Barkley's comment (from a few years ago) was given in the specific context that he was asked about
Bird's comment that Bird was insulted when the other team assigned a white guy to guard him -- it was an off-the-cuff humorous response by Barkley, who is described as "tickled" in the article (
http://www.utsandiego.com/uniontrib/200 ... allry.html), and it's completely unclear how serious it was meant to be. Maybe Barkley believed exactly what he said, or maybe he was just ribbing Bird? After all, Bird had just said he was insulted when white guys guarded him, so, since Bird himself is white, it was a pretty good opportunity for a crack. Unless Barkley was asked a follow-up or similar question in a more serious context (which I'm not aware of) there's no way to really tell.
Let's let look at some actual stats, though: In 33 games against Bird and the Celtics (there are another 11 from the early 80s that bbref doesn't have full game stats for), Barkley's teammate and top-15-all-timer, Dr. J, shot .477 from the field, compared to .509 overall during that time period. Barkley also shot considerably lower against the Celtics in the 30 games in which he and Bird played against each other (.535 vs Bird's Celtics and .576 vs. the rest of the league). Bird did guard both SFs and PFs based on matchups, but either way he would have to guard Dr. J or Barkley in games from 84 until Dr. J's retirement in 87, and, on average, Doc and Barkley both under-performed offensively in those games. And, just to be thorough, let's also look at Bobby Jones in games against Bird (since this was also a match-up at times in the early-mid 80s). Jones shot .475 against the Celtics in games in which Bird played, and .546 overall during the time from 81 (when the bbref full game stats begin) until his retirement in 1986. So, it seems that if any Philly forward during Bird's defensive prime was actually insulted to be guarded by Bird, that guy was oddly misinterpreting the situation.
That's the thing about Bird's defense -- there's a common narrative about it that's pretty negative, but that narrative just doesn't fit with any facts we have (nor IMO does it fit even remotely with widely available footage of, for example, the 81 PS, although I know that's much more subjective). And it's not surprising to me if this sort of false narrative extends to some NBA players, as they're not magically above such things. However, I've
never seen any statistical evidence to back up this narrative... in fact, all of the stats point completely in the other direction.
Sure, stats like Drtg and DWS are flawed/imperfect, but why would their flaws somehow randomly end up benefiting Larry Bird vastly more than anyone else who ever played? Surely, that's not the most likely answer as to why Bird's defensive metrics are so outstanding. And the explanation that he benefited from his team's strong defense doesn't work either, because Bird has better defensive metrics than any of his teammates. And, if you look in the H2H finder and match him up with top players he guarded throughout his career, you just don't find anybody who regularly exploited him (or at least I haven't... not saying I couldn't have missed a player, but I checked lots of guys). Bird comes across very well defensively looking at defensive metrics and H2H match-ups. To me, that's much more convincing than an off-the-cuff comment made by another player, but...
Even if we both take Barkley's comment completely literally, and we also follow the "logic" that Barkley's opinion is important since he was a great player himself, here are some other things great players, most of whom are considered to rank well above Barkley on the all-time list, have said about Bird:
Magic Johnson called Larry Bird "the greatest basketball player ever" at Bird's retirement ceremony.
Just a couple of days ago, LeBron said that he ranks Bird as one of the top 3 players ever:
http://nba.si.com/2014/02/11/lebron-jam ... ba-greats/Bird is also in Kobe's all-time top 5:
http://www.examiner.com/article/kobe-na ... ba-playersAnd, if you watch the 1987 ECF, Tommy Heinsohn (announcing the game) raves about how great Bird's defense is and how it's really the biggest way Bird is making a difference in the series. That statement is especially intersting because the series just so happens to include 3 of the greatest consecutive offensive close-out games in PS history (35.3 ppg, 10 rpg, 7 apg on .648 TS% against one of the best defensive teams in NBA history.) Sure, Heinsohn wasn't a player on Barkley's level, but he was an all-star PF in his day... and he was also a two-time title-winning coach, which is directly related to player analysis, and a qualification one could hardly imagine ever seeing on Barkley's resume.
On a final note, I was lucky enough over a decade ago to have the opportunity to spend time around some of the world's top athletes in another sport for a couple of years. While a few were very interested in the sport itself, including thoughtful analysis and evaluation, others voiced opinions about their peers (and about overall strategy) that were quite odd and/or even seemingly illogical a surprising percentage of the time. If a stranger had repeated many of those opinions on a board like this, posters would have thought it was a trolljob. These guys were excellent athletes, and some of their comments about the sport were, of course, the sort of perceptive stuff that only really top guys would notice... but other comments were just bizarre (and sometimes even factually wrong). A guy who many people literally considered #1 in the world in this sport at the time actually clearly stated more than once that he ranked a specific guy with a below-average rep and resume over another specific guy (who was near the top of the sport) and didn't even seem to realize this was a particularly odd opinion. His logic was that the below-average guy was "well-rounded" while the top guy had a less complete skillset (despite being indisputably
excellent in certain important aspects of the sport). I think it's quite interesting and often valuable to hear what top players think about their fellow athletes, but I also think it's a big mistake to just take it as gospel. And, if none of that was convincing, just check out the 1969 MVP vote
. (The award was voted on by the players at that time.)
And he, 
)It would forestall the now-obviously-premature coronation of LeBron as the GOAT forward, as it should. I mean, look, neophiles (who are well-represented here), n00bs (not too many here), LeBron fanboys (a handful), and hopelessly-subjective homers (a smattering) are gonna think what they're gonna think, regardless. They don't actually matter, lol. (Unless they're right, which they occasionally happen to be.) I want the 80th to the 99th percentiles of basketball obsessives to realize the truth about Bird, because it's that 20% who really comprise a legitimate, educated consensus.
