# What's Up With Charles Barkley?



## subliminal yogurt (Dec 9, 2005)

I was still in elementary school when Charles Barkley joined the Suns, and I know that not all Phoenix Suns fans welcomed him with open arms, but has the guy really carried a grudge all these years?

While most NBA analysts are praising the Suns for playing above and beyond most people's expectations while Amare Stoudamire has been out, Charles Barkley remains curiously unimpressed. He won't even admit to a slight amount of surprise by their record. If he's not surprised, does that mean that Charles Barkley knew, without a doubt, that the Suns would be second in the Pacific after starting 4-5 this season? That seems a little hard to believe. How could anyone not be impressed with what has been accomplished when most people seemed to think our only chance of survival would be to hang around .500 until Amare came back? Even people who adamantly proclaimed Shaq to be the true MVP last season are now saying that Steve Nash has proven himself and if he continues to play the way he has been playing, he will likely repeat.

I have never heard Charles Barkley ever say anything remotely close to this. Sure, there is a possibility that Charles Barkley honestly isn't impressed by the way the Suns are playing and doesn't believe that Steve Nash is an MVP-level performer, but as long as I've been watching his NBA analysis on TNT, he has consistently down-played their successes almost to the point of ridiculousness. For instance, he attributes Phoenix's current record, not to the way they have been playing or their new defensive strategies, but to their large number of home games played. This seems odd since Phoenix's home record was much worse than their away record at the beginning of the season.

Has anyone else noticed Barkley's apparent bias against the Suns? And, if so, do you attribute it to some kind of grudge or his own personal preferences?


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## Lukasbmw (Jul 30, 2004)

When Barkley came to Phoenix the great Cotton showed Barkley America West Arena. He told Barkley the Arena was already built...Barkley had nothing to do with the Arena. He showed Barkley the Western Coference Champion Banner and Pacific Division Championship banner. He then told Barkley the only reason he was brought to PHX was to win a Championship.

Barkley failed. 

If the current Suns team wins a championship it will make Barkley look like an even bigger failure. The truth is, I think the current Suns may be better then 92-93. I'm begining to believe Nash is better then KJ, Amare may be better then Barkley, and the Matrix is a much better player then Thunder Dan ever was.


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## RSP83 (Nov 24, 2002)

I have a different opinion about Barkley's Suns. I had the chance to watch that Suns team. That team was one of the toughest to play against. Even Jordan's Bulls who won the championship by beating them had trouble in the Final. Of all the opponents the Bulls beat in the Final, Barkley's Suns was the toughest. The 1993 NBA Final was the only time I'm a bit unsure whether the Bulls can win it or not. Amare is not better than Barkley was at the time, I can assure you that. I don't have anything against Amare, I think he's going to be a hell of a player one day. But, Charles Barkley at the time was really... really... really good. He's not only the leader of that team (he's a great leader), but he also come out and play his best every single game. He's really the reason why that Suns team was that good.

I agree that I'd probably pick Nash ahead of KJ if I have to choose one. Marion is a better all-around player than Majerle too. But, the current team is not there yet. I didn't see the killer instinct yet. But, this is a pretty young team. Sooner or later, if this team stays together and improve the way they should, they will reach that level. I like what I see in Nash, he's a great player and a great leader. And Amare, though he's slowly becoming a dominant post player, he still needs to work on his defense. I like to see him dominate both ends of the floor. He's still young, he's already one of the best in the league, but he's still far from Barkley's 1993 level. Give him time, kid has great work ethic.

I don't know anything or what happened between Barkley and the Suns. But, I know this, Barkley the player and Barkley the analyst are two different guys in terms of quality. Barkley was one of the best player to ever grace the basketball court, but Barkley the analyst? I do respect his knowledge about the game of basketball, but sometime you just have to take what he says with a grain of salt.

I love the current Suns team, I think the new player that they bring in, Diaw, Bell, House, James Jones, Kurt Thomas, really set the team to a better future. Now, along with Amare, Nash, Marion, and Barbosa, and Jimmy Jackson, this team is 10 deep and even better a lot of them still has their best years ahead of them. Mr. Colangelo has done a great job.


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## jibikao (Nov 14, 2004)

Barkley hates Nash and Dirk. Didn't you guys know that? Just because those two players play a different style of basketball than he does, he just trashes them to no end. I've yet to hear any great comments from Barkley about Nash/Dirk/Cuban. 

The current team is playing without Amare. It's not a championship team yet. 

