Charles Barkley isn’t buying the Nets’ 2014 resurgence.
The Hall of Famer and colorful TNT analyst scoffed at the notion Brooklyn’s improved play since the start of the new year — the Nets were 11-4 heading into Thursday night’s game against the Spurs — meant the team had become a factor in the Eastern Conference.
“The Nets stink, man,” Barkley said on a conference call promoting TNT’s coverage of next weekend’s All-Star festivities. “They lost their best player in Brook Lopez, Deron Williams has been inconsistent, they’re beating up on a bunch of ugly chicks in the Eastern Conference.
“Don’t act like they’ve got a good team. Stop it.”
Barkley went on to say he didn’t think the Nets could make it out of the first round of the playoffs.
“I don’t see Brooklyn beating Washington,” he said. “I don’t see them beating Toronto, to be honest with you.”
While his fellow analysts on “Inside the NBA,” Kenny Smith and Shaquille O’Neal, were more optimistic about the Nets, neither thought Brooklyn could give much trouble to Miami and Indiana, the two runaway favorites in the East.
“[The Nets are] not a contender,” Smith said. “They’re a playoff team now. But without Lopez, they’re not a contender. He made them a contender. They can win a series, but that’s not a contender.”
“Congratulations to Jason Kidd getting Coach of the Month,” O’Neal said. “They’re playing great since the first of the year. They’re starting to get on the same page, but we all question the age and if they can continue it.”
Barkley’s stinging critique of the Nets didn’t stop there. When asked about Deron Williams’ injury-plagued season and recent admission that his confidence was sagging, Barkley said the franchise point guard will never again be the same player he was in Utah because of the repeated ankle injuries he has suffered.
“The first sign of Father Time is injuries,” Barkley said. “You ask Kenny, you ask Shaq, you ask myself, your first 10 years in the league, you never get hurt. You’re Superman. When guys start getting hurt, once you hit a certain age you’re nicked all the time. They call them nicks.
“Deron Williams has been hurt a lot the last couple years. He’s never going to get back to where he was in Utah. His best days are behind him. Kenny always has a great quote. ‘There’s only so many jumps in these knees,’ or [in this case] these ankles. And once your tires on your car start getting hurt, you’re never going to be the same, and that’s just how it is.”
While Smith agreed, his rationale was slightly different, saying Williams never appreciated what he had in Utah, when he was coached by Hall of Famer Jerry Sloan.
“Gary Payton had a unique quote at his Hall of Fame speech,” Smith said. “He said if it wasn’t for his coaches, he wouldn’t have been a Hall of Famer. I just think Deron Williams took for granted how great of a coach Jerry Sloan was.
“He’s a Hall of Fame coach who has the ability to get the best out of his players. John Stockton, Karl Malone, the list goes on. … A lot of times not knowing who is going to coach and getting new coaches, I think he took that for granted, and I don’t think he would take it for granted now if Jerry Sloan was coaching him.”
The other Nets topic that emerged during the call was Kevin Garnett, who has begun to play better in recent weeks after switching to center following Lopez’s season-ending right foot injury, and after struggling mightily through the first two months of the year.
But, like the rest of the discusson about the Nets, the panel was far from enthusiastic.
“He’s doing OK,” O’Neal said. “But OK’s not enough to beat Indiana or Miami.”
“Father Time, bro,” Barkley said. “Father Time. It gets us all.
“I’m never going to say anything bad about Kevin Garnett. But Father Time, bro.”
In the end, though, Barkley summed up the feelings for everyone involved about the state of the Eastern Conference in general.
“Can we just get to the Eastern Conference Finals, bro?” he asked at one point. “Put Indiana and Miami there and get everything else over with.”