow Brazilian - Cleveland Cavaliers center Anderson Varejao was introduced to Barbosa when they were 17. Ivette was always nearby.
"His mom used to be everywhere," Varejao said. "She followed him everywhere. I even remember being in the Dominican Republic playing with the National Team, she was there."
Barbosa took his mother with him, figuratively and literally. He has worn a religious pendant she had blessed for him every day since he received it as a child. When he plays, he slips it off his neck and tucks it into his sock.
In 2003, Barbosa's mother joined her son in New York City for the NBA Draft. By that time, he had garnered attention from around the world and wanted his mother to be on hand when his name was called. The San Antonio Spurs selected Barbosa with the 28th pick and traded him to the Suns that night.
While Barbosa began to plan for his new life in Phoenix, his mother headed back to Brazil where she had been able to protect her son all his life. But when she returned, there was no one there to protect her.
"My mama got kidnapped," Barbosa said. "When I got drafted, it got really big news in Brazil. When she went back, that was when it happened. She was kidnapped for three days."
Barbosa said at that time, criminals were targeting the relatives of Brazilian soccer players who had signed contracts in Europe and demanding a ransom. His family kept the news from him as his brother Arturo, a member of the Brazilian Army, worked to get their mother released.
"It was a really, really tough situation," said Barbosa. "I didn't have to pay anything but I almost had to because it wasn't easy to find her. But my brother, someway, somehow did, he got her. [They told me on the] last day, when they found her. They tried to hide it from me so I wouldn't be worried. When I found out, I was shocked."
This would not be the only time Barbosa would have to deal with distressing family issues in Brazil. He lost his father to cancer in 2005. Years later, his mother was also diagnosed with the disease . . . and beat it.
Their bond strengthened. The mother and son spoke multiple times a day. She offered him words of encouragement before every game. Her voice drove him through four quarters of basketball.
But Barbosa suffered a devastating loss at the start of his sixth NBA season. His mother was hospitalized with pneumonia for over a month and passed away in November of 2008.
"When I lost my mama, I felt for me that I lost my legs, like I couldn't do anything without her," said Barbosa. "It was everything for me. Especially sometimes I still remember that every time before the game I would talk to her. She would give me a lot of power for me to do well on the basketball court. It's hard because now I don't have that. I'm using my brother as my mama, but it's not the same. The voice is not the same. The spirit is not the same. But I know where she is right now, she's safe. She's in a better place than here."
***
The long plane ride back to Brazil last month stirred up memories of the most difficult flight of Barbosa's life. Five years ago, he said goodbye to the woman who gave her all to her youngest son.
"Losing her, I know, was really, really tough on him," said Varejao. "I still think that to these days, he feels the loss of her. At the same time that it was bothering him, he was tough. He tried to not let it affect his career. He handled it the right way. He's a funny guy and cares about people."
Today Barbosa is one of the friendliest faces in the Celtics locker room. Fellow guards Avery Bradley and Courtney Lee both used the word "positive" to describe him, and noted his approachability and kindness to his teammates.
Always sporting a smile, Barbosa gives no inkling to the turmoil he suffered in his past and is currently coping with in his personal life. Instead, he emits the optimism his parents instilled in him as a child.
"My mama always said before she put me to sleep, 'Be happy no matter what,' " he recalled. " 'Life is short and you never know what can happen the day after tomorrow. So enjoy the day you have so you can be happy and smile.' I try to enjoy every single day I have to be happy."Comment
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Re: Leandro Barbosa has requested trade
tough tough man.Originally posted by Basketball Fan View PostComment
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