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AzStevenCal

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Arguably when we had Barkley the best player in the league was Jordan. But really not by a whole lot. You look at the numbers Barkley has put up in play off games and the guy is probably in the top ten all time of guys who did not win a title. I look back at that stats and timely buckets where he literally willed the Suns to victories on teams with less talent than opposing squads. Whether you liked his antics off the court or not, he could ball!

So arguably everyone is on Lebron's bandwagon because of the title win. But guys like Kawhi Leonard and Giannis Antetokounmpo, even Luka Doncic may be better players right now because of their youth and athleticism. They just weren't on a stacked Lakers team. Sometimes coaching comes into play too. Those Bulls, and San Antonio teams that won titles, how can you not say coaching was a major factor?

Barkley was great but he was nowhere near the level of Jordan, comparable numbers or not. MJ suffered from MVP voter burnout, just like Lebron has the past several years. Ask any player who is the best in the game right now and I have no doubt that almost to a person they'd say it's Lebron.
 

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Barkley was great but he was nowhere near the level of Jordan, comparable numbers or not. MJ suffered from MVP voter burnout, just like Lebron has the past several years. Ask any player who is the best in the game right now and I have no doubt that almost to a person they'd say it's Lebron.

Maybe it's bias but I'd say Barkley was as good as, if not better than, Jordan in his first year in Phoenix. He was driven like never before and it's rare to see a player so focused on carrying his team to success. His play fell off after that year, whether his stats really reflected much of a drop or not. His MVP year wasn't just voter burnout though.
 

AzStevenCal

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Maybe it's bias but I'd say Barkley was as good as, if not better than, Jordan in his first year in Phoenix. He was driven like never before and it's rare to see a player so focused on carrying his team to success. His play fell off after that year, whether his stats really reflected much of a drop or not. His MVP year wasn't just voter burnout though.

I think it's understandable but I really do believe it's the bias of an impressionable younger fan. I'm not trying to knock Barkley at all, he was one of my favorite college players ever and I was raving about him to all my college basketball fans when he was still a chubby freshman at Auburn. And he was incredible for us even though he'd already noticeably started to decline physically prior to the trade from Philly (by his own words, too).
 

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I think it's understandable but I really do believe it's the bias of an impressionable younger fan. I'm not trying to knock Barkley at all, he was one of my favorite college players ever and I was raving about him to all my college basketball fans when he was still a chubby freshman at Auburn. And he was incredible for us even though he'd already noticeably started to decline physically prior to the trade from Philly (by his own words, too).

this. And I’ll just say, as a sixteen year old kid, to this day, Barkley’s MVP Season was the greatest single season performance I’ve gotten to personally watch in its entirety. It was epic, electric, set the entire town ablaze for the Suns in a way I’d never seen and have never seen since. And his playoff performance in the first three rounds was even MORE ridiculous. But then he ran into the guy who made Barkley’s one unreal season... routine. ESPECIALLY in 1993 when Jordan was still at the peak of his powers. His defense alone vaulted him above Chuck that year and sadly, when the chips were down, Jordan showed everyone what an MVP, the greatest MVP ever IMO, was really like.

In the Finals, I think Charles averaged a very respectable 25/12/5. And by very respectable, I mean GREAT. But they were numbers that were pretty much exactly at his MVP reg season average. Jordan averaged 42/6/6, elevating from 32/5/5. Chuck couldn’t even claw one win out at home in that series. We had HCA and went 0-3. When Jordan’s entire team curled up in the fetal position in Game 6 of the 4th quarter after blowing a 9 point lead and giving us the lad, Jordan scored all 9 points of the entire team in the fourth... until Paxton’s game winner. Barkley shot once in the last six minutes... basically a missed layup after backing someone down and doin one of his little one handed push shots. he came for the King, but couldn’t match his intensity or Michael’s killer instinct when ALL the chips were down.

Nd trust me... I have close relatives in Chicago who STILL give me crap about that showdown, so all of the above pains me to say it. Probably because the truth still hurts so damn much.

