The Leandro Barbosa in the Ring of Honor argument

My Personal Conclusion

Leandro Barbosa deserves to be in the Ring of Honor, and I believe that someday he will be enshrined next to the other greats in franchise history.

His longevity alone should be worth his inclusion, but two other additional factors play into my personal opinion: of every player in franchise history that has won an individual award (including MVP, RoY, MIP, and SMA, only the three other players to win Sixth Man are not in the Ring: Eddie Johnson, Danny Manning, and Rodney Rogers. An argument could be made that Eddie Johnson could too already be in the Ring, however, none of those three come close to matching the longevity on the court that Leandro has – Manning (5 years), Johnson (4), and Rogers (3). To further that point, had Eddie Johnson not been traded for Xavier McDaniel in 1991, and remained on the bench for Phoenix over the subsequent three and a half years, he too would be in the Ring of Honor – without a doubt.

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Secondly, of every player in the Suns Ring of Honor, none were drafted as late as Barbosa was, who was selected 28th overall in the first round yet he still ranks high in several important statistical categories. Granted, Dick Van Arsdale was selected in the second round, but he was still chosen 13th overall. Connie Hawkins was not drafted due to issues completely out of control, and there is no doubt that had he would have been a very high pick had he been allowed to come into the league when he should have. Every other player in the Ring was drafted very high if not current-lottery level when they came into the league – regardless of the team. The fact that Barbosa managed to have such a long, and re-occuring career in Phoenix, is another important factor in his potential inclusion.

While some of Barbosa’s stats are embellished a bit by his longevity and three separate tenures in the Valley of the Suns, the proof of his deservedness is still in the pudding. Not only his benefaction to the 7 Seconds or Less  era, but overall contributions to the franchise make him deserving of such a high honor. I’m not saying it would be a travesty if Barbosa was not one day given his spot among the franchise’s all-timers, but I do believe it would be a shame.

When Leandro Barbosa retires, he should be placed in the Ring of Honor.

Do you agree?

All statistics were accumulated from basketball-reference.com.