[ESPN]LeBron James rips Charles Barkley: You're the NBA bad boy, not me

Well, a least he did not say out loud ...you are/were NBA's fat boy.

 

LeBron had been an easy target. Respectful of the game, respectful of past stars. Nobody anticipates he will lash out when they make passing comments like Barkley's. I don't think Barkley put much thought into what he was saying, he was just running his mouth, going through the motions.

LeBron is 32 now, he's one of the all-time best, he already surpassed Barkley's legacy years ago, he's worth over a billion, etc... he's a big boy now, he can say whatever he wants.

He fired shots at Barkley, a player. Had a non-player said it I don't think he responds so strongly or at all.

 

Barkley has gotten under Lebron's skin. Lebron made a mistake by lashing out with this butthurt response...it gave Chuck what he wanted. I expect Charles to double down and needle Lebron even harder from now on.

 

He's about as hated as Kobe was. Not surprised he lashed out. There are people sitting around beating off in anticipation of him losing to the Warriors in the finals because they got blue balled so hard last year.

 

I think there is a different standard when it's a former PLAYER doing the talking. This isn't Bayless, this is someone inferior who has never won anything and needs to understand his place in the pecking order. Shaq can come out and trash Dwight Howard, what can Dwight Howard really say? LeBron, he's walked the walk.

The BEST though is when Artest went AIDS on Magic. Lulz.

 

Chuck is right, Lebron is soft and while he may actually be one of the greatest players of all time he has always relied on superteams to compete. It's the new NBA we have the privilege of dealing with.

Lebron is just using ad-hominem to get back at Barkley.

He's still hurt about the "posse" thing which is amusing. He has always been about self-image above anything else. I mean.... he has "chosen 1" tattooed on his own back... "Not going to let this tarnish my legacy." LOL.

A player's 'legacy' is always open to interpretation. Chuck is just saying what many are already thinking.

Lebron needs to keep taking the high road.

 

barkley never won jackshit because of his fragile ego. his last series with clyde, he stubbornly insisted on being The Man and repeatedly trying to post up a much bigger karl malone on the block, even though he was having no success. game 6 of that series clyde was hot and dropped something like 36, but we lost because of chuck's r****ded demanding of the ball in the 4th and then his atrocious closeout D on stockton's 3. even john wooden wrote in his book about barkley's ever present need to prop up his tough guy alpha image and cited this as the reason he could never win. and now on tv he typically blurts out bs and then spends the next few weeks doubling down trying to defend it. curse the day we traded cassell and horry for this chump

 

both guys stating their opinions and each have their own case in doing so. I like it

 

Spoiler

Nothing for Kenny & Shaq?

And what was so wrong with what he said?



Chuck:
LeBron's comments were inappropriate, whiny, all the above. The Cleveland Cavaliers have given him everything he wanted. They have the highest payroll in NBA history. He wanted J.R. Smith, Iman Shumpert, they paid them. They brought in Kyle Korver. He's the best player in the world. Does he want all the good players? Does he not want to compete? He's an amazing player. They're the defending champs. To try & hold anything over Dan Gilbert's head... I love all these punk ass reporters on TV who are afraid to call out LeBron. LeBron is a great player & great gut but the notion he needs all the best players on his team. He has Kyrie Irving & Kevin Love. He wants everyone? He doesn't want to compete? He wants to be the favorite all the time? It just pisses me off a guy that great doesn't want to compete.

Kenny:
His comments were inappropriate. Everyone has a perspective. This is ours. We can't understand your perspective when you're the best player in the world. We can't understand your perspective when you have two all-stars. We just can't understand it. It's like a guy who has a Lamborghini, a Bentley & Ferrari but I need an everyday car. We can't understand that perspective. I'm sorry. You have 3 of the biggest/best cars in the world. We can't have sympathy for you. You can have that perspective but we can give you no sympathy when you are LeBron James, the best player in the world with top heavy tools. We can't have any sympathy.

Shaq:
His comments were inappropriate. Chuck, don't ever say he doesn't want to compete. Does he need all the good players on his team to win? Yes. Inappropriate because he could have went upstairs.

Kenny:
You don't think there's something wrong with wanting more?

