There’s definitely been some tension on social media and in the NBA player community between the younger generation who worship LeBron James as the GOAT of GOATS and the fans who remember the ’80s and ’90s era of NBA hoops as a better brand of basketball, with tougher stars.
Charles Barkley has been critical of today’s NBA players, the way they approach the game and what he perceives as a lack of effort and respect for the founding fathers of the game.
Charles Barkley Says LeBron James Can’t Be His GOAT Over MJ and Kobe: He’s Too Nice
Recently Barkley said that LeBron James could never be his GOAT because he isn’t mean enough.
“I don’t even put LeBron above Kobe,” Barkley said.
“The difference is LeBron is a nice guy. Nobody ever said that about Michael and Kobe. Michael and Kobe are mean guys, they’re going kick your ass and tell you about it the whole time. LeBron ain’t like that,” Barkley added.
Like most athletes, former NFL linebacker Jonathan Casillas is also a hoops fan. Casillas, 37, says he understands where Barkley is coming from, even if he doesn’t agree with his GOAT choice.
“It’s fair and it’s an old school bias though,” Casillas said. “You have to understand who’s saying it. LeBron is two or three years older than me. When I grew up playing basketball, LeBron was the best basketball player in the world when I was 17, so I have a different view of LeBron than Charles Barkley does.”
Jonathan Casillas Tells “The Locker Room” That He Understands What Charles Barkley Is Saying
Casillas, who won Super Bowl rings with the New Orleans Saints and New England Patriots, totally understands that Barkley’s era was a different animal as far as physicality goes.
“Barkley grew up in the day and age of The Bad Boys, Detroit, Jordan, the fights … Alonzo Mourning,” Casillas said, referencing the great Charlotte Hornets and Miami Heat enforcer. “He grew up in that era where you had to be mean, almost like a gangster, because there’s gangsters out there you have to play in the playoffs.”
“But it ain’t like that no more,” Casillas said to The Shadow League “Locker Room” podcast host Osei The Dark Secret. “So for me Charles Barkley, Shaq, all of those guys are validated in every point they say because they played the game and now they’ve been on this side of it for 20 years, but they are still fans of the game. So you have to respect what they say.”
In addition to his 4-6 career Finals record, one of the knocks on LeBron James when it comes to the GOAT argument is that he is not a closer in the sense that MJ and Kobe were. He didn’t have to have the last shot. Bron would be just as happy passing it off to someone who could hit the game-winner. In that regard, he never moved the needle with fans of a certain age, who expected a certain demeanor from their GOATs.
LeBron’s Lack Of Killer Instinct Or Mean Streak Didn’t Stop Him From Dominating His Era
LeBron’s failure to get in fights and trash talk you from end-to-end doesn’t change Casillas’ high opinion of the Akron kid.
“I don’t agree with (Barkley), but I do think it’s a fair criticism,” Casillas said. “It’s just a little biased because he was in the trenches. He was there 30 years ago bangin’ with the big guys, literally fighting on the basketball court.”
“Nowadays you have one scuffle you’re out for 20 games. It’s so different now, and he has that background for tough, physical basketball for the ’80s and ’90s,” Casillas added.
Yes, the NBA has changed significantly from the days of the Bill Laimbeer clotheslines, Karl Malone elbows to the head requiring stitches for the victim and Kermit Washington permanently rearranging Rudy Tomjanovich‘s face.
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The NBA has changed, but all eras can be respected. LeBron has dominated his era with four rings, three MVPs and constant trips to the NBA Finals, holding the flag as the face of the league for almost two decades.
Casillas explains Barkley’s criticism of LeBron’s on-court demeanor as people feeling “some type of way when they see other athletes have success and they are the opposite of what they are.”
But “that’s where you have to respect LeBron,” Casillas noted. “He’s not a cold-blooded ice in the vein Black Mamba. He ain’t like that. But he’s had 20 years of NBA success, and no one has had that. Vince Carter played 20 years; Tracy McGray played 20 years, but you don’t even realize they are there.”
“LeBron has been at an All-Star level for 20 years. You might not like it, but he’s doing something right.”
