Damn Barkley really was a top 5 player back in the day

[BlackAchilles]

What was it about Chuck that made him better than Drexler, Robinson, Mailman, or Ewing to you guys? On the surface all those guys seem comparable to the best versions of Barkley, notwithstanding Dream and Magic as well during Barkley's hottest run...

Ewing IMO was the least of that vaunted generation of centers, and the dif between Chuck and Mailman was that Chuck created more misnatches w/his unconventional skillset

 

[nieman]

What are you defining as the MJ era? I can see Chuck having a Top 5 run 87-93 but it's hard to envision him as the second best player for a prolonged period of time...

MJs era was really like 90-98. Chuck was Top 5 during that time, MJ, Chuck, Mailman were the Top 3 for the majority of that time. The other 2 were always interchangeable - Zeke, Admiral, Glide, Ewing, Dream, Shaq, Nique - after '95-'96 most of them were no longer up there.

 

[nieman]

I always felt like Drexler and Ewing were just regular superstars on good teams. Not generational. I'd compare them to Towns and Booker. i'm gonna get alot of hate for that, but i felt like those two in particular were overrated. Mailman i felt had the benefit of playing next to a top 5 point guard his whole career. Robinson was great but couldn't lead his team to the same heights as chuck.

Ewing was just as good as Admiral, (IMO better) and Glide was second to MJ for like a 3-year stretch. With Ewing, the only thing that hindered his perception were always facing the Bulls - any MVP look from the East was always going to MJ. But he was working out the other C's regularly. That had some great duels. It was Patrick that ended the Bad Boys era & retired the C's for good. He was the last C to give Shaq 30+ in that time.

 

[Sonny Corinthos]

Ewing was just as good as Admiral, (IMO better) and Glide was second to MJ for like a 3-year stretch. With Ewing, the only thing that hindered his perception were always facing the Bulls - any MVP look from the East was always going to MJ. But he was working out the other C's regularly. That had some great duels. It was Patrick that ended the Bad Boys era & retired the C's for good. He was the last C to give Shaq 30+ in that time.

Going back and peeping a lot of older games Ewing’s game as he got older looking real shaky in the light. I definitely wouldn’t put him above David Robinson

 

[rantanamo]

More so than his basketball skill is the forgotten thought that this was the most intimidating dude in basketball. Didn't mind getting elections for throwing firearm shivers. I was at a game where he had back and forth with the dude next to me all game until he got ejected for dropping Terry Davis with an elbow to the chin. He used to get into bar fights.

 

[steph_harden]

Gat DAYUM...Chuck used to DESTROY Charles Oakley. Dude shot 14-15 FGs one game.

What blows you away is his athleticism ....he was way more athletic than anybody on the court. Oak couldn’t move that nikka...and was mad as hell

 

[NYC Rebel]

What blows you away is his athleticism ....he was way more athletic than anybody on the court. Oak couldn’t move that nikka...and was mad as hell

 

[Primetime]

This is funny...

In Barkley's first three seasons, Doc made three All-Star teams, Moses and Cheeks made two apiece. Let's also keep in mind that Doc and Moses are still considered Top 20 players today, and at the time of their retirements were borderline Top 10 All-Time players...

So Harden got to play with Durant and Westbrook for three seasons, Barkley got to play with Erving for three seasons and Moses for two. You're gonna have a hard time convincing people KD and Brodie are more talented than Moses and The Doctor...

It's funny how Chuck and Beard's careers parallel each other a bit...

The Sixers won 58 and 54 games his first two seasons when Moses and Doc were carrying the weight, went to the ECF in '85 and came a game within the ECF in '86. Then a funny thing happened, when Moses was traded away and Doc fell off and Chuck had to start carrying the load, the competitiveness of the team dropped. Philly made a horrible deal sending Moses away and probably could've done a better job building around Chuck, but it has to say something about his inability to elevate and inspire his teammates...

Chuck's last 5 years in Philly he still got one All-Star appearance apiece from Cheeks and Hersey Hawkins. One 50 win season, two missed postseasons, never made it beyond the 2nd Rd...

