Charles Barkley may be a legend for the Philadelphia 76ers franchise, but he was a handful to deal with back in the day. Former Sixers head coach Jim Lynam talked about his frustrations dealing with a young Barkley on the Poz 5 Podcast.
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Lynam joined the Sixers organization a year after Barkley was drafted. Jim was on board as an assistant coach and had smooth sailings with the entire team except for Sir Charles. Coaching the 76ers’ first overall pick entailed a lot of drama.
“I used to look forward to going in and tussling with Charles Barkley. You had no idea what today was going to bring. And I used to tell him, I told him a lot of stuff…right in front of the team,” Lynam said.
Coach Lynam was not one to mince his words and preferred calling out his players in front of the whole team. And despite having immense respect for Barkley as a human, he did not hold back on detailing the flaws of the Chuckster when he was young.
The veteran coach even joked that the Philly side’s management paid him to just coach Barkley. It was a job too difficult for many head coaches at the time.
“One day I said, ‘Charles let me tell you something….To coach you, it takes a village. You got it?’ And I meant that…In the truest sense, I had a lot of people who were involved in helping coach Charles.”
Lynam would require help in taming Barkley from time to time. And since Barkley valued and respected his teammates, the then 76ers HC would ask Mike Gminski or Rick Mahorn to get Barkley to comply.
Coach Lynam also mentioned facing heat for his back and forth with Sir Charles. But later on, it became somewhat of a necessity whenever the young forward would act out or simply not comply.
Why Barkley did not want to be drafted by the 76ers
Charles Barkley had no intentions of going to Philadelphia and playing for the 76ers. The reason was the 76ers being over the salary cap.
Since the Sixers were over the limit, the team could only offer him $75,000 for one year. The Chuckster told his agent, “I didn’t leave college for $75,000. That’s crazy.”
The Round Mound of Rebound went on an eating spree before draft night in the hopes of Philly passing up on him. But he was still drafted by the Sixers. However, things eventually worked out for Barkley after his performance at the Summer League.
Seeing Barkley outperform noted players in the league, the owner ended up making a few trades. Now with some breathing room, Barkley got four-years/$2 million as his first NBA contract and the rest is history.