Shaq:
No. You played for a team with a big four. You forgot about that? It doesn't matter. It takes more than Love/Irving to win a championship. They need more. It's only inappropriate because he went to the media. Don't ever say he doesn't want to compete.

Chuck:
He's the best player in the world. He has plenty of help.

Kenny:
What Durant did was not ordinary. That doesn't happen in our lifetime. A guy who was up 3-1 and about to go to the NBA Finals goes to the team that beats him. That doesn't happen. You can't compare that. LeBron is the best player in the world, most difficult to guard. No sympathy for you. When you announce it to the media, you are looking for sympathy.

Chuck:
If LeBron is able to beat GS or San Antonio, his legacy will go through the roof. The Cavs have the highest payroll in the NBA. This ain't 7-11, you can just go in and buy anything. They're trying. They got lucky getting Kyle Korver. They're paying $40M-$50M in luxury tax.

Kenny:
If they were under the cap, they might have a point. Highest paid team in the NBA? You have no leg to stand on when you make that comment. You have no movable income & movable parts because you are the highest paid team.

Shaq:
He should have had that conversation with Dan. Yeah he wants the best players. They need better players.

 

Lebron is a better better player, even without his 3 NBA rings, 3 more than Barkley ever had.

There is no doubt at all. Not even close. Barkley was Top 20 player of Alltime, Lebron is Top 5 Alltime.

Even close to being second best of Alltime talentwise.

Legacy is one thing but those 2 are not in the same category, not the same ballpark I am afraid.

 

Maybe this will make Barkley watch how he runs his mouth, at least for a while. After all his hating on the Rockets, justified it not, I'm gonna have a good laugh at all the other sports media going wild over this. And we all know this is going to be talked up all out of proportion. Don't really care about either side, but it's good to see James take out the wrecking ball.

 

don't count on it. You think Barkley actually cares about this? Hes never cared what anyone has to say especially if it's all talk. His job is to voice his opinion and is going to continue to do so.

 

I don't like LeBron's response, but it's not surprising when a man says you are scared to compete. That's a personal attack.

 

Agreed. Thats what got Lebron pissed off. Dont know why Lebron would go to the media with his playmaker request. Maybe he went to the team leadership and was rebuffed? Who knows. It did make him look whiny but on the other hand when you have a team like the warriors who have ruined basketball for the next couple of years out there, it makes sense to want better players. I don't see Barkley trashing Durant and saying he doesnt want to compete when its moreso the case than with Lebron. Its obvious to anyone with any basketball IQ, and Lebron has a very high bball IQ, that Cleveland cant beat the warriors in a 7 game series (honestly don't know who can at this point). Don't like the fact that he brought up casinos and all that, but is absolutely right in calling out Barkleys competitiveness..all he had to say he works year round on his body and his game so that he can win which is something barkley was never known for.

 

how did the warriors ruin basketball. That core team was built not bought and they won a title that way. They drafted and everyone developed together. They lost to Lebron on his own super team that wasn't drafted/developed from the beginning so GS ends up with KD. Lebron lobbies for all these movies and he usually gets it. If you're comparing the two as far as "ruining" basketball not sure why you aren't looking at the one going from team to team plotting to play with the other top players in the world first.

 

"He's a hater," James told ESPN of Barkley following the Cleveland Cavaliers' 104-97 loss to the Dallas Mavericks on Monday. "What makes what he says credible? Because he's on TV? I'm not going to let him disrespect my legacy like that," James told ESPN. "I'm not the one who threw somebody through a window. I never spit on a kid. I never had unpaid debt in Las Vegas. I never said, 'I'm not a role model.' I never showed up to All-Star Weekend on Sunday because I was in Vegas all weekend partying. "All I've done for my entire career is represent the NBA the right way. Fourteen years, never got in trouble. Respected the game. Print that."

 

funny how Lebron brings up all that personal stuff when Barkley could probably fire back about how him being a married man sliding into females Instagram DM's but I don't see him taking it there

 

True but Barkley's a dirty dogg too. Didn't he get a dui two years ago and he tried to get out the ticket by telling the cop he was going to get some head from a waitress? Yeah, that was him

 

no idea but just saying if Lebron wants to keep going personal, Barkley could easily do the same. This probably won't last too much longer anyways