Charles Oakley calls out Charles Barkley

Charles Oakley is not someone to mess with. If you owe him money, he'll hit you. If you ask him a question about Isiah Thomas, he'll call him a rude word and then offer a completely unsolicited take on Charles Barkley.

From WMAQ, via Sports Radio Interviews:

"I have nothing against Isiah but he made a lot of comments about the Knicks in the old days. He's a great player, just like (Charles) Barkley's a great player, but he's an [expletive]. My thing is, when Barkley played basketball, he didn't practice, he wasn't a leader, he wasn't this or that, he just had natural talent so he got chosen to the Dream Team, All Star team because he had the talent and he was the franchise player on the team. Him criticizing all those other guys, he did the same thing when he was young. As soon as they do something wrong, he criticizes them, that's wrong. He wasn't real to the game. Let the guys speak out who are real to the game. He talks like a player and I will give him that, but for him to comment about this and being a professional, he wasn't all that."

We should remind that Oakley's former frontcourt mate Scottie Pippen offered up words to the same effect 11 years ago (back when saying "he wasn't all that" was in vogue), quoting Michael Jordan along the way:

"I probably should've listened to Michael (Jordan) a year ago when he said that Charles will never win a championship because he doesn't show any dedication. I was very shocked to see what type of player he was by spending half a season with him. I'm a guy that's dedicated to winning, and I put out a lot of effort on the court. I expect that from my teammates, especially from a guy of his caliber. You know he's not willing to go the distance. There's no reason for me to put my last three or four years at risk of never winning.

"Charles is definitely one of the guys that needs to show more leadership for this ballclub to be successful, and he don't show that to me. ... He feels that if he gets 10 rebounds and double-figure points, he's done a good job. But that's not what the game's about. It's about defending, being professional and coming to work every day."

Barkley responded to both accusations earlier this afternoon by making a lot of money and making everyone around him laugh a great deal. He then bought everyone shots of Patron.

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