Shaq’s little buddy Leandro
April 17th, 2008, 4:42 pm · Post a Comment · posted by jerrybrown
They have become fast friends in the Suns locker room – the 7-foot-1, 325-pound veteran center and the 25-year-old, Brazilian Blur.
But then again, not even Grant Hill has known Shaquille O’Neal as long as Leandro Barbosa – though O’Neal admits he doesn’t remember the first meeting.
Back in 1990, seven-year-old Leandrihno Barbosa was playing for a youth team in San Paulo when the 19-year-old O’Neal, having just completed his freshman year at LSU, visited
Brazil and his gym to speak, shake hands and rattle the rims with some dunks.
“It was a crazy day, everyone was excited that he was coming and there were a lot of people in the gym,” Barbosa remembered. “I shook his hand. He didn’t remember, but it was a big day for me.”
O’Neal has drawn a quick affection for Barbosa, and is trying to learn as many phrases in Portuguese with his Latin accent as possible .
“The Brazilian culture likes a fight and never quits,” O’Neal said. “Leandro is a tough, hard-nosed kid and he’s going to be a vital part of our success. He ignites a lot of our guys.”
Barbosa even forgives O’Neal for what he did on that long-ago trip to San Paulo.
“He was dunking and he broke the backboard,” Barbosa said. “It stayed like that for about a week and a half before someone could get it fixed. No one could practice or play, so that was sad. But it was still fun to see him dunk like that.”
When the trade to bring O’Neal to
Phoenix was made, Barbosa’s phone rang off the hook.
“All my friends from home called to say ‘How does it feel? You were shaking his hand a few years ago and now you are playing together?’ And at the beginning, it was a little strange. But we joked around and got to be friends fast, so the feeling went away.
