Philadelphia 76ers Legend Rips the State of the NBA

Former Philadelphia 76ers player Charles Barkley ripped the NBA for the current state that it is in.

Former Philadelphia 76ers Hall of Famer and legendary power forward Charles Barkley claims that the NBA has never been worse. Barkley holds that he’s, “never seen the NBA as bad as it is, and [he’s] been saying it the last three or four years. [The NBA] got too many young players coming out of college that don’t know how to play. It’s frustrating [because he wants] to see competitive basketball.”

Here is another series of Barkley’s statements: regarding the same issue:

"“The NBA is watered down. The NBA is the worst I’ve ever seen it. I think we’ve got to address all these young kids coming into the NBA after one year (in college),” he said. “The NBA is definitely watered down. I’ve been saying that for the last two or three years. The NBA is the worst I’ve ever seen it.”“I think it has something to do with all these kids we’re drafting out of high school … now we’re drafting kids after one year of college. It drives me crazy. They have potential, but they have no idea how to play basketball. Tracy has a great point, but it’s something I’ve been saying for the last three years.”"

Recent NBA history, however, does not reflect nor show any evidence for Barkley’s type of mindset. Famed Friday Night Lights author Buzz Bissinger wrote about this for the New York Times in what should be a famous article: “Bring Back Basketball’s Little Big Men.” The article is instructive and timeless for it can be inserted whenever we feel like getting nostalgic about when the NBA was great, and how now, it is “watered-down.”

Bissinger wrote then:

"“As for high school students not being ready for the pro game, Jon Nichols of the Web site Basketball-Statistics.com crunched the numbers for the years 1996 to 2006 and discovered that players drafted out of high school had better efficiency ratings — a measure of overall play based on a player’s points scored, rebounds, steals, turnovers, fouls, shooting percentage and other statistics — during their rookie seasons than players drafted as college juniors and seniors.”"

The article went on to explain why the league age minimum was counterintuitive and also provided evidence that debunked the myth of the young athlete finding trouble for turning pro all too soon.

In Barkley’s defense, a similar story surfaced around the same time when the great Hubie Brown suggested that the older players might have a point. Brown argued that “older players are both jealous of how much money players make today without having to endure hand-checks, flagrant fouls and, as a result, shot blockers.”

Hubie also said that the way the game is now officiated has rendered the game without help-side rotation defense and the game’s momentum is the casualty:

"“The threat of the hard foul today, the flagrant foul, is an embarrassment to our game. Now, are some of these guys getting cheap shots? Absolutely. but when you get a flagrant on you today, all right, it’s a lot of money. What it has done? It’s taken away the difficulty of getting to the rim. Shot blocking is down.”"

If Barkley had stated: “Where are the plays? Where’s the cerebral part of the game? Where are the great offenses that we saw for years and years? Where are you getting me a great shot with the shot clock down in the last four, five, six seconds in my best areas? Where’s that challenge for the coaching staff?” his comments would be better perceived and grounded in basketball acumen.

Barkley is a humorous fellow and his personality brought much to the city. He continues to be inspiring in the Philadelphia area and remains a friend to many. Furthermore, his play was truly outstanding and he remains an all-time great performer. He is also relevant . . . . yet inconsistent:

Barkley has supported LBTQ rights but at the same time he lacks an understanding of Black Lives Matter. Barkley shows compassion and support for younger NBA players, yet he fails to see their competency in the way Moses Malone and Dr. J. saw his.

Next: Sixers Rumors: Lakers Open to Trades

Barkley was a great player. I hope he can make, someday, a great analyst.

Go Sixers.