But to say he is not "impressed" is plain BS. God, I hate Barkley. He just BARKS all the time. Don't take him seriously. He IS jealous of Suns' success last year. I bet he was praying that we didn't beat the best regular season record. Barkley is too sore a loser. Oh yeah, he admits MJ is better... that doesn't mean sh!t.


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## Lukasbmw (Jul 30, 2004)

I remember the Barkley years very well, and I think Amare is just as good of a player.

For one, the Suns durring the Barkley years absolutly lacked the killer instinct. Many times they surendered leads or lost stupid games. The Barkley led suns almost lost to the Lakers in round one of the 1993 playoffs. They blew two second round matchups to Houston in 94 and 95. Barkley always ran his mouth about how good he and the Suns were, but he was never able to lead us to victory.

The Barkley offensive stratagy was get the ball on the block, back down, and either fade away or kick it out to another player. I can't tell you how sick I got of seeing Barkley waste seconds on offense. 

Barkley was no better on defense then Amare. Many times Barkley would back away from a post player hoping the post player would fall and be called for traveling. While it worked at times, it also led to many layups.

I've been watching the Suns since 1988. I've been a huge fan since 1991. The things Amare can do...I have never seen anyone else come close to doing what he does. Amare can score at will. There is no way Barkley would have been able to dominate Duncan like Amare did in last years playoffs.

Don't get me wrong, Barkley was a great player, but if Amare comes back at 100%, Amare will be the best PF to ever lace up a pair of sneakers in PHX.


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## Dissonance (Jul 21, 2004)

subliminal yogurt said:


> I was still in elementary school when Charles Barkley joined the Suns, and I know that not all Phoenix Suns fans welcomed him with open arms, but has the guy really carried a grudge all these years?
> 
> While most NBA analysts are praising the Suns for playing above and beyond most people's expectations while Amare Stoudamire has been out, Charles Barkley remains curiously unimpressed. He won't even admit to a slight amount of surprise by their record. If he's not surprised, does that mean that Charles Barkley knew, without a doubt, that the Suns would be second in the Pacific after starting 4-5 this season? That seems a little hard to believe. How could anyone not be impressed with what has been accomplished when most people seemed to think our only chance of survival would be to hang around .500 until Amare came back? Even people who adamantly proclaimed Shaq to be the true MVP last season are now saying that Steve Nash has proven himself and if he continues to play the way he has been playing, he will likely repeat.
> 
> ...


I have heard him say he always wants to see us do well. But only thing he has said that puts us down really is we're not a team that can win the title this yr. I haven't seen him say he's not impressed or anything this yr though. Still long ways to go though.


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## RSP83 (Nov 24, 2002)

Lukasbmw said:


> I remember the Barkley years very well, and I think Amare is just as good of a player.
> 
> For one, the Suns durring the Barkley years absolutly lacked the killer instinct. Many times they surendered leads or lost stupid games. The Barkley led suns almost lost to the Lakers in round one of the 1993 playoffs. They blew two second round matchups to Houston in 94 and 95. Barkley always ran his mouth about how good he and the Suns were, but he was never able to lead us to victory.
> 
> ...


First of all, yeah Barkley did all those things. But, Barkley is not your typical PF. He's very short for PF standard. There's no way he can dominate the game by playing the way a lot of the great PFs play. Barkley with all his limitation has to find his own way to dominate the game. The bottomline is he carried the Suns to the final and put on a tough battle against MJ's Bulls. That offensive strategy that he played, like it or not, it brought him far in the playoff. I find Barkley to be an amazing player because, let's look back at the 90's. That Houston Rockets team was not a walk in the park, and the West was as tough as today's West (Hakeem and the Rockets, DRob and the Spurs, Malone and Stock's Jazz, the young Seattle Supersonics led by Payton and Kemp). With all his limitation, he's able to lead his team to the final.

I agree, he runs his mouth too much. But, you need to respect him as a player. Charles Barkley, at one point of his career, was one of the most complete basketball player. In 1993, he averaged 25.6 ppg, 1.0 bpg, 1.6 spg, 5.1 apg, 12.2 rpg. Amare Stoudemire's game is still not as polished as Barkley was during that time. Barkley was a better player than Amare in terms of individual. Barkley can do so many things. Barkley can run a team. Amare has not reach that level yet. Beside, it's not like the Barkley Suns team was that bad. They were one of the best team in the West. Just like today's Suns. All I know is that Barkley alread led his team to the final beating some of the toughest competition in the West. The current (last year) Suns, even though they have the same record (62-20), hasn't showed that they're the best team in the West yet. I'm not a hater, I'm just being real.


