Dry Heat Index: Jordan vs Barkley, the Battle for My Daughter's Sports Soul
If you’re a sports fan, you can’t go anywhere online without reading or hearing about the new documentary about Michael Jordan and the 1997-98 Chicago Bulls called "The Last Dance." I have to admit, even as a card carrying member of the “I hate Jordan” club — old wounds heal slowly — I’ve even enjoyed it. Not as much as my wife though.
Yes, me, a lifelong and dedicated Suns fan, married a lifelong Bulls fan from a suburb of Chicago. Our rivalry runs so deep that when the Mrs. gets mad at me, she wears her 1993 championship t-shirt to bed.
This isn’t a story about my sports-related marital problems. It is however, at least to start, about the battle for my daughter’s fandom.
See, for the last few years I’ve attempted to brainwash my 3-year-old to believe that Charles Barkley is the best basketball player of all-time. I’ve shown her videos, taught her to say "Barkley" any time she sees his poster on my office wall, or a bobble head on the shelf or even in the photo of he, Tom Chambers and I behind the bar at Majerle’s. When I would ask her who the best basketball player ever was, at least for awhile, she’d emphatically answer ‘Charles Barkley’. That is, until my wife found out. She quickly, and more effectively, taught her the correct answer. That the best player that ever was, was in fact the one daddy didn’t like very much. The guy in red and black who wore No. 23.
While I won the initial battle, I feel I've likely lost the war for the sports soul of my daughter. That, along with watching the first few episodes of the aforementioned Last Dance, got me thinking. Just how far of a talent gap was there between Jordan and Barkley?
When considering this, you have to look at what Barkley was able to do at his size. Even though media guides and basketball cards listed Sir Charles at 6-foot-6, he wasn’t any taller than 6-foot-4, max. Despite that fact, he was one of the best rebounders in the game averaging 11.7 a game for his career, and had one of the greatest back-to-the-basket games in the history of the league. He was also quite adroit at passing for a power forward as well and was as good as anyone at going coast to coast. Plus, he wasn’t afraid to mix it up with guys much taller and heavier than he was. Remember him being willing to fight Shaq?
There’s no denying that Jordan’s overall game and on-court success was superior to Barkley’s but the gap isn’t astronomical. In fact, during the 1990s, I think you could argue that The Round Mound of Rebound was the second most gifted player of that era. In fact, he should have been the Bird to Jordan’s Magic during the decade.
But why wasn’t he?
We’re getting a front row seat to the reason while watching the new documentary. It has everything to do with Jordan’s ruthless desire and almost outright obsession to win at all costs. He was the antithesis of Allen Iverson’s famous "practice" quote. He was driven to push his team every opportunity he got.
Now, I’m not saying Jordan didn’t have his fun. The stories are well documented about late night card games and rounds of golf that went far too long, but there was no denying that when it came to the court, MJ was locked in.
Barkley? Well, that was a different story. Having talked with multiple people who were around him during his days in Phoenix, it was pretty clear that his focus wasn’t always on the court. According to sources, he didn’t pick up a basketball during the offseason unless there was international play involved, and his desire to practice was about as lofty as everyone’s desire to wear pants and shoes during stay at home orders.
While Jordan was working to get better in the offseason to add to his game and demanding the utmost out of his teammates during practice, Barkley wasn’t. In a league where everyone is physically gifted and talented, the difference comes down to the little things.
What could the NBA have had in the 1990s if Barkley had more of MJ’s obsessiveness to win and less of his desire to have a good time? How many banners could Phoenix have hanging from the rafters and how many Suns-Bulls finals could we have witnessed?
While Sir Charles is still one of the greatest players, even without that additional attention to detail, how much more could he have squeezed out of himself and his teammates?
Maybe, just maybe, I wouldn’t have had to trick my daughter into saying “the greatest basketball player of all-time is Charles Barkley”, maybe it would have actually been the truth.
Greg Esposito is host of the podcast The Solar Panel. Former Senior Digital Manager and voice of the Phoenix Suns social media channels.
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