I dislike barkley defense a bit too much to have hin top 25 although he may make my top 30
Considering relativeness to position i am not even sure he is much more valuable defender than nash who i have a level ahead of him offensively
https://youtu.be/x8o-jrLq3xMBarkley is one of the most impressive offensive renounders of all time: his combination of lower body of gravity, wide body mass, quick jumping and long arms as well as great effort and reactions on the boards made him a unvaluably good offensive rebounder.
He was a underated passer. Specially on the break where he could grab the defensive board and quickstar the fastvreak as BOTH the ball handler and target in a way that was outright lebron/giannis lite. And his post up game was reliable if unremarkable tool to generate offense against set defense
A incredible offensive player but lacking that extra bit of passing and/or ballhandling (preferably both) to be among the offensive goats. And very unremarkable on the other end.
He had all the physical tools to be a versatile, switchable defender. And to his credit teams didnt hunt him down all that much and was a strong defensive rebounder
The issue is that his timing, reads and positioning in rotations and specially the paint ranged from subpar to abysmal. What could have been a strenght with his lenght and athletism as a lebron or wade esque secondary rim protector was often a weakness
DEFENSE
11:30 first of many mistakes. Barkley dies on the screen so easily, concedes a open jumper
14:50 great defensive steal, he was not totally bad in defense (great physical tools 1 on 1, ideal body for a 3-5 switch defender if that skill had been more in demand at the time, great D rebounding) notice the good defense on pippen drive the next play. Shame this was less commong that the bad plays
19:50 this is one of his best contests this game in that it is understandable to foul pippen in a drive like that. Next ones will be a lot more of a issue. Also trying a charge could have been more useful but wont fault him too much here
44:25 not bad defense if you are a guard or even a wing. But here is where a bigger power forward wkth better shot blocking instincts may have helped
This is not bad per se. But is a issue of barkley not being either a lock down defender in the perimeter or a good help defender in the perineter or paint. His defensive value ends up being very harden-like. Defend post ups well and not be too targeted one on one
48:00. Bad help defense and one of the weirdest...charge attempts? I have seen you are not supposed to defend the drive with your back
A stronger help defending PF could have either gone for the charge with a quicker read or get into position to contest that drive better
1:03:00 not his lone fault. But notice how barkley and his teammate dont nltice the wide open shooter amid the chaos in the paint and stand there
1:07:25 another bad off ball defense. Leads to opem jumper
1:09:30 not his worst mistake but another slow reaction leads to a open corner 3.
1:11:00 is in position to contest but doesnt at all
1:15:05 continues getting lost chasing rivals off ball
OFFENSE
11:50 not as commonly as with ewing ( who i hope i get the time to write a bit on) but barkley coukf stubbornly get into iso- mode against 2-3 defenders at times.....of course he gets his own rebound lmao, what a beast
16:40 Lmao my man just trolling
18:50 great defensive box out, grabs the board to start the break and a nice pass. These sequences are a underated part of barkley value... of course he rebounds the missed shot lmao
23:00 in some ways i prefer face up drive barkley to post up barkley. Less likely to miss a pass (like the one he hits here) for focusing on a tough iso
37:10 .here is the off ball part of his fastbreak game that is just lebronesque in how he absorbs contact before finishing
38:20 his best pass of the game, just beatiful
38:40 another great targrt man basket ofg the fastbreak
REBOUNDING
7:50 can make a basic but solid drive and kick as a point forward. But the remarkable thingh is how quickly he -moves- into rebounding position after hus drive, -reacts- to the board and explodes in an instant to take th3 ball over the bulls defender back
10:30 notice the pre shot work for positioning. Moses malone would be a proud teacher
11:50 the pure HUSTLE rebound after his miss, this motor as a superstar is inpressive (if only it extended to defense lol) and often missing in his suns years which is why i prefer this version
17:40 MORE offensive rebound bullying. He can get offensive rebounds in every way. By outmuscling you out of position. Out athetism'ing you and jumping over your back or just by hustling faster to them
18:50 anotha one
23:40 not a rebound but notice hoe often he just steals position
28:30 is just bullying grant at this point lol
29:50 starts the fastbreak off the rebound and throws such a great bullet to the paint pass
45:40 this is just illegal at this point charles. Horace has a family
1:17:55 cayse why the **** no lol
I think this is enough to make my point. I love his offensive game. And not overly concerned about spacing when he is a trascendent offensive rebounder which has huge value.
Overall i think his offense ks just a level below the goat tier offense peaks with his combo of scoring, passing, fastbreak game and offensive rebounding
My issue is that i struggle to see him as anythingh but a negative defender relative to position. I am not even sure he is better than nash on that end when adjusting for position but that may be mpre of a hot take
I also think Nash is an easy top eight shooter in the history of the sport, with a decent claim to second. His shot and shot percentages are every bit as good as anyone’s, they maintain into the postseason, and he created those shots for himself far more than any other top shooter did. This was a massive advantage in his time, but with the spacing revolution I think his gravity would take another leap. (Note: I am not suggesting he would be a regular high volume scorer in the modern league, which is a claim I think grossly misinterprets the value and intent of his playstyle; simply going more to his playoff volume and increasing the proportion of threes taken would already represent a notable jump and would even further strain defences that have become hyper-aware of the effects of that type of spacing.)
