Oakley says LeBron can do more than Jordan

Former NBA enforcer, Charles Oakley, hasn't been the biggest fan of today's NBA. He'll blast it any chance he gets. Oakley isn't afraid to speak his mind on anything regarding the NBA. But there's one thing he has done. He's changed his tune on how he views LeBron James. This comes on the heels of the Michael Jordan/James debate where Jordan questioned whether James would be successful in the era that he played in.

Back in 2011, Oakley was critical of James. Not as a player, but his a few aspects of his game.


"I wouldn't put [James and Jordan] in the same conversation."

"It took a while for Michael to win championships too, but they have a different swagger, a different demeanor. If I would compare anybody to Michael Jordan, it would be Kobe Bryant. Point blank. I know LeBron well; he don't have what Michael have so I'm not even gonna discuss that one." 

"To be a superstar [LeBron] has to go back to his fundamentals… work on his post game, work off the ball."


Oakley never said he didn't like the guy, he just said he needed to work on a few things to reach a higher level, if that's possible. If you look at James' game now, you see that he worked on a few things and it resulted in a championship. Oakley has taken notice of the changes in King James' game and went on to say that James can do more on the court than the great Michael Jordan.

“I appreciate him as a person, a mindset out on the court to perfect the game,” Oakley said of James. “Everybody’s criticizing him about this, about that, and he lets his game get better every year, and he got smarter every year, no matter what no one said. He let his game grow with him. The man is the best player, ain’t never gonna be a player like that. He’s going to go down as a top three player in the history of basketball.”

“He might not have had a lot of big numbers, but he would have made it,” Oakley said. “If you can get 26 (points) instead of 27, it’s the same thing. But he’s a guy you want to play with, no matter level what he played. If he played 40 years ago, he understands basketball. He’s one of the smartest guys I’ve seen in this game, probably go down as one of the smartest guys. He dictates offense, defense, he can do it all.”


“It’s a different debate,” Oakley said. “I ask everybody, who’s the best between Magic and LeBron? Everyone says Michael’s greatest. But, OK, well, we’ll give him his props. But LeBron is a better athlete, and he can do more than Michael on the basketball court. Michael is finisher, a great shooter, and it is what it is.”

Say what you will, but it's difficult to argue Oakley's point. James is too multi skilled to not have been a successful player in yesteryear's game. He might not have dominated like he does now, but who in the league had James' skill set with his kind of size and strength. Not many that I can think of right off the top of my head.

I'm not going to get into the Jordan/LeBron debate. They're both great players that played in different eras. You can't really compare the two. But to most, in order to get into Jordan' stratosphere, James will need to win some more championships. Until then most will not put James in Jordan's class.  

Oakley Not Impressed With The Current Edition Of The Knicks

One of the tough guys from years past, Charles Oakley isn't afraid to let his opinion known about anything. That would include the current make up of the New York Knicks and how they treated him and Patrick Ewing, Isiah Thomas' role with the team, and whether Amar'e Stoudemire is the man to lead the Knicks back to the promised land.

While he was in New York to launch his clothing collection at the K1X store in SoHo, he didn't have too many kind words to say about the Knicks organization.

He doesn't think too highly of Stoudemire's game and thinks he's too West Coast to play in New York.

“Amar’e’s good, he’s good in his way,” Oakley said yesterday at the launch of his clothing collection at K1X’s store in SoHo. “He’s a West Coast player trying to translate to the East Coast. And the longer he plays in the East, the more his body’s gonna get damaged, because he’s got to take a beating now.”

Gotta disagree with Oak here. The East isn't the physical beast that it was when he played. Also the league is more athletic than it was back then which suits Stoudemire's game a whole lot better than it would've been back in the 80's and 90's. The players are more multiskilled than they were back then.It's an ongoing debate, but you must agree that the players of today are more athletic than years past.

Stoudemire might not be the player to get the Knicks to the promised land but stranger things have happened. I won't say he is and I won't say he won't lead them there, but he did seem to take more of a leadership role on the team when things started going south early in the season.

I do agree with what he said about head coach Mike D'Antoni. The Knicks will tease and excite you, but when it's time to play halfcourt ball and get grimy, the Knicks fall short. Don't believe me, watch the first two games of the series against the Boston Celtics and tell me why they lost. They can't play in the halfcourt.


“I don’t think [it can be successful], but that’s his coaching style,” Oakley said. “They knew when they signed him. ... When you go buy a Bentley, you know it’s not a Volkswagen. When they signed him, they knew what they were getting.



“That conversation should be dead, because it’s a West Coast offense playing in a hard-nosed city.


