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Sir Charles speaks -- as usual
Barkley weighs in on all things basketball
Posted: Tuesday March 05, 2002 12:02 PM
Updated: Tuesday March 05, 2002 1:13 PM
If my writing seems a little more tired than usual, it's because I just returned
from four hectic days of following around Charles Barkley for a story in
this week's Sports Illustrated. I tell you that not to provide advance
advertisement for the story -- trust me, I don't get anything extra in the
paycheck -- but because I'm about to relate several things that I couldn't
squeeze into the piece. And it was a damn long
piece.
As those of you who watch his TNT studio show on Wednesday and Thursday nights
know, Barkley has no shortage of opinions. Nor was he exactly tongue-tied during
his 16-year NBA career. At least I think it's over; Barkley told me that
thoughts of a return to the NBA were not positively squelched until his good
buddy Michael Jordan underwent knee surgery last week. If Barkley keeps
working out at his current rate, I wouldn't be shocked if he announced another
comeback. I hope he
doesn't.
I don't consider Barkley the last word in perceptive analysis. Consistency being
the hobgoblin of little minds, Sir Charles, when he was playing, never worried
about saying one thing Tuesday night and contradicting himself by Wednesday
morning. But now that he's watching basketball on a full-time basis (well, he
doesn't really do anything full-time except play golf), I find he has a lot of
good stuff to say. During a couple long plane rides, a round of golf and a
cocktail or two, here is some of
it:
"The only team in my era that could beat the Lakers with Kobe and
Shaq was the 1985-'86 Boston Celtics. First of all, Robert Parish
couldn't stop Shaq, but he would make him work on defense. Then they'd come back
with Kevin McHale and make Shaq work harder. Dennis Johnson could
body up and make it hard for Kobe. And McHale and Larry Bird would
absolutely kill the Lakers
forwards."
"I never walked onto a basketball court when I didn't feel like I was as
good as anyone else out there. Except once. Game 2 of the 1993 NBA Finals in
Chicago. [Barkley's Phoenix Suns were playing Jordan's Chicago Bulls.] We had
lost Game 1, and I had made up my mind that I would do anything -- anything --
to lead my team in Game 2. I scored 42 points and Michael simply would not
let me win. I looked over at him and thought, 'Man, he's better than me.
He's better than everybody.' Trust me on this: Nobody has ever played basketball
like
Michael."
"I have a great life, but it drives me nuts when ex-players lie and say
they have it better than when they played. There ain't nothing like being out
there playing. Nothing like making people happy, getting your home crowd going
crazy. Sports is one of the pure things, one of the only things that gets you
away from reality. To be a part of that as a player is
unbelievable."
"I always said if a guy tried to take a charge on me I would try to kill
him. If he's got the balls to take a charge, I got the balls to try to maim him.
I'm not saying it never happened, but I just can't remember anyone ever stepping
in front of
me."
"When somebody asks me if I regret never winning a championship, I don't
know how to answer. It's a two-edged sword. I'm flattered that people put me in
the class of players who should've won one. They don't say that about
everybody. And of course I would've rather won one. But you've gotta remember
what I was thinking when I came into the league. I honestly never thought about
championships or anything like that until people started bringing it up. I
played basketball because it was my job and because I wanted to get my family
out of poverty. That's
it."
"I was fairly controversial, I guess, but I regret only one thing -- the
spitting incident. [Barkley got incensed at a fan during a 1991 game at the
Meadowlands, spit at him but accidentally hit a little girl.] But you know what?
It taught me a valuable lesson. It taught me that I was getting way too intense
during the game. It let me know I wanted to win way too bad. I had to calm down.
I wanted to win at all costs. Instead of playing the game the right way and
respecting the game, I only thought about
winning."
"During my last couple of years in Houston, I tried to lead some of the
young guys. But they just looked at me like I was an old man in the way. Players
like Steve Francis and Cuttino Mobley didn't want to listen to me.
I guess they figured, 'Hey, we're better players at this stage than he was.'
It's that way in society, too. Kids don't look at their parents the way they
used to. It's not just in the NBA. It's a society problem. When Doctor J.,
Moses Malone and Bobby Jones spoke to me, it was
gospel."
"Here are my tiers of basketball: Jordan is at the top with no one else.
Bill Russell is next with Wilt Chamberlain right there. Then
Oscar Robertson and Magic Johnson. Next are Jerry West and
Bird. Then I can fall anywhere in the next couple tiers down from those guys.
Elgin Baylor? I just don't know enough about
him."
"Bird was a better player than me, but I always felt when I was in the
game I could do things against him. But McHale? Best damn player I ever played
against man-to-man. He gave me fits with those damn long arms and his agility.
He could score on me and he could guard
me."
"I tried hard to concentrate on defense once, but all I did was hurt
myself. I was terrible. But I was as good as Larry. That man couldn't guard a
chair. I loved Larry. I made the mistake of going drinking with him one time. He
did nothing but drink Budweiser the whole night. Any man who drinks Bud the
whole night can
drink."
"Why couldn't I play today? All those sorry-asses out there making that
kind of money. Who did I have to go against? Michael, Magic, Larry, Karl
Malone. I mean, those bitches could
play."
"Now all you have to do is go through one team. This Eastern Conference is
the worst basketball I've seen ever. EVER! Take the Lakers out of the picture, I
played on five or six teams that could win the championship. My first years in
Philly we had Doc and Moses -- we could've probably beat the Lakers with that
team because Moses would've given Shaq all he wanted. My first three seasons in
Phoenix, we could've won the East and the same goes for those teams I was on in
Houston with Hakeem Olajuwon and Clyde
Drexler."
"ESPN has made the game a highlight reel, and it's been a detriment. If
you make three spectacular dunks that's all the fans see. Dunks or flashy plays
-- that's what kids today think of as good basketball because ESPN tells them
that. Kids have no fundamentals, and, worse than that, they have no coaching.
Any kid who becomes the star of his AAU team gets no instruction because the
coach is afraid to coach him. That is screwed
up."
"If I'm lucky enough to go into the Hall of Fame, I'll go in as a
Philadelphia 76er. I don't think I was always treated well there, but you should
go into the Hall with the team you had your best years on, even though I was the
MVP in
Phoenix."
Sports Illustrated senior writer Jack McCallum covers the NBA beat for the
magazine and is a regular contributor to CNNSI.com. Click
here to send a question to his NBA Mailbag.
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