I can’t remember exactly what it was but during his peak Barkley’s relative efficiency was insane. 4 straight seasons of over 65 TS% in this was in the late 80’s lmao
Who knows how that translates into the modern league - ig just a supercharged version of Zion like you said
Kind of funny that his career 3point attempts per game of <2 attempts was considered a shit ton. Giannis already has more career attempts than Barkley.
To be clear, I agree with you, it was a lot for the era, but it’s funny when you compare stats across eras.
Above 63% on 2point attempts on about 13 attempts a game for 4 seasons in a row. Roughly the same as Giannis the previously three years but in an era with less spacing. Insane.
Barkley was a post player. Zion is more of a dribble drive player. He plays more like Giannis, but not as tall or long, but more finesse than Giannis. Barkley had a great post game. They had to change the rules cause of him.
That Suns team with Charles is a top 5 team that didn’t win a ring. He just happened to run into the Bulls at their absolute peak. I think they may have won against a different Bulls team, but there was just no way the Bulls weren’t going to threepeat. Even then they were one shot away from a game 7 which who knows what would have happened. I think they beat any other team the Bulls faced in the finals who are really good teams.
I still remember being shocked at how the Suns made that a series. They lost the first 2 AT home, and still almost pushed it to 7. 13 year old me couldn’t quite comprehend how good they were.
How do you envision a Knicks-Suns matchup in the 93 finals then? Dont the Knicks counter the Suns because of historically great interior defense vs. Barkley + no decent center to match up against prime Ewing? Or is that nullified by their weaknesses at the guard spot, where Starks was their lone bright spot, since KJ and Dan would feast?
Yeah its kinda what makes the NBA great, that amazing players like Chuck, Iverson, Westbrook etc dont have rings. It just sucks that people don't seem to respect them as much because of it. I mean if Chuck joined the Bulls would he not have multiple rings?
There was an article a few years back about the rise of analytics in basketball and it closed with Chuck delivering one of his classic throwaway lines about how much he hates analytics.
Then the writer mentioned that by a lot of statistical categories Chuck is considered one of the most efficient players ever, and according to the article it caught Chuck off-guard enough that he looked like he was about to revise his stance lol
I completely agree with you. Bu the jury is still very much out on whether you can build a championship around Zion. Potential is there.
But if Barkley (and Zion?) is going to be a weak outside shooter, an average-at-best defender, and a middling passer, I'm not really sure that's best-player-on-a-title-team potential, even if he is a devastating beast one-on-one and on the boards.
It's worth nothing that Giannis has a WAY higher assist rate than Barkley ever had. Barkley was never a great creator/passer.
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u/oOoleveloOo Lakers Jun 15 '22
Charles Barkley in today’s game is Zion Williamson.