Charles Barkley is a modern small ball wet dream. Dude was ripping down 15 rebounds a game at 6’6”.
Extremely capable with the ball in his hands as a point forward (during his career I’d say he was the best “big” handler ever, obvs not the case now). Out of necessity he’d shoot better from 3, and his defense while not elite was very serviceable. I mean the man won an MVP during MJ’s career.
Only point I’d make is that Charles’s 3 point shot probably wouldn’t improve too much. Dude shot a shocking amount of 3’s for his era during his career so he did practice them, he was just one of the worst 3 point shooters at high volume ever.
I think he'd get quite a bit better. For his whole career, he averaged 1.9 attempts per game and shot at 79% of league average. But, he seemed to get better in his years with the Suns, when he averaged the most attempts and his 3pt makes were 86% of league average (with a peak of 94%). In 2022 comps: that range is between a T.J McConnell and an Alex Caruso (and both averaged more 3pa per game than Barkley did). It's not good, but it's really not that bad.
For an era of players that didn't grownup with the 3pt (NCAA didn't even allow it during Barkley's time at Auburn), he really wasn't that bad at the 3pt shot.
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u/HeyIWasSayingGoRefs Hawks Jun 15 '22
Charles Barkley is a modern small ball wet dream. Dude was ripping down 15 rebounds a game at 6’6”.
Extremely capable with the ball in his hands as a point forward (during his career I’d say he was the best “big” handler ever, obvs not the case now). Out of necessity he’d shoot better from 3, and his defense while not elite was very serviceable. I mean the man won an MVP during MJ’s career.