I just found this at the "Inside Corner" section of the "D-Magazine" website. Apparently one of their reporters had a phone interview
with Charles, and this is what he said...
Charles Barkley on the 2009-10 Dallas Mavericks
Last week, I found myself on the phone with Charles Barkley, talking about the 2010 NBA All-Star Game at Cowboys Stadium, among other things - one of which I was asked to strike from the permanent record about five minutes after we talked about it. (Not by Barkley, of course.) Here is what he had to say, when asked if he thought the Dallas Mavericks' off-season moves made them a contender for the Western Conference crown.
I don't think they're one of the best teams in the West. It's a two-team race: the Lakers and the Spurs. I mean, I'm not sure they're better than Utah or Denver, to be honest with you. Let me rephrase that. They're not better than Utah or Denver.
I took that as a "no."
After the jump, another brief excerpt, wherein Chuck talks about Dallas and Mavericks fans.
He enjoys Dallas.
Uh, you know, I've really gotten to really like Dallas in the last year. You know, 'cause when I did my golf show we did most of the shows in Dallas. So, I really didn't realize what a nice city Dallas was, how nice the people were; it's just a really, really cool, cool city. Like I said, I never really spent any quality time there. But when I was shooting the show, I came down like five or six times, and spent like two or three days with Hank [Haney], and got to know that it's a really nice city.
But homer Mavs fans? Not as much.
Well, I think that people hear what they want to hear, you know? I always try to be honest, and the one year I picked the Mavericks to win the championship when they were in the Finals - they lost. The rest of the time I thought they had no chance, but the one year I thought they had everything together, [and] they should've beaten Miami - people didn't hear that part. It was funny to me .I was like, "Why didn't y'all hear when I picked the Mavs to win the championship?" And that's honestly the only year they had a chance; the rest of the years they didn't have a chance. But people just hear what they want to hear. They're like, "You're a Mav hater"; I'm like, the one year y'all had a chance, I picked y'all, idiots. And the rest of the time I've been right. And the one time I picked y'all to win, y'all get to the Finals, and y'all let me down.
