National Basketball Association

Leandro Barbosa as a crazy preseason workout

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

foxsports

Leandro Barbosa, who is best known as “Leandro Barbosa,” is a champion. He’s done it. He’s been to the top of the mountain. From now until forever, he’ll have that little honor in his Wikipedia article.

I'm feeling ten feet tall. Unstoppable. I'm a champion.

See? There it is.

After last season’s The-Warriors-Blew-A-3-to-1-Lead-In-The-NBA-Finals, perhaps the moment has come to take the foot off the gas. Maybe it’s time to slow down and take everything in. 33 is pretty old in the NBA. Retirement is calling. He signed with the non-superteam Phoenix Suns and has now played for his national team back home in Brazil. What else is there to accomplish? He’s got his money, and he’s got his ring. Maybe this summer is the chance to relax.

#BrazilianCamp #BeepBeep ???????????????? pic.twitter.com/tIArs2tmFt

— Leandro Barbosa (@TheBlurBarbosa) September 22, 2016

Or maybe it isn’t.

I don’t like sand. It’s coarse, and rough, and irritating, and it gets everywhere. Barbosa knows this having grown up on the beaches of Tatooine. I mean Brazil. Also, working out with a medicine ball in the balmy southern hemisphere winter in sand sounds brutal. That is not relaxing.

Nor is a bench press on a medicine ball with a weight on your chest. The only thing that should be allowed on your chest is a half eaten pizza while you’re laying on a couch watching Midsomer Murders. And maybe shirts. I consider everything else lunacy.

So if anyone is expecting a dropoff in effort from Leandro Barbosa this year, maybe they should stop. Time waits for no man, but some people can punch time in the face when it shows up.