The former Knicks big man speaks on the NBA, MJ, Knicks, LBJ, Amar’e, Zeke and more.
by Franklyn Calle / @FrankieC7
Charles Oakley has always been known as one to speak his mind and never hold his tongue. A hardworking player who garnered the respect and admiration of New York Knicks fans through his relentless effort and the high-intensity level to which he played with every single night. Last weekend, while at the official announcement of his new clothing line with K1X, the defensive and rebounding expert didn’t disappoint.
At the new K1X store in SoHo, Oakley, who joined the Charlotte Bobcats’ bench last season as an assistant coach, held an open media session with reporters and touched on a variety of subjects and players. Here are some of the highlights:
On whether Mike D’Antoni’s system can succeed in New York:
“I don’t think so, but that’s his coaching style. 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.”
On Amar’e Stoudemire:
“Amar’e is good, he’s good in his way. 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.”
On the Knicks organization and treatment of Patrick Ewing: “They don’t want nothing to do with me. 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.”
No resentment, nonetheless:
“My door is always open to the Knicks. 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 and some of these other guys that don’t know the guy.”
On Isiah Thomas:
“I don’t understand how he even got a job with management. 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.”
On LeBron James-Michael Jordan comparison:
“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.”
On his relationship with Bobcats owner Michael Jordan:
“We have a lot of heated conversations about the league, about he the only guy that traveled 97 times and got seven fouls every game.”
His thoughts on today’s players in comparison to those of his time:
“I don’t know. They respect me. I don’t have a problem with young guys. I see something wrong, I tell them. I don’t like a lot of things they do, but at the end of the day, if they like it, it’s up to them. A lot of people say that they don’t respect the older guys, but I don’t have a problem with it. They don’t have to speak to me. They don’t owe me nothing. Most of them, when they see me, they honor me. So it’s no big deal. A lot of people feel like they disrespect the game. I don’t think they disrespect the game, I think management lets them disrespect the game.”
On whether guys in the League are too friendly or soft nowadays:
“You can’t separate yourself from hugging and shaking everybody’s hands after the game or something. But if that’s what they want to do, then more power to them. On every game, I’m trying to get an edge… I don’t know. It’s just what they want to do. If I played, I’d play the same way.”
On any player that reminds him of himself:
“I don’t think anybody remind me of myself when I played. You can say Dennis Rodman but we’re different. I mean, he’s one of the best rebounding power forwards, but he couldn’t shoot and I could. He did dumb stuff, I didn’t.”
Favorite player to watch:
“I think Kobe [Bryant] probably still the favorite player. I mean, you have some guys that can dunk but, like when we were playing, dunks didn’t really count. You got a dunk like in half-court but not like a wide-open dunk. It was more like if you got a dunk in half-court then that was special. I mean, you got [Derrick] Rose, I like. Player his size, and what he can do. I like [Russell] Westbrook. I like Deron Williams but this year, I don’t know what happened to his game. Seems like he just left Utah and I don’t know what happened. He had a great coach and he got fired. I mean, they let players dictate too much. I like Chris Paul, you know, a small guy do what he do.”
On Dirk Nowitzki:
“Dirk is good. Dirk has proven himself this year. I think he changed his game, not just a 3-point shooter, but mid-range and post. … He can stretch the defense. I mean, he’s a tough guy to guard now. For the League, the way the guys play, you know, it happened for him after his 13th year in the League for him to win a championship. Six year ago, he was the same Dirk, but the League was tougher back then. Now the League got a little softer so his game is overshadowing the players he played against.”
“He took less three-pointers. He got one of the best mid-rangers in the game. He just got stronger… They said him and Bird but I give Bird the edge because he got more rings. But Dirk can play. They say he soft but he can play. A lot of soft guys have won championships.”
On mid-range shooting percentages in the League:
“Yeah, definitely lost. There ain’t no shooters no more. I mean a few guys can shoot. I mean, teams shooting 40, 30 percent. I think back in the day, if you didn’t shoot 40-50 percent, you wasn’t gonna be on the floor.”
On following NBA games:
“I don’t really watch a lot. Well, since I started coaching I watch a lot. But I go to the playoff games. It’s hard just watching the regular season. They don’t run plays, it’s just dribble the ball, dribble the ball. You’re watching playground.”
Message to the current Knicks players:
“I would tell them they got to get on it. I see a lot of guys going on talk shows, TVs. In New York, you gotta get your job done to get another job. And when fans see that you’re taking relaxing days, like you already accomplished something just coming here, that’s not gonna get it. You gotta be grinding. You got to show the fans that I’m here about work and what comes with work I accept it, once I did my work.”
On the love New York fans have showed him throughout the years:
“Well, I feel like in New York I gave them all I could, all I had at all times. Don’t hate me cause I didn’t do nothing for you to hate me. I didn’t win but I gave effort. It is what it is, but I just tried to play with a lot of heart.”
On if, outside of the Bobcats, does he still root for the Knicks:
“I like the Knicks. I came to a playoff game last year. If I wasn’t there to root for them than I wouldn’t have been there.”
On joining K1X:
“I talked with guys at K1x. They were telling me about the guys they had that play in the league; what they felt about me in New York; that they were gonna really push the line and they thought it was gonna be something special. And I was like, ‘Wow, I didn’t know I had that many people behind me to feel that I was going to be something special. I can be a brand.’ And more and more – Twitter, Facebook -people were giving feedback, and I said, ‘Maybe so. Maybe there is a career for me after basketball.’ So we got together and we come up with this.”
(Photos Credit: Kevin Couliau)
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