Thru Year 11 ('95), which is currently where Harden is at, Chuck also added Majerle (2) and Johnson (1) as All-Star teammates he played with. Six All-Star teammates, two of whom being All-Timers. Harden thru 11 years has played with the following All-Stars: KD (3), Westbrook (3), Dwight (1). Two of whom are Top 50...

I just wanna make sure we're keeping the energy consistent with the old heads. Houston has probably done a better job building around Harden than Philly did for Chuck, but let's also remember Harden has never missed the playoffs as a #1 while playing in The West (actually never missed the playoffs period), and has twice taken Houston to the WCF, only losing to an All-Time team...

Harden losing to the Bulls of his era (Warrior) isn't any different than Barkley losing to the Warriors of his (Bulls). As recently highlighted, Barkley has a couple choke jobs on his resume, several times missed the playoffs or was one and done...

So the notion Harden has played with better players is false...again I'm not questioning that Chuck is an All-Time great, I acknowledge that just like everyone else! But yall wouldn't love him like that in this era. Harden is also an All-Time great and gets beat upon consistently by the same crowd praising Chuck, as someone else said you would have to be 40 at minimum to have seen even half Chuck's career, most of us in here commenting aren't 40 and are doing what we normally do with players of previous eras, exalting them for things we shyt on current guys about...

My dad is 55 and I've said before he was a Sixers fan as a kid because he was a World B Free and Doc fan. I won't say his opinion of Chuck as "overrated" is the golden rule, but he saw Chuck's entire career in real time as it was happening and when I just asked him about it again yesterday he has a hard time calling Chuck Top 5 for any sustained period of time (that's probably his memory fukking up, because it does look like Chuck was pretty convincingly Top 5 from 87 to 93)...but he was a lifelong Sixers fan and saw all of Chuck's career, it's interesting to see that at least some older heads are gonna contrast in their view of Barkley compared to us young bucks retrofitting his career...

Yall would not live Chuck like that if you're judging him the same way yall judge these current players; obviously different positions and style but in scale and relative to other guys in his era, Chuck seems very closely like his time's Beard, who is also a Top 5 player of his generation and a Top 50 All-Timer...

Facts.

• Choked against Houston back-to-back years during his "i'm a top 5 player" era
  
• Choked against Utah in '97 (Rockets were "washed" but Hakeem damn near averaged 30ppg that series and Rockets won 57 reg season games; nyggas weren't washed, nyggas dropped the ball is what happened. Spare the excuses.)
  
• 1 Finals appearance in 16 years (Spare the excuses)
  
• Questionable work ethic (round mound huh?)
  
• "Best friends" with the enemy (yall know who i'm talking about )

You think the coli would give a damn how talented at basketball Chuck was or any "context" for those losses and chokes if this version of the coli existed back then? Shiiiiiiiiiiiid.

Ain't no one got time for appreciating no cotdamn basketball talent. Hot takes all day

 

[Slangtonomo]

To put Barkley in perspective when compared to other great pf and c of that time...

Trailing by 2 in the 4th period with only 30 seconds to play, you make a defensive stop and rebound. You can hand the ball to Chuck to bring it up court and make the best decision. You can't do that with Ewing, Malone, Hakeem, Duncan, Garnett, etc.

Now once he gets it up court, you better pick him up well outside the 3 or he'll drain that for the win. Off the dribble 3...no spot up and pass from a guard. He create his own shot from anywhere on the court.

Wait, I skipped that Chuck maybe the one to get the rebound and then beat everyone down court and dunk on whatever pg is down there! You know ala Lebron. And 1!!!

Chuck was basically a meaner, more physical Lebron. Not as good a handle but better than most guards in that day and def odd for big men.

 

[Antdrewjosh]

I stanned Barkley, and I don’t be stanning niccas.

Me too hated Jordan because I loved Chuck..

 

[B.drizzle]

They definitely would...



"Every star" lol...except Harden, Russ, AD, CP3, Dwight, guys with multiple Top 5 MVP finishes who are comparable to any stars from any era you say "didn't eat"...matter fact a starting 5 of Paul/Russ/Beard/AD/Dwight could probably beat a starting 5 of guys who didnt win a chip in any previous era...

Best non champion starting 5 by era would be a good thread. It says a lot about the level of competition to see who was being shut out.