Charles Barkley could also be a legend for the Philadelphia 76ers franchise, however he was a handful to cope with again within the day. Former Sixers head coach Jim Lynam talked about his frustrations coping with a younger Barkley on the Poz 5 Podcast.
Lynam joined the Sixers group a 12 months after Barkley was drafted. Jim was on board as an assistant coach and had easy sailings with your complete staff aside from Sir Charles. Teaching the 76ers’ first total decide entailed lots of drama.
“I used to stay up for getting in and tussling with Charles Barkley. You had no thought what as we speak was going to carry. And I used to inform him, I advised him lots of stuff…proper in entrance of the staff,” Lynam said.
Coach Lynam was not one to mince his phrases and most well-liked calling out his gamers in entrance of the entire staff. And regardless of having immense respect for Barkley as a human, he didn’t maintain again on detailing the failings of the Chuckster when he was younger.
The veteran coach even joked that the Philly aspect’s administration paid him to simply coach Barkley. It was a job too tough for a lot of head coaches on the time.
“In the future I mentioned, ‘Charles let me inform you one thing….To educate you, it takes a village. You bought it?’ And I meant that…Within the truest sense, I had lots of people who had been concerned in serving to coach Charles.”
Lynam would require assist in taming Barkley infrequently. And since Barkley valued and revered his teammates, the then 76ers HC would ask Mike Gminski or Rick Mahorn to get Barkley to conform.
Coach Lynam additionally talked about going through warmth for his forwards and backwards with Sir Charles. However in a while, it turned considerably of a necessity each time the younger ahead would act out or just not comply.
Why Barkley didn’t need to be drafted by the 76ers
Charles Barkley had no intentions of going to Philadelphia and enjoying for the 76ers. The rationale was the 76ers being over the wage cap.
For the reason that Sixers had been over the restrict, the staff may solely supply him $75,000 for one 12 months. The Chuckster advised his agent, “I didn’t go away school for $75,000. That’s loopy.”
The Spherical Mound of Rebound went on an consuming spree earlier than draft night time within the hopes of Philly passing up on him. However he was nonetheless drafted by the Sixers. Nonetheless, issues ultimately labored out for Barkley after his efficiency on the Summer season League.
Seeing Barkley outperform famous gamers within the league, the proprietor ended up making a number of trades. Now with some respiration room, Barkley received four-years/$2 million as his first NBA contract and the remaining is historical past.
