Charles Barkley Compares the New York Knicks to Playboy Bunnies

TNT’s Charles Barkley will be on hand for the Lakers/Knicks game at MSG tonight, helping Marv Albert and Steve Kerr call the action. Almost grudgingly, Sir Charles pays respect to New York’s rising hoops team, in his own special way. Per Newsday: “I think they’re a good team, and I think Jason Kidd has had a huge effect on Raymond Felton and J.R. Smith,’ Barkley said. ‘But when I look at their stats, they only outrebounded the teams they’ve played like twice. That concerns me. And I don’t know if they can keep shooting threes like that. That’s my only critique. It’s not a criticism, it’s a critique.’ Entering Wednesday night, the Knicks ranked third in the NBA in three-point field-goal percentage at .409 and 27th in rebounding differential at minus-3.8. Hence Barkley’s stance on the looming question for the Knicks: What to do with Amar’e Stoudemire? ‘Even though they’re winning, they are getting killed on the boards,’ he said. ‘So is he going to help them with the defense and rebounding or not? That’s a very simple question for me.’ […] Barkley conceded the Knicks’ revival is good for the NBA, and will be even more so ‘if Brooklyn can ever keep that [Brook] Lopez kid healthy,’ for the sake of the teams’ budding rivalry. Un the meantime, it’s enough that the Knicks are better. Even Charles thinks so! Mostly. ‘Everybody in New York thinks the Knicks are Playboy bunnies, and I have been telling them for years the Knicks are a rabbit,’ he said. ‘They’re closer to a Playboy bunny this year but for the last few years these guys are like, ‘We have a really good team!’ And I say, ‘You really think that?’ And I say, ‘No, they don’t.’ But this is the best team they’ve had in a while.'”