I gave a cursory look around the threads on this board to see if anyone else posted about this...I apologize if it's a repeat. Did anyone else catch Barkley's comments on the state of the NBA during all-star Saturday??? I'm guessing the NBA wasn't real thrilled when he said the league was no good!!! Someone said Moses Malone would probably be the 15th best center in the league if he played today....Barkley responded by saying, "that's because the league is no good." No one responded to that.... He made some other more veiled derogatory comments about the league and the all-star weekend in general....I have to say I agree with his comments...honesty was always his strong suit, I guess! But I bet Stern hopes Barkley never ever hosts an event like that again!
Barkley was slamming the NBA right and left. First the center comment you were talking about. Then there was the stupidity of "the wheel". Then there was Vince Carter skipping the dunk contests (or was that Kenny that was harping on that?). Followed by him blasting them when Kobe Bryant said that he wasn't even invited to the dunk contest. God bless Barkley. He's the voice of the common man... um, sorta.
I had a ball watching the saturday broadcast. Well, to be more acturate i had a ball LISTENING to the broadcast. With all "games" we get "televised" here (always seems to be was or ny vs anyone else), we don't get to see charles/kenny & co. I was so busy laughing at what CB & KS were saying, absolutely classic. They almost made up for the awful show the NBA put on. I thought the 3 ptr thing was cool, especially the final/OT. Scored 9 in 24 secs... amazing.
forgot to say i think barkley was wrong with his trashing of "Ed". He had a reason for pressing/pressure D. Most people trash talk on the court, but there was a rumour TImberlake was going to sing instead.... "Ed" was there to give the very !@#$%^ hard foul just in case! It was a community service/civic duty to protect us. We were subjected to enough bad singing as it was...
Barkley also ripped Francis/Mobley. Before Francis' second dunk attempt he said "Im not sure whats gonna happen here because neither Steve or Cuttino passes the ball." TNT and NBC should fire their entire NBA broadcast team.
Barkley's commentating was one of the few bright spots during the All Star break for me. I like his bluntness. It's what I liked about him when he was a Rocket. When the team played bad, he admitted it and said flat out 'we sucked'. When he played bad, he would say he sucked. He didn't try and sugarcoat everything just like he isn't gonna sugarcoat anything for the NBA.
Thats kind of like me I guess, but I'm not like Barkley. He tells it like it is and as of right now, the league isn't that good. It has more to do with the transition of new players just like the qb situation in the nfl. At first people were slamming the crop, but now you look up and see culpepper, warner,mcnabb, and young guys like that and you say the qb situation is going to be ok now. The same can be said of the nba. About 5 yrs ago there were question marks as some of those from the class of 84,85,were starting to get older, so it didn't look good. Now you look up and see Mcgrady,Bryant,Iverson,Dirk,Peja,Francis and all these guys all stars and it doesn't look so bad. Now all we have to do is get new coaches and stop all the retreads and everything will be better.
Good 'ol Charles being Charles....from espn... Barkley, unedited: "Today is Jimmy Hatter's birthday -- he's the gay guy we got workin' behind the scenes, y'all. We hire them all at TNT. We do not discriminate. We hired the pimp last year, Craig Sager, and now we got Jimmy Hatter. We got all the ethnic groups covered." Barkley on Steve Nash: "How much time did he spend on his hair, five seconds or 10?" ... Barkley on being recognized on his last trip to South Dakota: "It was easy, because I was the only black person there. It was like, 'There he is again!'" ... "Ed" went so overboard during the game (trying way too hard) that Barkley called him "annoying" and said, "If you go out with a girl and they say she has a great personality, she's ugly. If they tell you a guy works hard, he can't play a lick. Same thing." -- Foxx (derisively): "I like the geri-curls though, that's nice." -- Charles: "Hey, white people call that a perm ... that's a geri-curl in the hood." -- Ernie: (Making the terrified, "Should I throw this to commercial?" face). Within a 15-minute span, Barkley makes fun of Ernie's forehead, teases the 15-year-old chosen to represent the NBA.com voting for the Slam Dunk Contest, and claims Kenny looks like George Jefferson. He's on fire right now. Barkley on Richardson's two feeble attempts at the Dr. J dunk: "He is not comfortable jumping off one leg ... he likes jumping off two legs ... he can't jump off one leg, he's not comfortable ... he is not comfortable jumping off one leg ... he's just not comfortable jumping off one leg ... he's just not comfortable jumping off one leg ... in the preliminary rounds, every dunk was off two feet ... he doesn't like to jump off one leg."Barkley on Richardson's two feeble attempts at the Dr. J dunk: "He is not comfortable jumping off one leg ... he likes jumping off two legs ... he can't jump off one leg, he's not comfortable ... he is not comfortable jumping off one leg ... he's just not comfortable jumping off one leg ... he's just not comfortable jumping off one leg ... in the preliminary rounds, every dunk was off two feet ... he doesn't like to jump off one leg."
Barkley was right on about Kobe and Vince not being in the Dunk contest. Granted, Vince has an injury right now, but he wasn't going to be in the contest regardless. Those 2 had an opportunity to face off a la MJ and 'Nique, 2 of the leagues best and most flamboyant players, but they balked at it. And neither of them are as good as MJ or 'Nique. Little things like this are why fans don't care as much about the NBA as they used to. Maybe they'll wise up and give it a go next year.
Over here in Australia we dont get pre games shows, just the game. So I'd never seen Barkley and Smith on TNT. Man it was funny. I ended up watching the thing just to see what Charles said. The shootout was ok, the Dunk contest drained of creativity by the players and I didnt get to see the all star game itself, but I dont think I missed much. Christopher
Where in oz are you? trying to track the aussies on the site (smeg, getsmartnow, screamingjets, myself & now you that i know of). You seem to have had the same "ride" as i did... Think most aussies will feel the same about the coverage/pre-game - very funny! First time we got good commentators and a pre-game (NOT saying the NBA entertainment was good, CB's & KS'), and not the normal damn sh!tty foxtel coverage.
Charles cracks me up! HAHAHA!! He is not only my favourite player of all time, he is also my favourite personality of all time!
How about his comment about the AT&T representative? A brother named Ellrod?...C'mon I doubt the NBA cares as long as he and Kenny keep bringing new basketball fans to watch Inside the NBA.
