Charles Barkley's comments on LeBron James joining Miami Heat

In an interview with a Miami radio station 790 The Ticket late last week, Charles Barkley made his beliefs on LeBron's defection to the Miami Heat very clear. "He'll never be [Michael] Jordan," Charles said. "This clearly takes him out of the conversation. He can win as much as he wants to...There would have been something honorable about staying in Cleveland and trying to win it as 'The Man.'" Barkley went on to say that just one championship ring in Cleveland could have secured LeBron's place as an all-time great in the NBA. What it would have done for the city, Barkley said, would have been greater than anything LeBron can do in Miami.


Charles Barkley also talked about it on NBA TV recently. Watch the clip below to hear more.

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Oh, Charles.

It's true that winning a ring with Cleveland would have been incredible. But, really, was that going to ever happen? It's a business decision. He's a professional athlete. This is his career.

I am interested to see now if my oldest son is truly a Cavs fan or a Lebron James fan. I think I already know the answer. lol

 

Do your son a favor and buy him a LeBron James Miami Heat jersey for Christmas.

 

As a fan of the game I get he's a professional athlete but Lebron is in a rare situation where he has made more than enough money and he's still young enough to make his mark. He was in a great position where he didn't have to foresake passion for paychecks and he totally dropped the ball. Any guy who has ever been an athelete can tell you that the money is great but honor and pride is what helps you sleep at night.

 

yeah...honor and pride dont get you rings and it dont pay the bills. all it does it just get a pat on the back and keep you out of jail. In this case I would have opted for the dough. not having a ring or not would not be an indicator of who I am or who he is.

he wanted a ring to make him feel better than so be it. hell, charles cant speak he bounced around toward the end of his career thrying to get a ring. he should have been doing that shit long before he got old. LJ did it in the correct way. Cleveland was just BUllSHITTING about getting better. SCREW EM. get yours LJ.

I dont even like B-ball and I know better.

LOL

 

You gotta remember Lebron came in the league with 90 million and trust me Cleveland would have paid more. It's not about just getting a ring it's about how you get it. You think John Sally Steve Kerr have as much respect as someone like Rodman or Pippen?

 

trust me I understand what they are all saying cause MJ was saying the same as chuck but the cav's were (at least in lebrons eyes) bullshittin' about getting a championship ring asap. he may not want to end up like barry sanders.

 

That's not true they had a great season last year. They won like 66 975 9$ i2 games. I think the rumors about his mom got to him.

 

Rodman made himself look like a fool. There was no amount of rings that could help a man putting on a dress and coloring his hair all different ways and getting married at the drop of a hat.


It is first about money and then about status because status brings money. You get status through rings. Jordan would not be so popular if he did not win those rings. Karl Malon is a good case of a man who was good but never won a ring because he stayed too long on a team. We have more respect for people with rings than anything else except records. His royal airness is proof of it. Once James starts winning rings, all of this will be forgotten. These comments are from people whose egos would not let them be on the same team. The funny thing about Jordan and his super friends comment is he had two really good people on his team that you mentioned that made it impossible for magic johnson to win in one of their games. There is the super friends jordan is talking about. James already has the fame. He doesn't want to remembered as an excellent player that couldn't get a ring like so many others.

 

Lebron has damaged his legacy though. He can kiss any future league mvp award goodbye, but will have more rings than he can put on his fingers..

 

nope, most fans will forget this in the long run as long as he wins. There are plenty of people that have moved to other teams to win. We wouldn't even be talking about this if he wasn't so big in name.

 

Bandwagon jumpers won't care but people who have loved the game since they were little like me will always care. I use to think Gary Payton was the best pg in the league and I lost mad respect for him when he made that last dash for a ring by going to the Lakers. Real fans care. Again it comes down to basic honor, he has way more money than he'll ever need. He's worth hundreds of millions in endorsements alone and its not like Cleveland or some other team like the Knicks weren't ready to give him a blank check. He took the easy route and even though I know he'll pay greay it won't mean as much.

 

to add on to what you are saying....loyalty goes both ways. cavs seemed to take lebron for granted and he jetted. also the cavs chose him thru the draft. lastly if you guys were with someone who did not give you all the help you needed to do you job and did not get a raise in the last two years ...you would be gone too