I don't think Les/Morey/Brown takes issue if/when Barkley criticizes the team and their poor play. What hurts the franchise/brand/rep is the incessant b****ing about money owed to Barkley by Les/Rockets. I don't know if the money part is true or not but it's something I'm sure Les would rather talk to Barkley personally about if need be. The more Barkley is allowed to bring up this issue on air, the more players and the people around the players hear/see it, the more they're going to second guess whether the Rockets is a team to sign with. Either the top brass at TNT gave Barkley a talking to or Les' lawyers let Barkley know that the next comment about this will conclude with him and Les sitting in court.
Agreed... I just think people are way too sensitive towards his opinions (good and bad) and he really has this fandom (and front office) hanging on his every word. Hell, he apologizes... And there's 3-5 separate new threads started about it. That's some sort of pull. I loved Chuck as a Rocket.... And I think he's a tremendous commentator. I really hope this was more than just simple lip service because I don't want a censored view of their opinions (even if some of them are overly personal). For years, Kenny would go out of his way to talk up the Rockets (more so when Rudy was still there)... JVG still does it to some effect. If they can't hide their inner bias (in a positive way), I don't really blame Chuck for being unable to hide the negative side.
Had he brought it up recently or this year at all? If so, I missed it. I agree that that side of things has no business being aired in public... If it even is true.
Can someone post the tweets he referred to? And exactly what he said about on-air or other social media about $3m. tia I don't see Barkley apologizing for fear of repercussions to himself. If he felt wronged, he wouldn't care if he got fired over speaking out...his grandmother taught him never to back down to anyone, afterall. But if TNT was in trouble for something he said, then yes. If he got TNT in trouble, I could see it. Otherwise, I'd wager this apology includes a reciprocating apology behind the scenes from Les....and Barkley wouldn't care about how it looks on the outside.
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I just think everyone that watches know he has an axe to grind when it comes to the Rockets and, if dug deep enough, most of that stems from whatever money issue Les and Charles had. But the more I think about it the more it's telling that a guy like Barkley--who's used to speaking his mind without any reservation or filter for the past 30 years--made an apology just like that.
You think les is going to sue TNT which is paying billions to the NBA? The NBA would tell Les to stop. Barkley is the star of the most popular NBA show on TV and you think they are going to fire him. There are a lot of billionaires in the world. Not too many Charles Barkley.
I just don't think an apology from Les would have led to this apology if $$ was, indeed, the root of Barkley's ire with the organization. If Barkley really feel like he was owed money my Les (which, from all his comments over the years, seems like it) then an apology without a check attached to it means nothing. And I don't see Les cutting him a check after all these years just to shut him up now when he could have shut him up years ago.
You think Les and his lawyers wouldn't win against TNT if whatever allegations Barkley made against Les was actually baseless or can't be proven in court? Barkley isn't invincible. The reason why he has survived this long is because he will own up to his mistakes (Kissing a Donkey's Ass after the Yao comment; racing Bavetta; tonight) sooner or later.
What I would guess happened is the Rockets threatened to sue TNT and Barkley about the alleged money that Barkley thought he was owed. I have no doubt that a deal was brokered or promised and then pulled back when he was injured. However, there would need to be PROOF of that deal, and if Barkley's agent is still in business he is not going to admit anything and neither are the Rockets. So my guess is that the Rockets said that unless he was prepared to present PROOF that they will be suing if he continues to mention it - and asked for an apology and a cease and desist. Hell, it might have been a cease and desist order that made him apologize in the first place, but we will never know. DD
There's just 1 Charles Barkley, but there's also Kobe Bryant, Tmac, Shaq, Mchale, JVG etc. Les Alexander is one of the 30 people who OWN the league wtf. The notion that the league would side against a former player versus an actual owner is preposterous and so ass backwards I don't know what to say. Also Barkley isn't THE star, he's just A star, otherwise you'd see his face everywhere and he'd be on multiple other shows other than SNL. He needs the NBA and TNT more than the NBA and TNT need him.
Or maybe his manager went to up Barkley and told him to stfu. Barkley wants to be more than an "analyst" on TNT, he wants to go on other shows, get endorsements, make $$$ and even be hired as a GM one day. Talking about personal money owed to him on television doesn't exactly make his image more appealing to endorsers, its like when you see a whistle blower on tv and then that guy can't get any work afterwards, who wants to hire someone who could possibly air dirty laundry on tv? Or perhaps Les Alexander just had enough of his BS and told TNT to tell him to shut up or he will sue. It could be as simple as that.
that's just jealousy speaking barkley is DEFINITELY the star of the show if charles left Tnt, espn, fox, nbc, would drop millions for him Please don't compare Charles to the others, he's way more interesting look at how many threads people make when he says something stop hating on barkley
You vastly underestimate Barkley's pull/reach. Just see the effect he has on this BBS. No other commentator incites fury (or elation) at their comments/actions good or bad. Nobody cares when Hubie Brown or Mark Jackson criticize the Rockets. Nobody cares when Shaq calls out Dwight Howard. But people go irate crazy with Barkley... Because people understand his popularity exceeds that of just the standard commentator.
it's the premiere studio show for the nba. it is as public and popular as anything about the nba. and charles is its biggest personality. i don't understand why you think it's weird that the rockets care. of course they do. if someone at your company was trashing you all over that company, i'm assuming you would care. and it's not the run by the nba. given that the nba gets tv money from tnt, you could argue that the nba not only has no power over it, but is beholden to it. but at the end of the day, a sports league and its tv partners are just that, a partnership. les alexander probably doesn't want to hear from his supposed tv partner that its biggest personality is going to publically pursue a personal crusade/vendetta against his team. well they certainly aren't asking for help from their tv partner. the fact that the rockets treatment has been over the top seems to be somewhat validated by this apology.
If Les was really this pro-active in protecting his brand/image (again, I doubt he really threatened or took personal action with any of this)... He really needs to channel that sort of reaction into fixing the real problem. THE TEAM.
