Recently, during the 3 Point Shoot-Out won by the Celtics’ Paul Pierce at All Star Weekend, TNT announcers Charles Barkley and Kenny Smith argued over whether Pierce has done enough in his career to be mentioned as one of the Top 10 All Time Celtics players. While Charles disagreed with Smith’s putting Pierce on the list, the debate sparked a pretty interesting debate which spilled over onto the Barkley Zone segment of Inside the NBA on the TNT network last Friday night.
As the segment began, the crew consisting of Barkley, Ernie Johnson, Kenny Smith, and Celtics legend Kevin McHale somehow goated Barkley into doing an impression of what a zebra sounds like. As a side note, isn’t TNT’s coverage any more based entirely on poking fun at the Hall of Famer’s(Barkley) expense?
While everyone chose Bill Russell, Dave Cowens, Larry Bird, and McHale, the list after those players who have all won multiple NBA Championships varied with Barkley being the only one not to include Pierce. The meat of the discussion came as to who you would take off of the tail end of the list like Dennis Johnson, Sam Jones, and Robert Parish, all of which are in the Hall of Fame. Charles wouldn’t budge on his stance that although Pierce is a great player, he will probably not become a member of the Hall. McHale made an interesting point that Reggie Lewis, who passed away prematurely, would have probably made the list if he had continued to play for his entire career.
Upon Charles’ unwillingness to budge on altering his selections on the list, the crew finally asked Charles if he had played on the Celtics during his career, if he would be placed on the list of Top 10 Celtics. Typically, Charles responded that he would be “Way up there.”
Who would make it onto your Top 10 Celtics?
Check out the video:
Allen Moll is an avid NBA and College Basketball fan who watches and studies games religiously and coaches youth basketball in his native Lehigh Valley region of Pennsylvania. Allen is a regular columnist for thehoopdoctors.com, Bleacherreport.com, UpperDeckblog.com, and his own site, Hoops Haven.
