Charles Wade Barkley

Charles Wade Barkley (born February 20, 1963, in Leeds, Alabama) is a former basketball power forward in the American National Basketball Association. A current resident of Scottsdale, Arizona, Barkley is commonly nicknamed Sir Charles and occasionally The Round Mound of Rebound. Barkley was named Most Valuable Player of the NBA in 1993. In 1996, the NBA's 50th anniversary, he was named one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History. Barkley won the Olympic gold medal with the U.S. Dream Teams in the 1992 and 1996 Games. Barkley was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2006.

Barkley is best remembered for his tenacity and ruggedness for rebounds, despite his relative lack of height for his natural position of power forward. In addition to being one of the best rebounders of all time, he was also a prolific scorer and a consummate team player.

After his playing career, Barkley has enjoyed enormous success as a sports commentator, leading some to believe that his legacy in basketball will be similar to American football's John Madden.

Barkley played college basketball for Auburn University for three years where he excelled as a player, being named All-SEC and leading the league in rebounding each year. He mainly played center at Auburn, despite being quite shorter than normal for the position; he was listed as 6 ft 6 in, but it is actually stated in his book I May Be Wrong, But I Doubt It that he is closer to 6'4½".

Philadelphia 76ers
In 1984, he left Auburn a year early to begin playing in the NBA with the Philadelphia 76ers. He was drafted with the fifth pick in the first round. Early in his career, Barkley had a weight problem, sometimes weighing over 136 kg (300 pounds) at Auburn. His nickname "The Round Mound of Rebound" dates back to his Auburn days. He battled those problems and through the tutelage of Moses Malone learned how to prepare himself for the game and get in better playing shape. In Barkley's second year he emerged averaging 20.0 ppg and 12.8 rpg and becoming the starter at power forward for the entire season. Unfortunately the team was getting older and after winning 58 and 54 games in his first 2 years they would not fare as well in the coming seasons. Aging players such as Moses Malone and Julius Erving were either traded away or retired. Later Barkley teamed with power forward/center Rick Mahorn, the two coined the nickname "Thump and Bump." The Sixers made a resurgence making the Eastern Conference Semifinals in 1990 and 1991 only to be eliminated by the Chicago Bulls both years. The team reached the playoffs with Barkley every year except for 1988 and 1992. While with the Sixers, Barkley was a force underneath the glass, and his aggressiveness often got him into fights with players such as Bill Laimbeer, Patrick Ewing, Shaquille O'Neal, and Charles Oakley.

During the 1991-1992 season, his last in Philadelphia, Barkley wore number 32 instead of 34 in honor of Magic Johnson, who had announced prior to the start of the season that he was HIV-positive. The 76ers had retired the number 32 in honor of Billy Cunningham, who un-retired it for Barkley to wear. Following Johnson's announcement, Barkley also rebuked himself for having made fun of people for having HIV. Responding to concerns that players may contract HIV by contact with Johnson, Barkley commented flippantly: "We're just playing basketball. It's not like we're going out to have unprotected sex with Magic."

After the 1991-92 season, fed up with what he felt was management's unwillingness to do what it took to win, Barkley demanded a trade. He was traded to the Phoenix Suns for Jeff Hornacek, Tim Perry and Andrew Lang.

In between being drafted and traded, Barkley became a household name, and he was one of a few NBA players to have a figure published by Kenner's Starting Lineup toy line and also have his own signature shoe line by Nike. But he also became involved in a few scandals, notoriously a fight with Detroit Pistons center Bill Laimbeer in 1990. He averaged 24.3 points per game while with the 76ers.

Phoenix Suns
After joining Larry Bird, Magic Johnson and Michael Jordan for the 1992 U.S. Dream Team that won the gold medal at the Barcelona Olympics, Barkley joined the Phoenix Suns, where he joined Kevin Johnson and Dan Majerle. Barkley became the centerpiece of the Suns and led the team to a league-best regular season record and a trip to the 1993 NBA Finals, scoring 25 points per game and becoming one of the most popular players ever among Suns fans. After the season he was named NBA MVP. At the Finals, Barkley and the Suns lost to Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, and the Chicago Bulls in six games, after Barkley had told Jordan that it was destiny for the Suns to win the championship. Barkley would never again return to the Finals.

In 1994, Barkley again was part of a Suns team that many expected to win the NBA Championship but despite holding a 2-0 lead early in the series they lost the Western semi-finals in seven games to the eventual champion Houston Rockets. In 1995, the Suns suffered exactly the same fate in the playoffs as the year before, losing again in seven games to the eventual champion Rockets. This time they lost despite having a 3-1 lead in the series. In 1996, Barkley and the Suns struggled to a 41-41 record and lost to the San Antonio Spurs, 3 games to 1, in the playoffs. After the season Barkley was a member of the gold medal winning American team at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia.

Houston Rockets
Barkley was then traded to the Houston Rockets, where he joined Hakeem Olajuwon, Clyde Drexler, in their quest to win championships. However, Olajuwon had already won two (1994, 1995), Drexler one in 1995, leading some people to believe that Barkley was the only one who was really trying.

His first season (1996-97) was their most successful during this period. The Rockets started the season an impressive 21-2 and made it all the way to the Western Conference Finals before losing to the Utah Jazz in 6 games. After this however the Rockets would stumble and not make it past the first round of the playoffs for the remainder of Barkley's time in Houston.

As a member of the Rockets, Barkley faced back injury problems, which ultimately led to his retirement in 2000. His last year in the NBA, he averaged 14 points a game over 19 games before tearing his left quadriceps tendon completely away from his kneecap during a game on December 8, 1999 in Philadelphia, where Barkley started his career. He was told by doctors that he would never play again in the NBA, but was able to come back a little over four months later, for exactly one game, in front of Houston's home fans on April 19, 2000 against the Vancouver Grizzlies. Barkley scored a basket on an offensive rebound and putback, a trademark of his career. Barkley retired immediately after that game.

During his career in the NBA, Barkey totalled 23,757 points for an average of 22.1 points per game, and 12,546 rebounds, for an average of 11.7 rebounds per game. He was an All-Star eleven times.

Barkley ranked #19 in SLAM magazine's Top 75 NBA Players of all time in 2003.

Player profile
Barkley came to league as a great rebounder, despite his lack of height. He compensated by being extremely tenacious for rebounds, having great jumping ability, quickness and strength, and a knack for knowing where the ball bounces. In his career, Barkley developed into an offensive force, using his strength to overpower smaller defenders and quickness against taller defenders. He scored many points from offensive rebounds, making putbacks and tip-ins. Barkley also possessed all-around skills such as ball-handling and passing usually associated for a guard. While Barkley often made crucial defensive plays such as a last-minute steal or block, he was often criticized for being a below average defender. He was also criticized for attempting too many 3-pointers at a below-par percentage.

Barkley had an effective low-post game, where he would slowly back his opponent towards the basket using his strength, then either score from close range or pass to an open teammate if double teamed. He was one of the proponents of this slow playing style, which enticed the NBA to create a rule called the 5-second violation. This rule is sometimes unofficially called "the Charles Barkley rule".

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Charles Barkley. (2007, January 8). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 02:48, January 12, 2007, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Charles_Barkley&oldid=99423784