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## subliminal yogurt (Dec 9, 2005)

Lukasbmw said:


> When Barkley came to Phoenix the great Cotton showed Barkley America West Arena. He told Barkley the Arena was already built...Barkley had nothing to do with the Arena. He showed Barkley the Western Coference Champion Banner and Pacific Division Championship banner. He then told Barkley the only reason he was brought to PHX was to win a Championship.
> 
> Barkley failed.
> 
> If the current Suns team wins a championship it will make Barkley look like an even bigger failure. The truth is, I think the current Suns may be better then 92-93. I'm begining to believe Nash is better then KJ, Amare may be better then Barkley, and the Matrix is a much better player then Thunder Dan ever was.


 The more I see of this current Suns team, the more I become convinced that they have what it takes to win a Championship. It might take a couple more years, but I am convinced that they will be contenders.

So, if this really is what Barkley is afraid of, I think he should put the past behind him and accept what is very likely to happen.


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## subliminal yogurt (Dec 9, 2005)

jibikao said:


> Barkley hates Nash and Dirk. Didn't you guys know that? Just because those two players play a different style of basketball than he does, he just trashes them to no end. I've yet to hear any great comments from Barkley about Nash/Dirk/Cuban.
> 
> The current team is playing without Amare. It's not a championship team yet.
> 
> But to say he is not "impressed" is plain BS. God, I hate Barkley. He just BARKS all the time. Don't take him seriously. He IS jealous of Suns' success last year. I bet he was praying that we didn't beat the best regular season record. Barkley is too sore a loser. Oh yeah, he admits MJ is better... that doesn't mean sh!t.


 Do you know why Barkley hates Steve Nash? Is it because of his nontraditional playing style or was there some type of feud that I was unaware of?


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## subliminal yogurt (Dec 9, 2005)

dissonance19 said:


> I have heard him say he always wants to see us do well. But only thing he has said that puts us down really is we're not a team that can win the title this yr. I haven't seen him say he's not impressed or anything this yr though. Still long ways to go though.


 I might be wrong but I think it was during one of the half-time shows during TNT's double header last Thursday where Kenny Smith and Charles Barkley debated about the hot streak of the Suns.

Did anybody else catch this?


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## Dissonance (Jul 21, 2004)

subliminal yogurt said:


> I might be wrong but I think it was during one of the half-time shows during TNT's double header last Thursday where Kenny Smith and Charles Barkley debated about the hot streak of the Suns.
> 
> Did anybody else catch this?



Yeah, well they only seem to have a tendency to just take the already known title contenders serious and brush off everyone else. Which sucks about basketball, that only 4 to 5 teams are even given a ****ing chance. If this weren't the case, NBA would be more popular if more teams contended.


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## jibikao (Nov 14, 2004)

subliminal yogurt said:


> Do you know why Barkley hates Steve Nash? Is it because of his nontraditional playing style or was there some type of feud that I was unaware of?


You can ask Barkley. He made some "go fishing" joke during Mavs vs Spurs WCF. Well, Mavs won that game and the next game Manu kneed Dirk and Mavs went down (although they did fight well). 

He won't give credits to Nash/Dirk. Oh yeah, they haven't won championship, but did Barkley win anything? Just beacuse Nash/Dirk have different playing style doesn't mean they are worthless That's the impression I am getting from Barkley. Kenny would say something nice every once a while. Ok, we all know Spurs is the dominant team but it doesn't mean all the rest of NBA teams are not worth praising. 

Go ask any Mavs fans, they all hate Barkley and there is a reason for it. I know Mavs is not a championship team but they can easily win 50+ game every year. You gotta give respect to that. How many teams can consistently be in the Top 5-8 for the past 5 years? Barkley (and Kenny) would keep insulting Mavs which makes Cuban really mad. Quite frankly, I think Cuban is a great owner. He loves his team and I don't see anything wrong with that. It's just that during TNT Half Time, they keep insulting Mavs no matter what they do. 


I am not standing on Mavs side but I just think Barkley Barks too much. Magic Johnson would appear on TNT show every once and while and he has said a lot nice things that Nash/Dirk have done. Barkley has too much ego to admit that Nash/Dirk are having successful career in NBA. His ego got him when he reported to Rocket 20lbs overweight. He HAD played with other great players on the Rocket team but he blew it. He didn't guard Stockston in the last 3 pointer. I remembered that game so well 'cause I thought Utah was sooo going to lose. Stockton was in Barkley's face!!! Barkley can bark all he wants but when it comes to championship, he is just on the same level as Nash/Dirk - zero. 

