Charles Barkley Stays Dumb with the Rings Debate: "If Lebron can beat the Warriors, I might put him on Kobe Bryant's level"
By Jason McIntyre
Charles Barkley is great television, but if you listen to the words actually coming out of his mouth, it’s mostly buffoonery. Barkley relentlessly bashes the Warriors as soft jump shooters; somebody at TNT needs to show him the offensive and defensive stats from the teams he played on in the 80s and 90s. Barkley endlessly mocks Super Teams, even though he twice joined them, first in Phoenix and then Houston.
Barkley is doing all he can to protect his era, which is fine, but since he’s the King of Candor, why not just admit that by taking shots at the current era, you help keep your place as one of the 20 greatest players in NBA history? Once Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant and Dirk Nowitzki and others from this era pass Barkley, and then James Harden and Russell Westbrook continue their assault on the record books, Barkley will fall further.
The latest junk to come out of Barkley’s mouth was on ESPN’s Mike & Mike this morning:
"“If Lebron is able to beat the Golden State Warriors, I might move him up to Kobe Bryant status. Lebron has 3 championships … if they’re able to beat the Golden State Warriors, that would be incredible. I’d put him on the same level as Kobe Bryant at that point. Michael is on a whole other level. He won six championships. I don’t understand why people just move [Lebron] right passed Kobe Bryant. Kobe Bryant won 5 championships and he’s done some things we’ve never seen before.”"
Kobe Bryant: Legendary player, great scorer, but LeBron passed him years ago. Kobe rode shotgun to Shaq for three titles, then did nothing for a couple years when he went into Iverson/Westbrook mode, and then captured two more when the Lakers got Paul Gasol. Kobe’s definitely one of the 15 greatest players in NBA history.
Don’t want to believe me, Charles? Go listen to Jeff Van Gundy. Don’t play the rings game, Chuck. Please don’t. Bill Russell won 11 rings. I don’t hear you mention his name. Kareem Abdul Jabbar won six. You aren’t bringing him up, either.