The 1993 Suns were my favorite team in any sport of all time and the best team ever not to win a title. But as great as Barkley was, he was never as good as Michael. Which really isn’t saying anything bad about Chuck. It’s just saying how incredible MJ was.
 

Yuma

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this. And I’ll just say, as a sixteen year old kid, to this day, Barkley’s MVP Season was the greatest single season performance I’ve gotten to personally watch in its entirety. It was epic, electric, set the entire town ablaze for the Suns in a way I’d never seen and have never seen since. And his playoff performance in the first three rounds was even MORE ridiculous. But then he ran into the guy who made Barkley’s one unreal season... routine. ESPECIALLY in 1993 when Jordan was still at the peak of his powers. His defense alone vaulted him above Chuck that year and sadly, when the chips were down, Jordan showed everyone what an MVP, the greatest MVP ever IMO, was really like.

In the Finals, I think Charles averaged a very respectable 25/12/5. And by very respectable, I mean GREAT. But they were numbers that were pretty much exactly at his MVP reg season average. Jordan averaged 42/6/6, elevating from 32/5/5. Chuck couldn’t even claw one win out at home in that series. We had HCA and went 0-3. When Jordan’s entire team curled up in the fetal position in Game 6 of the 4th quarter after blowing a 9 point lead and giving us the lad, Jordan scored all 9 points of the entire team in the fourth... until Paxton’s game winner. Barkley shot once in the last six minutes... basically a missed layup after backing someone down and doin one of his little one handed push shots. he came for the King, but couldn’t match his intensity or Michael’s killer instinct when ALL the chips were down.

Nd trust me... I have close relatives in Chicago who STILL give me crap about that showdown, so all of the above pains me to say it. Probably because the truth still hurts so damn much.

The 1993 Suns were my favorite team in any sport of all time and the best team ever not to win a title. But as great as Barkley was, he was never as good as Michael. Which really isn’t saying anything bad about Chuck. It’s just saying how incredible MJ was.
That's the way I look at Ali! In the seventies the heavyweight division had guys that would have been champions if they had been born in a different decade than Ali. Chuck just played in the wong decade. 5-7 years later maybe he would have won Championships on whatever team he was on. Ali beat guys that would be Heavy Weight Champs today easily. They just happned to be around when Ali was boxing.
 
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Ouchie-Z-Clown

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That should be denied. His contract was always an albatross. If you acquired it you knew full well what it meant. Shouldn’t be allowed to wriggle out of the foreseen consequences.
 
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That should be denied. His contract was always an albatross. If you acquired it you knew full well what it meant. Shouldn’t be allowed to wriggle out of the foreseen consequences.

I hope so but of course it's the Lakers.

Deng is on the books for $5 million for 2020/21 and the same for 2021/22.
 
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Mainstreet

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For $5,000 a year I was going to suggest we see if has anything left in the tank! :)

For that amount of money the Lakers wouldn't be petitioning the league about it. :wink2:
 

95pro

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Why isn’t it a good fit? I like that hire for them.

He's more old school, kids these days are soft. I expect Ball to regress because he won't listen to him, just speculating. Hard nosed people like Holiday will be fine, if he isnt shopped.
 

Finito

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He's more old school, kids these days are soft. I expect Ball to regress because he won't listen to him, just speculating. Hard nosed people like Holiday will be fine, if he isnt shopped.

so you would want to cater to the soft guys on your team? That’s exactly what you shouldn’t do.

You hold your team to the standard of the best not the worst. That’s why guys like Holiday are good and if Ball can’t handle it then that’s a reflection on Ball.

the Pelicans know this that’s why he was hired to mold a young team. He’s not a championship coach but they aren’t a championship team. There a young team that needs direction.
 

95pro

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so you would want to cater to the soft guys on your team? That’s exactly what you shouldn’t do.

You hold your team to the standard of the best not the worst. That’s why guys like Holiday are good and if Ball can’t handle it then that’s a reflection on Ball.

the Pelicans know this that’s why he was hired to mold a young team. He’s not a championship coach but they aren’t a championship team. There a young team that needs direction.


huh?

Other than your assumption, i agree.
 

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