Monday, October 26th, 2009 at 9:00 am | 25 responses
Barkley Wants Shot at Being an Awful GM
Charles Barkley wants to be a GM, and is evidently not afraid of failing spectacularly in the role: “[Teams] are taking a chance on guys worse than me,’ said Barkley. ‘First of all, I think my résumé is better than some of the other guys who have gotten jobs running NBA teams. want my chance to fail, just like everybody else.’’’
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However, if Steve Kerr could randomnly go from being a broadcaster to being a GM, why can’t Charles?
I don’t know about the race thing directly. I think it’s more related to the general idea of which players are smart and hard workers. If you look at both of their careers, Ferry and Kerr both got tagged with the smart hard workers label. Also, you have to consider that maybe those two hung out more with front office types, while Barkely has spent most of his time with ex-players, particularly ex-star players.
I think Kerr’s situation is more comparable to Barkley’s than Ferry’s. If I’m not mistaken, Ferry spent some time behind the scenes in San Antonio kind of doing grunt work before he moved into the front office. However, Kerr transitioned directly from broadcasting to the front office.
I think that was highly unusual actually, and can’t think of too many cats who have done that. Honestly, if I was looking for a GM, I wouldn’t be paying too much attention to Barkely. He relies too much on “feel” seems to be unwilling to put in long hours even for broadcasting, and tends to say stupid stuff to the media. Those aren’t exactly the qualities you want in a GM.
I think there is a possibility race plays a factor in who gets GM jobs because of the way race affects people’s perceptions of players and job applicants, but I don’t think it’s a factor for Charles. His persona over the past few years probably hinders him more.
Your points are well taken. I certanily won’t dispute that Barkley doesn’t have the reputation and image of a typical GM. But that’s part of the problem. Historically certain players were considered to be ‘smart’ or have a ‘high basketball IQ’ like Ferry and Kerr. Other players are said to have such a ‘feel for the game.’ As you stated, race plays a role of how people are perceived, and Barkleys DUI is not a matter of perception but a matter of fact. If a owner said he didn’t want to hire Barkley for that reason, I’m o.k. with it, however the other ‘soft’ perception based factors are the ones that are most difficult to judge as being a race item or not. Many companies when they hire someone look for this thing called ‘fit’, it’s not on a resume so really hard to judge what it really entails. That’s why sometimes all we are left with is the data. If not race, I’m not sure how else to explain why so few AA GM’s in the L. Again, not calling anyone a racist (at least not by intent) and I have no problem with Barkley not being a GM based on who he is, it’s just seems that so many other opportunites/chances haven’t gone to AA’s in lieu of people like kerr and ferry.
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