Charles Barkley Says The Players Should Expect Changes

After recently saying this lockout is a direct cause of all the NBA’s stars running to team up in major markets, Charles Barkley also sat down with azcentral.com to talk hoops and the current lockout. When asked about his thoughts on the owners and NBA commissioner David Stern, Barkley said that Stern was the best commissioner in sports and would do whatever is best for the small market teams. In regards to Amar’e and ‘Melo‘s statements about starting their own league, Barkley said that it was one of the stupidest things he’s ever heard. Right up there with New Coke. When asked about Stern’s priorities with the lockout, Barkley had this to say: “No. 1, have a hard cap. Secondly, have better revenue sharing. Or get the owners 50-50 (BRI split). It’s going to be one of those three ways to be honest with you. They can forget the way things are going now, that they’re going to let all these stars play and kill these small-market teams. I can promise you that or they’re not going to play at all.” … To make matters worse, JaVale McGee told Mark Medina of The L.A. Times that 25-30 players attended the most recent meeting, and that he left the meeting feeling “disappointed,” saying that several players present were ready to fold. You can guess how most on his side responded: Other players were either extremely pissed, denied it or flat out said McGee is a nobody in this situation. The more games that Stern decides to cancel, the more leverage the players lose. Besides the percentage of players who have more money than they know what to do with, the rest may start to feel the pressure. A lot of these guys need that money to support their family and close friends. The longer this lockout stretches, the louder they’ll be chirping … Dwyane Wade told the Associated Press that the players have not done a good enough job “complaining” while the owners have done an “amazing job” getting their message out to the fans during the lockout. When you think about it, the media really has, whether they meant to or not, painted a picture of the players as the stubborn athletes who started out asking for too much and now just refuse any and all further offers. The owners have, just like Wade said, communicated more with media outlets, and thus have come out like the more understanding of the two sides. It also doesn’t hurt to know what you’re doing. The players have dug their own graves with failed attempts to rationalize the lockout with pissed off fans … Hakim Warrick can now say “I told you so.” Earlier this summer after his Team Philly squad beat a lineup led by LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony and Chris Paul, Warrick proclaimed them the kings of the offseason. This weekend, they backed up that tough talk again, beating the Goodman League 174-167 in a game that wasn’t nearly that close for much of the night. John Wall arrived late (travel problems) and Goodman fell behind by 20 before making a late comeback to make it close. Lou Williams (53 points) and Kevin Durant (56 points) went crazy, but the real wild numbers were their trey attempts: KD took 19 and Williams took 18 of them … Derrick Rose had a big weekend mingling with fans to promote the release of his newest signature sneaker, the adiZero Rose 2. At the Jordan Boys & Girls Club for the “Run with D Rose” event, the MVP went three-on-three with a few of his luckiest fans. Also at the event: Common. He kicked a freestyle too (seemed like it was an actual freestyle). A few people have hit us up saying it sucked, but there aren’t too many MCs anymore who have the balls to put themselves out there like that … We’re out like McGee’s head.