ESPN: SportsCentury: Charles Barkley

Source:ESPN- SportsCentury Charles Barkley.

Source:The Daily Post

“Documentary on NBA star Charles Barkley.

Charles Wade Barkley (born February 20, 1963) is an American retired professional basketball player and current analyst on the television program Inside the NBA. Nicknamed “Chuck”, “Sir Charles”, and “The Round Mound of Rebound”, Barkley established himself as one of the National Basketball Association’s (NBA’s) most dominating power forwards. He was drafted by the Philadelphia 76ers with the 5th pick of the 1984 NBA Draft. He was selected to the All-NBA First Team five times, the All-NBA Second Team five times, and once to the All-NBA Third Team. He earned eleven NBA All-Star Game appearances and was named the All-Star MVP in 1991. In 1993, he was voted the league’s Most Valuable Player and during the NBA’s 50th anniversary, named one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History. He competed in the 1992 and 1996 Olympic games and won two gold medals as a member of the United States’ Dream Team. In 2006, Barkley was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

Barkley was popular with the fans and media and made the NBA’s All-Interview Team for his last 13 seasons in the league. He was frequently involved in on- and off-court fights and sometimes stirred national controversy, as in March 1991 when he mistakenly spat on a young girl, and as in 1993 when he declared that sports figures should not be considered role models. Short for a power forward, Barkley used his strength and aggressiveness to become one of the NBA’s most dominant rebounders. He was a versatile player who had the ability to score, create plays, and defend. In 2000, he retired as the fourth player in NBA history to achieve 20,000 points, 10,000 rebounds and 4,000 assists. Since retiring as a player, Barkley has had a successful career as a television NBA analyst. He works with Turner Network Television (TNT) as a studio pundit for its coverage of NBA games. In addition, Barkley has written several books and has shown an interest in politics; in October 2008, he announced that he would run for Governor of Alabama in 2014, but he changed his mind in 2010.” 

From All Basketball Universe 

Looking back at Charles Barkley’s career almost 15 years after he retired as a player, I think he’s as great now, as a player (never great as a person) than he was when he retired after the 2000 NBA season. Charles Barkley as an NBA player, is not someone who ages very well.

Charles Barkley is the greatest rebounder high for height that the NBA has ever seen. He had a great inside, as well as outside offensive game, he ran the floor very well and handled the ball very well. But looking back at his career now, he was basically a tweener between the power forward and small forward positions.

Offensively, Barkley was great as either a small or power forward, because he had an excellent post game against either forward positions and he handled the ball well and could hit the open jump shot. But defensively, too short and not aggressive enough to be a good defensive power forward and didn’t have the quickness and lateral footwork, to be a good defensive small forward. We’re talking about a player who would’ve made a great sixth man, because he didn’t have a natural position on defense.