Should Charles Barkley have returned to the Sixers in ‘01?

[SelakStreet]

If Kevin Garnett was able to return to the Minnesota Timberwolves in ‘15 after a tumultuous exit that led to his trade to the Boston Celtics after ‘07, then surely Charles Barkley could’ve made a return to the Philadelphia 76ers in ‘01 after a tumultuous exit that led to him getting traded to the Phoenix Suns after ‘92.

Garnett has his issues with Glen Taylor for the way he ran the team during Garnett’s first 12 seasons with Minnesota (especially with the Joe Smith salary cap incident that led to Minnesota losing draft picks) and was promised a role in ownership alongside Flip Saunders which didn’t happen, while Barkley’s beef was with Harold Katz over giving him Jeff Ruland, Roy Hinson, Charles Shackleford, etc. to play with, instead of keeping Moses Malone, culminating in a bar brawl in Milwaukee that led to his exit from Philadelphia.

But by ‘01, Katz was no longer the owner after he had sold the 76ers to Comcast, and they were gearing up with Allen Iverson as their top guy. Instead of ending his career languishing out of the playoff picture with the Houston Rockets, Barkley could’ve had one last playoff run even if he was backing up Tyrone Hill and obviously wouldn’t have to carry the offensive load for Philadelphia like he did in the past (as that was now Allen Iverson’s team). He would’ve had one last NBA Finals appearance, and gotten a chance to retire where he originally started his career.

I can also picture Barkley (if he came back to Philadelphia) having to change his game a bit to fit in with Iverson and his defensive-minded support cast where Iverson does the heavy lifting in scoring, and guys like George Lynch, Hill and Mutombo do the dirty work, so Barkley would just be a rebounding specialist a la post-Pistons era Dennis Rodman and mainly score on putbacks and tip-ins.

[migya]

Seems nice but Barkley could barely play.