NBA fans love to debate who they think is the greatest of all time (or GOAT), talking about personal favorites is less racy of a topic but is interesting to hear nonetheless, particularly from current or former players. Analysts do enjoy comparing players to one another so to see how players themselves view their peers gives us a peek into the brotherhood that is the NBA and Charles Barkley did just that yesterday.
In his guest appearance on baseball Fall-of-Famer Frank Thomas’ talk show, “Hangin With Hurt” the former MVP Barkley was asked across all sports which athletes he finds is “must watch TV”. Barkley went through a few names from the NFL and NHL before finally getting to the NBA, which he named Russell Westbrook as his favorite player to watch.
Barkley did admit that there are some problems to Russell’s game, his shooting and turnovers have garnered criticism over the years but that does not bother Sir Charles, what he likes to see is effort. Westbrook’s drive to play “100 miles per hour every single night” is what Barkley likes to watch.
Effort is a large part of NBA play, in an 82 or 72 game season, players have been known to take games off, literally not playing for any reason except for their need to rest. While there is scientific medical data that point towards the benefits of rest and sleep for athletes, older generations like to see the night-to-night intensity that was brought to the floor in their time.
After being traded over the 2020 offseason, Russell Westbrook’s intensity has yet to materialize in a win for his new team, the Washington Wizards. Getting out to a five-loss start has been frustrating for the Wizards but hopefully, Russell’s effort can turn that around in their next game against the Minnesota Timberwolves tomorrow, January 1st.
