Position : Forward
Charles Barkley : you could love him or detest him , but you ca n’t ignore him . He ’s a folks hero who answers to the name " Sir Charles , " a lifetime appendage of the All - Interview Team who ’s gone on to become the most pop observer in sports , and as always , an explosion waiting to happen . Typical of Barkley , he write an impossible - to - put - down autobiography , unconscionable ! , then had the audacity to attempt to halt publication of the book , claim he ’d been misquoted .
Despite being drastically undersized as a power forrard – listed at 6'6 '' and 250 pounds but likely a duad column inch shorter and a few hoagies heavier – Barkley ’s unique shape earned him the clever cognomen " Round Mound of Rebound " – the veteran of 15 NBA seasons had an incredible impact on the flooring . Barkley was a league MVP , 11 - time All - Star , and two - metre gold medal success for Team USA . Remarkably , he is also the short player in NBA history to claim a spring championship .
He has take some dubious records too , such as most technical foul and most ejections in a career . He once was fined $ 5,000 for wager with an opponent player . In 1991 , he spit at a badgerer but miss , instead impinge on an eight - year - old girl . That be him $ 10,000 . He punched Bill Laimbeer ( $ 25,000 ) and even duked it out with one of his own teammates , Manute Bol . There was a breach of etiquette at the 1992 Olympics when he elbowed a player fromAngola . Barkley raised the hackles of a Carry Amelia Moore Nation when he claimed he was n’t a role model , and throughout his career , he never raised what he desire most – an NBA title banner .
Barkley dominatedbasketballgames at both modest forward and power forward , compensating for his want of peak with the poking of a 37 - in perpendicular jump . He weighed nearly 300 lbf. in his formative years before sculpting his organic structure into a 250 - pound bowling bollock . His strength and competitiveness are legendary . He once douse so violently that the 2,200 - pound field goal support moved six inches . betimes in his career , he did most of his grading on fastbreaks , drive , and putbacks . afterward , he added a long jump shot to his arsenal .
Barkley ’s journeying began February 20 , 1963 , in Leeds , Alabama . He weighed less than six pounds at birth but grew into a rotund young man with Passion for basketball , pizza , and petty thievery . He wager center during his three eld at Auburn University , averaging 14.1 points and 9.6 rebounds . When he leave school after his junior season , thePhiladelphia76ers pick out him in the first cycle of the NBA draft .
With the Sixers in 1984 - 85 , Barkley averaged 14.0 points per game and made the All - Rookie Team . The next season , despite leading the NBA in fouls and turnovers , he pull ahead the IBM Award , which measure a player ’s overall contribution to his squad ’s winner . He led the NBA in ricochet ( 14.6 per game ) in the 1986 - 87 season . In 1988 - 89 , he conduct the conference with 164 dunks and was smuggler - up to Magic Johnson for the Most Valuable Player Award , even though he had more first - place votes than Johnson .
Meanwhile , the Sixers struggle , never advancing past the Eastern Conference finals in Barkley ’s first eight time of year . He blamed his teammates and club owner Harold Katz and begin to shift for a craft . In June 1992 , the Sixers shipped him to thePhoenixSuns for three players .
After a stop in Barcelona – where he conduct the 1992 Olympic Dream Team in scoring , with an 18.0 average on leading .711 shooting – Barkley report to the Suns with a new lease on life . He won the MVP Award for the 1992 - 93 time of year , marking the first clock time in 10 years that the trophy was n’t make to Johnson , Larry Bird , orMichael Jordan . Barkley was fifth in the league in scoring ( 25.6 ) , sixth in rebounding ( 12.2 ) , and average 5.1 assistance , leading the Suns to a conference - high 62 victories . They recede to the Chicago Bulls in the NBA Finals .
A back hurt , first suffer when Barkley was in college , most forced him into retreat , yet he go along to play through 2000 , seek to mark his great career with a title .
Barkley retired as one of only four player in NBA account to put down at least 20,000 points , 10,000 rebounds , and 4,000 assists in his career . Fittingly , he was named one of the NBA ’s 50 Greatest Players in 1996 and was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2006 .
In addition to his always - galvanic NBA comment , Barkley continues to author Word and entertain a outpouring for governor of his home state of Alabama .
