There are many things Charles Barkley doesn’t understand, but his understanding of analytics is one of them. It’s unclear if he has ever played a game in his life.
In a recent interview, Charles Barkley criticized analytics for making basketball too robotic and “predictable.” He also said that yoga was supposed to make you flexible but it made him feel stiff.
Charles Barkley, a former NBA player and current analyst for TNT, has been known to share his thoughts on a variety of sports topics. This time around, he is firm in his stance against the practice of yoga and basketball analytics.
Charles Barkley is a guy with a lot of complexity. If that’s the case, he’s a master at concealing it. Barkley is blunt to a fault, and he isn’t hesitant to delve into the most dangerous of subjects. Ben Simmons, Zion Williamson’s weight, Kyrie Irving, and COVID-19 immunizations are all on his mind. All of this happened in the previous few months.
Barkley, on the other hand, may have excelled himself with his newest word gymnastics. He managed to combine two completely unconnected notions in one statement while also mutilating their meanings. The onlooker must judge whether Barkley is thinking at a hitherto unheard-of level or is just not thinking at all.
Charles Barkley speaks with Kevin Durant in an unexpected storyline twist.
Charles Barkley and Kevin Durant developed a feud over Durant’s choice to join with the Brooklyn Nets in 2019. Barkley didn’t believe Durant had the appropriate mentality to play in New York, according to reports.
According to Michael Blinn of the New York Post, Barkley cited Durant’s well-known penchant to engage social media users on numerous issues, notably criticism of his game, at the time of the deal.
In 2019, Barkley remarked, “If he’s battling with these youngsters online, he’s not going to be able to deal with that New York media.” “He’s a fantastic guy and a fantastic footballer.” I don’t believe he’s mentally prepared to play in New York. That is only my own viewpoint.”
That, one assumes, differs from his impersonal judgment.
On Nov. 9, Durant and Barkley sat down for an interview on TNT’s Inside the NBA, and the two also recorded an edition of Durant and Eddie Gonzalez’s podcast The ETCs.
Barkley said during his TNT interview that he had never utilized Twitter. Durant is well-known for his usage of burner accounts while on the site.
Durant, on the other hand, enjoys interacting with fans and others on social media.
The two, who were both nominated to the NBA’s 75th anniversary team in October, seem to have patched things up and gone on.
Charles Barkley combines basketball statistics with yoga to create…
Charles Barkley never stretched as a player the way he did in a recent interview with Kevin Durant, equating basketball statistics to yoga. | Bruce Bennett Studios via Getty Images Studios/Getty Images
Charles Barkley discussed his contempt for the statistics revolution in basketball on The ETC podcast. Analytics is a terrible word for the Hall of Famer. He equated its popularity to that of yoga. It was an extraordinary stretch of the imagination:
“First and foremost, [analytics] are simply statistics. It was just given a name. It’s similar to yoga. Stretching is the only purpose of yoga. So they can charge more, they simply call it yoga. ‘Yoga is merely stretching,’ I tell them. To charge you for it, they give it a new name. They changed the term — ‘We’re going to charge you for analytics now’ — and upped the price, but it’s still simply statistics.”
OK, then.
Fundamentally, Barkley is correct, at least when it comes to the stats. Statistics are what analytics is all about. These aren’t your typical basketball stats, which are based on counting numbers (points, rebounds, assists per game, shooting percentages, and such). Rather, they consider what those counting figures imply in terms of output.
That’s how ideas like 3-pointers being more efficient than lengthy 2-point attempts began to take shape. Why not step back 12 inches and have it count for three points if you’re going to fire a 24-foot jumper for two points?
The irony is that individuals who study statistics adore them. Barkley
Before analytics became an important element of NBA front offices, Charles Barkley had a successful career. He was already a superstar, a 6-foot-4-ish power forward who could rebound, pass, and score with the best of them.
When analytics are applied to yesterday’s data, though, an interesting thing occurs. Barkley exceeded our expectations.
With 123.3 offensive victory shares, he ranks 12th all-time. He ranks 13th in win shares per 48 minutes (.216) and 11th in VOR. Barkley topped the NBA in true shooting % for four consecutive seasons (1986–87 through 1989–90). Barkley’s 24.6 ranks 12th in quantifiable NBA history, regardless of whether you believe in the Player Efficiency Rating. The average player has a score of 15.0.
Despite his stature, he’s a top-20 offensive rebounder according to stats, collecting 12.5 percent of all offensive misses. However, Barkley believes that analytics are little more than statistics, and that most men in their late 50s find it difficult to leave a job after they’ve accepted it.
What about the yoga analogy?
It’s similar to the thought-to-speech filter used by Charles Barkley. We don’t have anything.
Basketball Reference provided the statistics.
Scottie Pippen takes a break from criticizing Michael Jordan to blame Charles Barkley and Hakeem Olajuwon for the ‘Superteam’ Rockets’ failure.
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