Charles Barkley is one of the greatest power forwards in the history of the game. He was a tenacious rebounder and terrific interior scorer. Over the course of his career, Charles Barkley averaged 22.1 PPG, 11.7 RPG, and 3.9 APG.
When he first entered the league, Charles Barkley was a member of the Philadelphia 76ers. Some of his more prominent teammates were Julius Erving and Moses Malone. Julius Erving has recently spoken about Charles Barkley as a rookie. He joked that Charles Barkley looked up to him and Moses Malone, so “at first” Charles Barkley addressed him as “sir”. Erving also added that the situation quickly changed to where Barkley to him to “get out the way”.
My rookie… With Moses and myself, I think he really looked up to us because were already estabilished, so it was a lot ‘yes sir’ and ‘no sir’. It quickly changed to “get out of my way”, ‘Move bitch, get out the way!'” He does recall and recount those years we play together, and we had a lot of fun… Watching him develop and watching him become a dominant force was a joy.
From his appearances on TV, we know that Charles Barkley is strong-willed and confident in himself. However, it is abundantly clear that he had a lot of respect for Julius Erving and Moses Malone. Barkley also once revealed how Malone would motivate him to lose weight.
“I asked Moses, ‘Can I come to your condo tonight?’ So, I go up there and I said, mostly, ‘why am I not getting a plate?’ And he said, ‘hey, you’re fat and you’re lazy.’ And it was the greatest conversation and the worst conversation mixed in because it was hard for me to hear that.”
Barkley continued further, “He said, ‘hey, you weigh 300 pounds’. Here’s a guy who’s one of the greatest ever took me on this wing. He said, ‘let’s lose 10 pounds,’ I get to 290. Once I got to 250, I was just kicking a**.”
While he is an all-time great, Charles Barkley never did end up winning a championship. He did however make the Finals with the Phoenix Suns, though he ended up losing to Michael Jordan.
There is no doubt that Charles Barkley is still a legendary player, championship or not. His legacy is set in stone, and he’s already in the Hall of Fame. He had one fantastic career, and his accomplishments should be respected.
