“I believe in expressing what you feel, ” he told the New York Times Magazine. Political correctness is for government officials, not basketball players, in his opinion. Barkley is adamant on one point: he does not consider himself a role model for youngsters. From time to time his comments cause a tempest, but he rarely apologizes or reconsiders anything he says. After any game, win or loss, he can be counted upon to offer opinions on just about everything from his performance to his teammates ’ abilities to current political events. In an era when sports superstars find it fashionable to shun the media, Barkley is a sound-bite darling. ” Philadelphia Inquirer columnist Bill Lyon characterized the volatile player as “a newly cork-popped magnum of champagne spills all over the court, frothing and foaming. ” At the same time, “Sir Charles ” developed a vast reputation for speaking his piece and exercising his temper both on and off the basketball court.Ĭoplon described Barkley as “a wild child who will say or do whatever crosses his trip-wired mind. In 1991 New York Times Magazine reporter Jeff Coplon wrote that Barkley had “reached the stage where he can outrun, outjump, outwork, outsmart or outmuscle anyone who lines up against him. Known in his early years as the “Round Mound of Rebound ” -a cunning allusion to both his weight and his ability -Barkley has progressed through a decade of professional basketball while appearing to become stronger and more dominant each year. But his inclusion on the 1992 United States Olympic Team and his 1992 trade to the Suns provided Barkley with a national audience for both his fabulous basketball talents and his legendary attitude.Īt six-foot-five and 250 pounds, Barkley is short and stout by NBA standards, but that has not stopped him from becoming one of the premier power forwards in the league. For years, the outspoken, combative Barkley languished in relative obscurity as his former team, the Philadelphia 76ers, failed to advance in NBA playoff competition. OlympicTalk is on Apple News.Charles Barkley, the talented and controversial star of the Phoenix Suns, was voted the 1992 –93 Most Valuable Player in the National Basketball Association (NBA). MORE: LeBron, Curry lead finalists for U.S. “I think he acted like a bully, but maybe it’s his personality.”Īngola, though it has zero Olympic medals in any sport, actually qualified for five straight Olympic men’s basketball tournaments in the 1990s and 2000s and won games in 19. “Other players in Angola play against Charles Barkley, and they told us there’s like a kid, a fat boy who is very aggressive in the paint,” Coimbra said in the 2012 NBA TV documentary. He was one of four Dream Teamers to return for the 1996 Atlanta Games, winning another gold medal that he’s now planning to sell. He was also traded from the flailing Philadelphia 76ers to the Phoenix Suns that summer, then went on to win NBA MVP and reach the Finals, where the Jordan Bulls stopped him in six games. Olympic Committee officials briefly considered sending Barkley home, according to Jack McCallum‘s book, “Dream Team.” They let Barkley stay in Barcelona, where he mingled regularly along Las Ramblas.īarkley went on to lead the Dream Team in scoring as part of the greatest year of his career. To Barkley’s credit, he obliged to take a picture with Coimbra after the game, according to The New York Times, which reported that Angola had three gymnasiums in the entire country. So he did it a couple more times, and I clocked him.” “I said hey, dude, if you do that any more, I’m going to clock you. “That team played dirty,” Barkley, who had a 75-pound edge over Coimbra, said in the NBC film. Barkley continued to claim that the Angolan, 24-year-old economics student Herlander Coimbra, elbowed him three times before the Round Mound of Rebound had enough. They of course did, steamrolling to gold to spark a new era for Olympic basketball.īut Barkley’s gesture endured, highlighted in Dream Team documentaries on NBA TV and NBC in 2012.
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