Michael Jordan, Julius Erving and LeBron James. Photo Credit: The News Bite

NBA Hall of Famer Michael Jordan won six NBA championships as a member of the Chicago Bulls and will go down in history as one of the greatest.

Many hold similar expectations for Cleveland Cavaliers superstar LeBron James to be Michael Jordan’s heir apparent as the NBA’s ultimate alpha male.

Is it fair?

“I think it has always happened,” NBA Hall of Famer Dr. J Julius Erving told me on today’s episode of Scoop B Radio.

“I think people always make comparisons to people who are done. LeBron may play another six years, LeBron may play one year, we don’t really know. But I think it’s the fans argument, not the players argument. So I stay away from it. My all time greatest player is Kareem Abdul Jabbar. I think when you add up the numbers and add up the years, nobody has contributed more to the NBA history or pro basketball history. It’s very subjective for you to say Michael or LeBron who was better? Or who was the greatest, the GOAT that  is for the fans to argue about.”

NBA Hall of Famer Julius ‘Dr. J’ Erving & sports and entertainment journalist Brandon ‘Scoop B’ Robinson. Photo Credit: The Scoop B Brand

In barbershop conversation, the argument that the internet places added pressure on LeBron to live up to Jordan’s accomplishments is often discussed. Dr. J says he saw similarities in his era where he was compared to players like Connie Hawkins and Elgin Baylor. “Then there were other guys that were high jumpers and those were the three that came up the most often in terms of the comparisons,” he said.

“And I looked at how I played the game and what was going through my thought process during that time. It wasn’t the same as theirs, but you know, there were some definite real comparisons to made.”

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Charles Barkley discusses his relationship with Michael Jordan and Charles Oakley on Scoop B Radio Overtime.  Photo Credit: CBS Sports

As a person who grew up watching the NBA as a kid, covered it as a kid and still covers it as an adult, I have a bone to pick: I don’t like the fact that Michael Jordan and Charles Barkley are not friends anymore.

It’s just not right. Do you know what it feels like? Remember when you found out that your parents were really Santa Claus, The Tooth Fairy and The Easter Bunny?

How heart broken were you?

Charles Barkley and Michael Jordan were the 90s. Think NBA on NBC montages with Bob Costas voiceovers, think the original Dream Team when Charles Barkley wasn’t afraid of Angola. How bout the Phoenix Suns/Chicago Bulls NBA Finals?

Some things are stoic, sacred and shouldn’t be messed with! 

Apparently Barkley and Jordan’s feud began when Barkley was critical of Jordan on TNT’s Inside The NBA. Barkley criticized how Jordan was running the then-Charlotte Bobcats. The team is now the Charlotte Hornets.

Jordan didn’t like it and the two have gone radio silent.

Additionally, during Barkley’s playing days, he and New York Knicks legend and fellow power forward Charles Oakley weren’t the best of friends. “We got along, he just hates me and I don’t know why,” Barkley told me on Scoop B Radio Overtime.

“But it is what it is, no big deal we don’t live together but he was a good player, but he hates me and I think it was unfortunate what happened with him and the Knicks because it made the Knicks look bad, it made Charles Oakley look bad, but more importantly it made the NBA look bad.”

From all accounts, Barkley and Oakley’s feud began when the two threw punches at each other in a preseason NBA game in 1996. 

Is there a snowball’s chance in hell that we could get Barkley, Oakley and Michael Jordan in the same room? Sir Charles held court: “Aye listen, I love Michael Jordan like a brother,” said Barkley.

“I got nothing against Charles Oakley he hates me that’s on him.”

Old beefs die hard and something tells me that this won’t be the last we hear about these legends. It’s unfortunate that these gentlemen who had significant impacts in the lives of 90s kids are no longer friendly.

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The post Charles Barkley: “I love Michael Jordan like a brother, I got nothing against Charles Oakley he hates me, that’s on him” appeared first on RESPECT. | The Photo Journal of Hip-Hop Culture.