Charles Barkley on the 2009-10 Dallas Mavericks

Posted on October 1st, 2009 6:08pm by Zac Crain
Filed under Basketball, Dallas Mavericks

Last week, I found myself on the phone with Charles Barkley, talking about the 2010 NBA All-Star Game at Cowboys Stadium, among other things — one of which I was asked to strike from the permanent record about five minutes after we talked about it. (Not by Barkley, of course.) Here is what he had to say, when asked if he thought the Dallas Mavericks’ off-season moves made them a contender for the Western Conference crown.

I don’t think they’re one of the best teams in the West. It’s a two-team race: the Lakers and the Spurs. I mean, I’m not sure they’re better than Utah or Denver, to be honest with you. Let me rephrase that. They’re not better than Utah or Denver.

I took that as a “no.”

After the jump, another brief excerpt, wherein Chuck talks about Dallas and Mavericks fans.

He enjoys Dallas.

Uh, you know, I’ve really gotten to really like Dallas in the last year. You know, ‘cause when I did my golf show we did most of the shows in Dallas. So, I really didn’t realize what a nice city Dallas was, how nice the people were; it’s just a really, really cool, cool city. Like I said, I never really spent any quality time there. But when I was shooting the show, I came down like five or six times, and spent like two or three days with Hank [Haney], and got to know that it’s a really nice city.

But homer Mavs fans? Not as much.

Well, I think that people hear what they want to hear, you know? I always try to be honest, and the one year I picked the Mavericks to win the championship when they were in the Finals — they lost. The rest of the time I thought they had no chance, but the one year I thought they had everything together, [and] they should’ve beaten Miami — people didn’t hear that part. It was funny to me .I was like, “Why didn’t y’all hear when I picked the Mavs to win the championship?” And that’s honestly the only year they had a chance; the rest of the years they didn’t have a chance. But people just hear what they want to hear. They’re like, “You’re a Mav hater”; I’m like, the one year y’all had a chance, I picked y’all, idiots. And the rest of the time I’ve been right. And the one time I picked y’all to win, y’all get to the Finals, and y’all let me down.

Bookmark and Share
12 Comments to “Charles Barkley on the 2009-10 Dallas Mavericks”
  • BigBlueJoe @ October 1st, 2009 at 6:33 pm

    So, someone remind me — why do we care what BARKley says?

  • Zac Crain @ October 1st, 2009 at 6:37 pm

    There’s always a first time.

  • MP @ October 1st, 2009 at 7:57 pm

    ok – full disclosure – I am a Spurs homer. But if you are going to blog the NBA….I feel I must participate here.

    To what Mr. Barkley said, I must wholeheartedly concur. The Mavs sucked for a long time, then blew it, and will suck hereafter.

  • Zac Crain @ October 1st, 2009 at 8:31 pm

    AGREE TO DISAGREE.

    (Sorry — trying to mix Mavs homer with somewhat objective sports blogging. Came out overmodulated.)

  • Joe @ October 2nd, 2009 at 1:30 am

    MP – I guess the classy attitude that is supposed to accompany success i.e. Popyvich & company hasn’t rubbed off on the fans, eh?

    You are dumb.

    Cheers!

  • Ross @ October 2nd, 2009 at 8:19 am

    2003 we win if dirk doesn’t go down. The Spurs had a great team, but we did as well. We were up in the 4th in the decisive game 6 until Kerr went nuts. I honestly believe full heartedly that if Dirk doesn’t hurt his knee we win that title, then maybe we keep Steve and who knows what else. 2006 Bennett Salvador and the Bevettas gave Miami the extreme advantage and 2007 there was one team we didn’t play well against and we played them in round one, and to their credit it was never close. I don’t think we’re quite at that level for this year, but you never know, you have to see how these guys gel on the court.

  • Scott @ October 2nd, 2009 at 8:25 am

    It’s crazy to put the Spurs ahead of us. You may think they will be better than the Mavs this year and they may. The Mavs should be better too. After we owned them in the playoffs last year how can you say they’re contenders and we aren’t? This will be the best team the Mavs have had since 2006. We will have a better offense and much better D. The Lakers are the clear favorite. After that we a right there with everyone else.

  • GhettoBear04 @ October 2nd, 2009 at 9:18 am

    I agree with part of what Barkley says. I remember him saying the Mavs should win the championship that year after they beat the Spurs (which they should have). Also, I think what he says really isn’t that controversial, it just is to whatever team’s fans he’s talking about. The way the NBA (and it’s officiating) is structured, you need to follow one of a few certain styles to win a championship. The Mavs teams will very rarely be favored to win a championship at the start of the season because their best player, Dirk, brings a different set of talents to the table. Only once this decade has a team one a championship without the ‘Star 2/3 guard + talented Big Man defender’ model. I’m counting Ginobli as a star, so Detroit is the only exception. Detroit did one thing, defend, better than anyone else and still had to get lucky with a strange Laker team self-combusting. It’s possible to contend without it, but it’s so hard to actually win a championship that the Mavs will probably never be favored to win one at the beginning of the season. Smart money will be on the teams with Kobe/Pau, Pierce/KG, Ginobli/Duncan, Lebron/Shaq, Carter or Lewis/Howard.

    I think Barkley overstates his case by saying the Mavs don’t have a chance at all (everyone technically has the chance), but I agree that San Antonio and the Lakers are better on paper (though the Spurs are probably more injury prone). The Mavs are probably even with the Nuggets and better than Jazz.

  • Armand @ October 2nd, 2009 at 11:32 am

    I LOVE THE MAVS!!- And I love Chuck!!! I think he’s smart enough, witty, funny, etc…. But he is wrong this year. The Mavs are a matchup nightmare in a similar mold as the Lakers and the Nuggets(last year, more so). As much as the Lakers are going to make people adjust, the Mavs are going to do the same. That matchup between the Lakers and the Mavs is going to be fun. My only worry is this- How much has Marion lost? Hopefully not much…. I’ll tkae Howard on Kobe and Marion on Gasol/Odom.. and you still have Kidd, Gooden, and Dirk…. I feel good about this team.

  • Zac Crain @ October 2nd, 2009 at 11:51 am

    What I like about this year’s team is what Armand mentioned — match-ups. Tons of really interesting lineups here now. They can go ultra-small with Jet-JJ-Kidd-Marion-Dirk or big with Kidd-Josh-Marion-Dirk-Damp/Gooden and everything in between.

    That’s just on paper, of course. They still have to play the games. But I would disagree with anyone who would not put them in the top tier in the West. That’s not just as a Mavs fan. That’s as a longtime NBA fan.

    But I still love Chuck.

  • Heard It Through the Grapevine » The Two Man Game @ October 2nd, 2009 at 12:28 pm

    [...] Barkley talked to Zac Crain of D Magazine/Inside Corner about his anti-Mavs rep. I’ll agree that it’s based in perception more than MFFLs often [...]

  • B. Money @ October 2nd, 2009 at 5:49 pm

    This Mavs team will go nowhere fast. It’s sad. I’ve been a fan since I became sports-aware in the 80′s. . . but Barkley is spot-on. The only time they had a true chance, they choked. This is not a championship team.