Charles Barkley: Basketball is still a big man’s game

Like it or not, NBA analyst and former basketball great Charles Barkley has become one of the most prominent figures in sports television today. Barkley can credit his ascension to the throne of TV fame (or perhaps infamy) to a series of sensationalist viewpoints, raunchily contrarian quotables, self-deprecating banter, and countless memorable foot-in-mouth moments. Not to forget that he speaks his mind 100 percent of the time and stubbornly sticks to his (often antiquated) guns like Douglas MacArthur. He made it this far by being completely and unequivocally Chuck and don’t expect him to change any time soon. If Barkley’s remarks over the weekend are any indication, we definitely don’t need to worry about that.

In an interview with the San Francisco Chronicle on Saturday, Sir Charles opened up about a multitude of NBA topics post-Golden State Warriors championship.

It’s easy to recall how Barkley was openly defiant of the notion that a jump-shooting team could win the NBA Finals. With the J-happy Warriors taking home the Larry O’Brien trophy this season, one might assume that Chuck’s viewpoints might have changed a bit. No way Jose.

“I’ve been doing basketball (analysis) for 16 years,” Barkley said. “I’ve always said I don’t think that you can have success with that style. My philosophy hasn’t changed. I still think you need big guys.”

He did manage to give credit to the Splash Brothers, but warned that such a prototype wasn’t feasible for other championship hopefuls to follow. “When you have shooters like Steph Curry and Klay Thompson, you have a chance to hold that up,” Barkley ranted. “How many teams are going to have two shooters like that?”

Barkley instead pointed to the model of the San Antonio Spurs, a team he’s talked about extensively over the last few years, for better or for worse. “The Spurs realize that big teams still win,” he said. “It’ll always be a big man’s game. The Spurs didn’t go out and get a bunch of small guys. I fundamentally believe it’s still a big man’s game.”

And as if Chuck hadn’t stirred the pot enough, check out this quote about the reigning MVP. “Steph Curry is not better than LeBron or Anthony Davis,” Barkley said. “Steph is a hell of a player, but he’s not on the level of those guys.”

All in all, a classic Charles Barkley interview: as headstrong and antiquated as ever. Never mind an NBA Finals where we saw the likes of Timofey Mozgov and Andrew Bogut become non-factors as the small-ball revolution achieved total preeminence. Never mind that the Spurs don’t have a championship in the 2010s if they don’t go small and insert Boris Diaw into the starting lineup during the Finals. Never mind that our reservoirs of dominant big men are drying up faster than the polar ice caps. Never mind that coaches at the amateur-level are fully grooming 7-footers to play like guards now. Never mind logic and reason and every visible indication of the way we’re trending as an NBA. Chuck gonna Chuck.

In a way, I get what he’s saying about Curry. The Babyfaced Assassin dominates the game in new, post-modern ways, distinct from the classic superstars of the mold of LeBron and Davis. But that doesn’t make Curry any less great and that’s where Barkley is dead wrong.

It’s interesting to see Barkley so laudatory about the Spurs, however, especially after singing a different tune in last year’s playoffs. Nevertheless, I understand that this is Barkley’s persona. The crotchety former NBA great that hates analytics and still thinks that Tony Parker is the best point guard in the NBA. That’s what makes him so entertaining. And in an increasingly bland scrapheap of generic sports TV personalities, guys like Barkley are the vigilantes we need. So even if I disagree fundamentally with a lot of his viewpoints, I still appreciate his penchant for being himself and not giving a damn what anyone else thinks. Never change, Chuck.