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• On having a franchise abroad ...

Barkley: "I hate it. I know that the league, they want to make money. But to have players flying X amount of hours to try to play a basketball game, it's just not conducive to their bodies. It's very difficult to play four games in five nights in the NBA. Actually, I've always disagreed with teams playing four games in five nights. By the end of that stretch, you're not getting the greatest basketball in the world.

"Teams flying 10, 12 hours to play a basketball game -- first of all, they're not going to play great that game, then they got to turn around and come back home. It's going to affect their bodies at some point, and it's just not right. We've got so many great international players, I've got no problem going to play exhibition games over there: taking [Manu] Ginobili back to Argentina, taking Tony Parker back to France, taking Dirk [Nowitzki] back to Germany, Yao Ming over to China; I think that's great. But to have a real game and having guys fly -- I flew to China this summer, and it's a 15-hour flight -- you can't play basketball in that situation. It's just not good for you."

Smith: "I like it. Bill Russell said this to me one time: He said an African-American can never not want inclusion. Include everybody. Include the world. I think you have to be selective and you have to be smart about it in terms of, if you wanted franchises in foreign cities, I don't think you can have [only] one, unless you are in Canada or in Mexico. I don't think you can have one; I think you have to have three or four, because you have to send teams over there for two weeks.

"You couldn't allow them to go over for four days and then fly back and be back. You have to allow an opportunity to go over and play four or five games and then they have another rest week when they come back. I'd enjoy it. I think that the world is different now; the television age has changed the visibility, the popularity of players that these people have never seen before and they appreciate and they support."

• On whether referees should be allowed in casinos ...

Barkley: "First of all, did these guys stay in Japan during the All-Star Game [last season]? No, they stayed in a casino [in Las Vegas], so don't give me this s--- that they can't go in a casino. Everybody knows I like to gamble, so I would be so stupid to go from 'I like to gamble' to betting on games? I don't think you can go that far.

"You can't assume because guys go to casinos they are going to bet on games. Those guys know they can't bet on games; they are going to screw their life and livelihood. I think they should be able to go to casinos because it's fun. Most people like to gamble. There is nothing wrong with it. But anyone who bets on games should be banned for life. If you want to go to a casino and play blackjack or roulette or, God forbid, those slot machines, I just don't think [banning that] is right.

"We need a team in Vegas. Gambling is not bad for you. It's like alcohol. Alcohol ain't bad for you unless you are an alcoholic. It is unfortunate this situation [a betting scandal involving former referee Tim Donaghy] happened, but people want to go from A to Z so quickly. I don't think you go from, 'We got one guy who did something ignorant and stupid,' to 'All the guys are betting on games.' "

Smith: "I think they should be banned from going to casinos during the season, only because of perception. It might be wrong, but the perception of seeing an NBA referee in a casino is different now. If you saw it a year ago, you would not think of the same thing. ... Then in the offseason, you can do what you want."

• Barkley, on the television ratings system: "The rating system is full of s---. I wish all the people who run these stations had the [guts] to go after the ratings people. I know this business lives and dies with ratings, but there is no way in the world they know who is watching everything in this country. You can't give three people in this room a box and assume 5,000 or 10,000 are watching the same thing. She's a lady [he points to a woman reporter in the room], he's a brother [he points to a black reporter], we all watch different things. I can tell you if they gave me and my boy Kenny a box, Sanford and Son would have been the No. 1 show in the Nielsen ratings!"