“You always give somebody a chance to prove themselves. I mean, this is his fourth year. He’s had a lot of time. ... I think it’s just more half-court offense, and they need the big, tough guy. He don’t want to play that way, but finesse, it’s not gonna work.”

“I mean, they’ve got hype,” he said. “But hype don’t win nothing.”

That should've been known when the Phoenix Suns couldn't get past the Spurs when D'Antoni coached them. Run and gun doesn't win in playoff time. Check and see how many titles Doug Moe won when he was coaching.

About the Knicks organization as a whole, he still has love for them but feels disrespected by them for not offering him a job in any capacity.

“[The Knicks] don’t want nothing to do with me,” said Oakley, who played for the Knicks from 1988-98. “I don’t know why. I tried to deal with them on several occasions. I’m not gonna keep trying.


“They don’t like Patrick, either. They won’t give Patrick a job, so I know they won’t give me a job. Patrick should have a job before anyone. He’s probably the best guy since [Walt] Frazier, [Earl] Monroe ... he’s the main guy on the list.”

“My door is always open to the Knicks,” he said. “I tell them all the time. They said something about I told LeBron to go to Miami. I was like, ‘You all have to be one of the craziest organizations in the world.’


“Y’all should have tried to call me and talk to me, and maybe we could have gotten LeBron to New York. You went to Isiah [Thomas], and some of these other guys that don’t know the guy.”

True indeed. Patrick Ewing shouldn't have to go anywhere else to be an assistant or have his name mentioned with other coaching jobs. As for Oakley, I don't think anyone would be asking you to court free agents for their team anytime soon, considering your disdain for today's players.

Last but not least was the aforementioned Isiah Thomas. He doesn't like him and I doubt he ever will. Oakley gave him a piece of his mind since he happened to bring him up.


“I don’t understand how he even got a job with management,” said Oakley, 47. “He had nothing to do with the Knicks, then he talked bad about the Knicks ... If I see him, he’d better turn around and go the other way.”

Well Charles, last time I checked Isiah Thomas never ran from anyone and never will. He was one of the toughest "little guys" to ever play the game, and considering his track record I don't think he'd be turning the othere way when he saw you. He still has that Chicago swagger in him and won't back down from anyone.

Charles Oakley Sues Vegas Resort

Ex NBA tough guy and current Charlotte Bobcats assistant Charles Oakley, is suing a Las Vegas resort after suffering a beat down back in May 2010. Oakley described it as a "gang style beatdown" by security at the Aria hotel-casino at MGM Resorts International's CityCenter complex.

Obviously this was far from the Tyrone Hill incident.

Oakley was an invited guest for a May 28 event in Aria's VIP pool area. When he left and attempted to come back security refused Oakley re-entry.

After a "verbal altercation" with officers, Oakley attempted to return to his room when he was "assaulted" by them in a secluded area of the resort, the lawsuit alleges. The complaint says that the officers wrestled him to the ground and punched and handcuffed him.

Message to the security department of said resort: It's not that serious.

Oakley was taken to the hospital with injuries to his neck, back, and wrist and says that the injuries "may be permanent and disabling."

I wasn't there and didn't know what words were exchanged, but this could've been handled a whole lot better than what is being alleged. If what Oakley says is true, the Oak Man stands to receive a nice check for the damages.

 


  

Jordan Tabs Oakley For Assistant Job

After Larry Brown "resigned" from the head coaching job with the Charlotte Bobcats, it seemed that it might take a while for someone to take over that shipwreck. When Brown resigned the rest of the staff took off with him. The only person that really wanted the job was Paul Silas, and he got it. He had to round out his coaching staff and owner Michael Jordan helped him out by giving Charles Oakley a job as an assistant coach.

You remember Oakley, Jordan's chief enforcer/protector when they were both in Chicago. He also was instrumental in bringing him to Washington in his final comeback. He became a partying buddy of his as well. Now he'll be keeping the players in line from the bench. First golfing buddy and former Bulls teammate Rod Higgins gets a GM job and now this. What's next Charlie Sheen as the team advisor? This hiring has a whiff of nepotism to it if I ever saw one. Now I would never tell Oak face to face that he doesn't have the credentials for an assistant coaching job. But when you think about it, does he? Hey who knows, he probably could still whip some of those young bucks. I'd still take Oakley over crazy Captain Jack. And he was a good rebounder and defender, so he might can teach the bigs a few things on positioning and rebounding.

It could work, but I think it might not. This is just based on Jordan's executive track record. Don't let Oakley interact with the media too much. He's tough and old school and brings something the Bobcats have lacked. Toughness.