I like listening to Magic because he gives both perspectives usually. He won't trash the non-Spurs teams just because they are not a championship team. Oh and Magic knows what it takes to win championship, which Barkley doesn't know. Even Kenny has won!!!


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## 77AJ (Feb 16, 2005)

Charles Barkely was one of Nash's biggest supporters when Nash won his MVP.

Seems to me someone is just upset that Barkely doesn't think the Suns are title contenders. By the way the Suns are not title contenders this season.


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## subliminal yogurt (Dec 9, 2005)

jibikao said:


> Go ask any Mavs fans, they all hate Barkley and there is a reason for it. I know Mavs is not a championship team but they can easily win 50+ game every year. You gotta give respect to that. How many teams can consistently be in the Top 5-8 for the past 5 years? Barkley (and Kenny) would keep insulting Mavs which makes Cuban really mad. Quite frankly, I think Cuban is a great owner. He loves his team and I don't see anything wrong with that. It's just that during TNT Half Time, they keep insulting Mavs no matter what they do.


Sometimes I think they go out of their way to annoy Cuban because they know they can get under his skin and it makes for interesting TV.


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## subliminal yogurt (Dec 9, 2005)

23AJ said:


> Charles Barkely was one of Nash's biggest supporters when Nash won his MVP.
> 
> Seems to me someone is just upset that Barkely doesn't think the Suns are title contenders. By the way the Suns are not title contenders this season.


 Just reporting what I heard him say on TNT the other night.

The Suns have failed over and over and over again on the court and that is why they will succeed.


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## 77AJ (Feb 16, 2005)

subliminal yogurt said:


> Just reporting what I heard him say on TNT the other night.
> 
> The Suns have failed over and over and over again on the court and that is why they will succeed.


A lot of people did dog out Nash last year for winning the MVP. However Barkley did nothing, but praise him and tell people he deserved the MVP on TNT. As much praise and applauding Nash deserved last season. Doesn't mean he can't be criticized this season by Barkley. However I didnt see TNT last thursday so I can't comment on what was said. Although I do know that Barkely supported Steve Nash for MVP last season when many contested it.


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## subliminal yogurt (Dec 9, 2005)

23AJ said:


> A lot of people did dog out Nash last year for winning the MVP. However Barkley did nothing, but praise him and tell people he deserved the MVP on TNT. As much praise and applauding Nash deserved last season. Doesn't mean he can't be criticized this season by Barkley. However I didnt see TNT last thursday so I can't comment on what was said. Although I do know that Barkely supported Steve Nash for MVP last season when many contested it.


 Yeah, I was damn surprised when he got pissed off at some of the analysts that said the only reason Nash got it was because he's white. And, don't get me wrong, I don't want people thinking that he dogged Nash the other night because he didn't. The only thing he seemed to be dogging was the Suns's winning streak (which was at 7 or 8 games at the time).


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## nbanoitall (May 21, 2004)

i'm not going to take anything away from your posts. the suns are playing some great ball. maybe that does piss charles barkley off.

regardless Id take Charles Barkley over anyone on the suns current roster, including Amare. (charles in his prime of course). I was 10 or 11 in 1993. And I remember Barkley dominating the league that year. 

That team was incredible. They could have damn near beat any team ever too. Except for the greatest team of all time, which they played. If Charles would have had any thing near the side kick jordan had, you might see a very different outcome.


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## jibikao (Nov 14, 2004)

23AJ said:


> A lot of people did dog out Nash last year for winning the MVP. However Barkley did nothing, but praise him and tell people he deserved the MVP on TNT. As much praise and applauding Nash deserved last season. Doesn't mean he can't be criticized this season by Barkley. However I didnt see TNT last thursday so I can't comment on what was said. Although I do know that Barkely supported Steve Nash for MVP last season when many contested it.


From what I saw last season, Barkley supported Nash ONLY because he is AGAINST the racist comment written by some writers. Barkley is against the idea that Nash won ONLY beacuse he is white. 

