Charles Barkley Torched the Los Angeles Lakers, Other Talking Heads

Charles Barkley made sure to get his frustrations with the Los Angeles Lakers onto the official record last night during Inside the NBA, taking direct aim at the top of the franchise and hitting his competition for good measure.

"The Lakers are such wussies," Barkley said, "and I only say wussies because I can't say the word I want to say. The way they have tried to throw Frank Vogel and Russell Westbrook under the bus is really pissing me off."

Rumors of Vogel's imminent demise have been rampant. Westbrook has served as the on-court scapegoat but has also made doing that pretty easy with a lackluster campaign. The Lakers' problems run deep and, at this point, feel rather unfixable. At least this year. No matter how many tweets Magic Johnson sends or promises LeBron James makes.

Barkley wasn't done.

"I'm not going to sit at like all these clowns on other networks that got their heads up the Lakers booties," he added. "The people up top who put that trash together are running and hiding like cowards. You put all them old geezers out there. The best guy, other than LeBron, for the last month has been who, Stanley Johnson? It's ridiculous, man."

It's a bit unclear who these clowns with their heads up booties are and who they work for. Los Angeles' disastrous roster construction was noted in real-time by practically everyone with a microphone, as well as its inevitable failure. Meanwhile, Vogel has emerged as a largely sympathetic figure as most correctly conclude he's getting a poor shake.

As good as James has been as a player, this is looking more and more like the most thorough of his front-office failures. That's not a secret. For once in our fractured sports landscape, people seem to be on the same page.

But go off, Chuck.