Everyone's at fault here. Cat and Francis should listen to him. I remember Francis had a good relationship with Charles. I'm sure when he was advising them, he was reffering to basketball and effort and defense. Sure, Charles wasn't that good defensively, but good enough to be a future (current?) Hall of Famer. I'd like to think our players want to listen to that type of (former) player. On the other hand, I'm sure Barkley shoved it all down their throats, screamed, yelled. Personally, I think you need someone like that on every team. Plus, a quote like this, whether he's right or wrong, is very *insert adjective for ego*: Mobley, a rookie in 1998 when Barkley, Hakeem Olajuwon and Scottie Pippen were with the Rockets, disagreed with Barkley's claim. "I listened to Scottie," Mobley said. "Maybe it's the way (Barkley) came at you. He can say what he wants to say. He made more mistakes than we do. He's Mr. Controversy. I don't listen to Charles." Honestly though, it seems Barkley has more to teach, but Pippen is a better teacher. Well, he certainly isn't the best student, if you know what I mean (see path to Blazers trade).
First of all, I like Barkley for the simple fact that he doesn't take himself too seriously. However, he tends to walk that fine line between being out-spoken and honest, and being a 'blowhard' who likes to hear his own voice. So I can see how Cat & Steve (and others) could ignore him, but they should have been mature enough to appreciate some of the things Barkley had to say. IMO, Barkley is coming off as a bit of a flake in this interview.
Live, I think you hit the nail on the head with the 2nd sentence in your post!! I am a HUGE fan of Barkley the player. IMO,he's the 2nd best player of my generation,ie the last 15-20 years and a top 10 player alltime. I happen to also think his career accomplishments are undervalued,due to his never winning a title and his defensive prowess,or lack of it[I have a hard time believing that Barkley was significantly worse than Bird or Wilkins,but..] On the other hand,I sometimes cringe when I hear him talk. I agree with alot of what he says,but even I will conceed that some of it is utter nonsense!!
Barkley's an attention starved *******. I lost a lot of respect for him when I read his comments. In the August 2000 issue of SLAM (couldn't find a link but I have the magazine in my shelf somewhere), Steve said in an interview that at first he didn't like Barkley because he was always on his back, but then he gained an immense respect for Sir Charles after realizing that the Chuckster only wanted the best for the young Francis. SF said something like "I always listened to Chuck, I was just the rookie, all wide eyed, and he'd been through like 13, 14 seasons already, so I just wanted to take in his advice." And if I had to choose which person was telling the truth, I think I'd have to go with Steve.
The strange thing is the Barkley remarks on Francis aren't even in the issue...only online. Overall I thought the article was good...most of it was stuff he has said over the years. os
