TNT basketball analyst and Hall of Fame forward Charles Barkley singled out the NBA teams worth watching this year. Barkley counts five of them. In a season that features “awful basketball… I mean just bad,” Barkley says it’s hard for him to watch a full game.
“Unless Golden State is playing the Clippers, the Cavs, Oklahoma City or the Spurs, I’m not gonna watch a full game,” Barkley said on the Mike & Mike show. Barkley blasted a league where he says the top teams totally outclass the bottom dwellers. But his criticism can itself be criticized. There are six teams on track for 50-win seasons this year, whereas last year ten teams achieved that mark. Yet those ten teams had to beat other teams — teams they aren’t beating as often this year. To a lot of people that means parity, a more even distribution of talent and wins. Barkley says that’s what he wants — “we want it to be more competitive” — but with more teams in the middle range, that’s actually what it is. You can’t have it both ways. Two teams square off in each game — one has to lose.
