bigted Posted September 8, 2006 Report Share Posted September 8, 2006 Barkley, Wilkins, Dumars to Enter Hall By PAT EATON-ROBB Associated Press Writer SPRINGFIELD, Mass. - Charles Barkley loves watching films of himself playing basketball. He says it's not narcissistic. It's about seeing basketball played hard, with players giving 100 percent and the game coming before the individual. "I always tried as hard as I possibly could," Barkley said Friday before his induction into the Basketball Hall of Fame. "I like seeing that on tape. Today, they want to be stars. They don't want to be great players. We wanted to be great players." Two other greats from Barkley's era, Dominique Wilkins and Joe Dumars, were to be inducted Friday night, as part of a Hall of Fame class that also includes former Big East commissioner Dave Gavitt, Connecticut women's coach Geno Auriemma and Italian coach Sandro Gamba. Barkley, Auriemma and Gavitt were first-ballot selections. Barkley, who averaged 22 points and almost 12 rebounds in 16 NBA seasons, is hardly known for his humility. But he called it a humbling experience to be placed in the company of other Hall of Famers from his era - players such as Michael Jordan, Larry Bird and Magic Johnson. "It was the best," Barkley said. "When you compare these little rinky-dink teams you all got now to Bird's Celtics, Magic's Lakers and Michael's Bulls - they'd kill these guys you all got winning today." The Pistons were also pretty good, winning championships in 1989 and 1990 with Joe Dumars at guard. Barkley called Dumars the best player on those teams, which also included more flamboyant stars, such as Hall of Famer Isiah Thomas, Bill Laimbeer and Dennis Rodman. "I wasn't concerned about the marquee board," said Dumars, who played his entire 14-year career in Detroit. "That's never mattered to me and I gladly let others step forward and do that. If there was a championship that year, then my whole focus was just that." Like Barkley, Wilkins never won a championship. But he was a nine-time NBA All-Star and a two-time NBA Slam Dunk champion known as "the Human Highlight Reel" for his above-the-rim acrobatics. It's a nickname he doesn't much care for. "Dunking was just a small part of my game," he said. "Dunking was just an intimidating tool I used. I had a much more rounded game than just dunking. To get 26,000 points, you don't get them all on dunks." Gamba coached European basketball for more than three decades, including four consecutive Italian Olympic teams from 1980-92. His team won a silver medal at the 1980 Moscow Olympics and the gold at the 1983 European Championships. Auriemma already has five national championship trophies at Connecticut and is closing in on winning his 600th career game next season. He joins UConn men's coach Jim Calhoun in the Hall of Fame. On Friday, Auriemma said all Big East coaches owe their careers to Gavitt, who helped form the league in 1979 and served as its first commissioner. Gavitt also was president of USA Basketball and is credited with putting together the original 1992 Dream Team that won the gold medal in Barcelona, a team that featured Johnson, Jordan and Bird. "Barkley was the best player on that team," Gavitt said. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fresh_from_sofia Posted September 8, 2006 Report Share Posted September 8, 2006 (edited) Barkley was one of my fav players back in the day ... i still got some matches with Bulls from the 90' now if i watch one in a month will be good Edited September 8, 2006 by fresh_from_sofia Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ant1 Posted September 8, 2006 Report Share Posted September 8, 2006 Congrats, to charles getting in the hall of fame defo. aggree with what he said about some of these players now wanting to be stars instead of great players like when him magic, bird, and jordan played. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mfuqua23 Posted September 8, 2006 Report Share Posted September 8, 2006 3 class players that the NBA has ever seen. I definitely take my hat off to them finally getting in the Hall of Fame. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schnazz Posted September 8, 2006 Report Share Posted September 8, 2006 Dominique's getting in? Wow, that kinda surprises me. Maybe I'm just getting old, but I really feel what Barkley was saying. The game used to be about winning, no matter what. Great rivalries between great teams and great players, all who badly wanted to win. I haven't really watched much recently, but it seems like too many games end with no one caring about the out come. If the players show some flash, they're happy and ready to call it a night. I guess LeBron James seems to be bucking that trend, maybe the game will get interesting again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MaxFly Posted September 8, 2006 Report Share Posted September 8, 2006 Charles Barkley loves watching films of himself playing basketball. He says it's not narcissistic. It's about seeing basketball played hard, with players giving 100 percent and the game coming before the individual. "I always tried as hard as I possibly could," Barkley said Friday before his induction into the Basketball Hall of Fame. Barkley is a liar... He's notorious for being a horrible defensive player, the reason being that he seldom put forth an effort on the defensive end. He admittedly saved his energy on defense so that he could have more for offense. I also don't like to hear him denigrate today's players. This is something I've noticed has gotten more and more common among the older players. They continuously put down and dismiss the accomplishments of younger players in the league today in order to enhance their accomplishments and contribute to their self importance. I'm sure Barkley didn't like it when Wilt and others put down his generation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigted Posted September 10, 2006 Author Report Share Posted September 10, 2006 Charles Barkley always backed up his talk, playing well on both ends of the floor, there ain't many players in the NBA today that plays with the heart that he had as a player Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MaxFly Posted September 10, 2006 Report Share Posted September 10, 2006 Charles Barkley always backed up his talk, playing well on both ends of the floor, there ain't many players in the NBA today that plays with the heart that he had as a player Na, Barkley did not play well at both ends of the court. He was great on offense, but my beef with him has always been that he was a poor defender. Worse, not because he was incapable of playing good defense... but because he just didn't try. He put forth a very poor effort on the defensive end of the court. His excuse was that he had to save himself for offense. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bart5 Posted September 10, 2006 Report Share Posted September 10, 2006 (edited) Glad to see Nique finally got some of the respect he deserves. Edited September 10, 2006 by bart5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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