Charles Barkley loves to speak his mind. The NBA star turned analyst now has a platform to let his opinions be heard by the masses and he intends on using it. Barkley has spoken out about everyone from Dwight Howard to Johnny Manziel this year. Now he is speaking up about Amar'e Stoudemire and the Knicks chances to win with him.
While speaking with ESPN New York 98.7, Barkley expressed his concerns over the Knicks with Stoudemire. The forward has been out or limited with ailing knee and back issues and Barkley fully believes his talent is fading away.
"You all in trouble with Amar'e," Barkley said. "I like Amar'e as a person, but I don't see him doing anything in the NBA, to be honest with you. I think he has lost his skill. He lost his talent. He played the game on talent when he was younger. He played the game 100 percent on talent. And now he has lost his talent and he is in serious trouble."
In the first four games, Stoudemire has averaged 3.5 points and four turnovers per game as the Knicks keep him on a strict minute limitation. He has yet to look like the 2010 Stoudemire that was signed to a $99.7 million contract. Now with Tyson Chandler out of the lineup for what could be six weeks with a fracture in his leg, Stoudemire's size will be relied on heavily. Barkley believes there is no real way the Knicks can replace Chandler with Stoudemire and get the same amount of production in return.
"He is a 7-foot jump shooter who is not a good rebounder, not a good defender," Barkley said. "He can make some shots periodically, but the problem with the Knicks has always been on the other end of the court on defensive rebounding. That is why they are going to miss Tyson so much. He had to play defense for everybody; he had to get every rebound. Without him, they can't replace that."
Barkley believes that outside of Carmelo Anthony, Chandler is the most important member of the New York Knicks. Now, the team will rely on players like Andrea Bargnani to pick up the slack and try and make an impact on defensive and rebounding. He believes that the team will simply have to rely on an up-tempo offense and scoring to get by.
"You're not going to be that good defensively. You are not going to be able to rebound the ball," Barkley said. "I think you just got to run and gun, to be honest with you. They just got to run and gun now."