Barkley did not say "Oh, Nash is great and he deserves it." Magic congrats Nash and Barkley started talking about how the voting is crap because SOMEBODY did not put Shaq in the Top 5 because if Shaq is in the Top 5, Shaq could actually beat Nash. That's what Barkley was trying to say. He can't stand the fact that somebody doesn't believe Shaq had a great season. This is what I hate about Barkley. It's almost like only the superstars are worth mentioning and all the rest are worthless. If that "somebody" doesn't think Shaq hasn't done more than Wade has, let it be. It's just ONE freaking person and Barkley has to mention it on the show to make it that Nash "was lucky" to win MVP. I bet if Shaq won the MVP last season, Barkley WOULD NOT mention that "somebody didn't put Nash on the Top 5.". Barkley would start licking Shaq's shoes by saying "Shaq is one of the all-time greats...blah blah blah." 

Oh, and it helps that Nash did have MVP performerces during playoffs. It sort shuts them up. But other than, Barkley never really likes Nash/Dirk. This goes back to the Mavs days.


I am not talking about Barkley not being a great player. All I am saying is he has ego problem and he doesn't like Mavs/Suns.

A good example is whenever Suns VS another team on TNT and Suns is winning, Barkley rarely says "Suns' playing such great basketball right now. They win the other team with great offense." He would say "The other team is losing because they can't keep up with Suns. They need to do this and that in order to compete with Suns.". You see the difference? If it's a Spurs team, Barkley would say "Spurs is just plain dominanting."


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## jibikao (Nov 14, 2004)

nbanoitall said:


> i'm not going to take anything away from your posts. the suns are playing some great ball. maybe that does piss charles barkley off.
> 
> regardless Id take Charles Barkley over anyone on the suns current roster, including Amare. (charles in his prime of course). I was 10 or 11 in 1993. And I remember Barkley dominating the league that year.
> 
> That team was incredible. They could have damn near beat any team ever too. Except for the greatest team of all time, which they played. If Charles would have had any thing near the side kick jordan had, you might see a very different outcome.


Dont' worry, I am not arguing that Barkley sucks or anything. All I am saying is Barkley tends to show this "bitterness" that he didn't have a great side-kick that Jordan had. Kevin Johnson was great and Barkley did play with Rocket with those great players. He was overweight and couldn't contribute as much as Rocket would like him to. He can keep complaining and say "I would have won...blah blah blah" but in reality, he didn't. Just like how Karl Malone and Stockton didn't win a championships but I bet if both of them are on TNT show, they won't trash Nash/Dirk that much. In fact, I can totally picture Stockton praising Nash for what he's done as a point guard.

The thing is Magical Johnson praises Suns/Mavs all the time. Steve Kerr praises too. All those people have won championships. Why is it so hard for Barkley to praise Nash/Dirk? You may hear Barkley say something moderately nice about Nash/Dirk but it has to be like SUPER good game to get any kind of praise.


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## Tiz (May 9, 2005)

I think some of his criticisms comes from being a Sun and ultimately wanting the team to succeed. As part owner of the team he should be even more critical of the team and has every right too.


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## Jammin (Jul 3, 2005)

No matter what he says/doesn't say, hes still a halarious man.


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## Dissonance (Jul 21, 2004)

subliminal yogurt said:


> I was still in elementary school when Charles Barkley joined the Suns, and I know that not all Phoenix Suns fans welcomed him with open arms, but has the guy really carried a grudge all these years?
> 
> While most NBA analysts are praising the Suns for playing above and beyond most people's expectations while Amare Stoudamire has been out, Charles Barkley remains curiously unimpressed. He won't even admit to a slight amount of surprise by their record. If he's not surprised, does that mean that Charles Barkley knew, without a doubt, that the Suns would be second in the Pacific after starting 4-5 this season? That seems a little hard to believe. How could anyone not be impressed with what has been accomplished when most people seemed to think our only chance of survival would be to hang around .500 until Amare came back? Even people who adamantly proclaimed Shaq to be the true MVP last season are now saying that Steve Nash has proven himself and if he continues to play the way he has been playing, he will likely repeat.
> 
> ...



wow, funny you posted this and I remembered this thread but last night on Inside the NBA almost a month from when you originally posted this. Barkley went on about us, about how Nash in his words, "he's a bad boy" and how he is the MVP right now. He also stated that he's playing better this yr than he did last yr when he won the MVP. And how it's more impressive cuz we're doing so well for not having Amare, JJ, and Q. Probably just wanted to see more from us which is why he didn't give us credit.

Magic Johnson also said we could be a legit threat to the Spurs with Amare at 80-90%, he said with the team we have we don't need him to be 100%.


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