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Charles Barkley: 'Ben Simmons Should Have Played In Olympics'

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- It's not often when Howard Eskin hosts the 94WIP Morning Show, but when does, Charles Barkley typically makes a guest appearance.

And that's always fun.

On Friday, Eskin filled in for Angelo Cataldi and Barkley joined him to talk about a variety of topics like USA Basketball, Ezekiel Elliott, his new show, and more.

On USA Basketball:

"You need role players for that team to flow freely," Barkley said of team USA. "With the exception of DeAndre Jordan, every guy on the team need the ball to make a difference on the team. You've got too many offensive players. You need some role players to be out there."

Barkley said he would have liked to see Philadelphia 76ers' young players Ben Simmons and Nerlens Noel in the Olympics this year.

"I would like to see some young guys," Barkley said. "If we don't win the gold medal, I don't think it's the end of the world. If you go back and look at the last three drafts of the NBA, I would love to see some of those guys that are not ready for the NBA. Even a young guy like a Ben Simmons, I thought he should have played. Even though he would have played for Australia, I have no idea why he didn't play. I think he should have played for Australia. I think a young guy like a Nerlens Noel. He could've played in the Olympics. It would have been good for him because -- I'm not saying this is bad -- but instead of nothing all summer, what's better playing against NBA players for a couple months during practice?"

Listen: Charles Barkley on the 94WIP Morning Show

Part 1

Part 2

 

On LeBron James comparing himself to Michael Jordan:

"I don't know how he just passes Kobe Bryant and Tim Duncan. If he win a couple more championships, yeah he's in that conversation, but that's a long way to go."

On Cowboys RB Ezekiel Elliott visiting a legal recreational weed shop in Seattle, according to TMZ:

"That's just stupid man. He's got to be smarter than that. I mean, that's just stupid. That's like Ryan Lochte. That's just stupid. Just tell the truth and apologize and the thing goes away...You've gotta have some common sense. Dude, you can't go in a marijuana store. You're famous. That's just stupid."

On his new TNT show about race called 'The Race Card':

"I'm going to do a positive show, look at the pros and cons. And there's a lot of layers. I think the cops have made some mistakes, but we need the cops. We as black, we've got to do better. We've got to do a much better job of policing ourselves. It's not a right or wrong answer. It's a lot of layers.

"But we never sit down and talk about it. Because once something bad happens, everything is off the table. It's just gonna be a bunch of yelling and screaming."

"I will never, ever do any social media because I understand once you're famous you're kind of like the homecoming queen. All the other girls hate you, and there's nothing you can do about that. That's just the way it is. Anyone who is successful, especially when you're rich and famous, you're going to have enemies."

On the biggest problem in America:

"I think these presidential candidates for the last 30 years -- it's not just one thing Howard. I think they shift all of our jobs overseas, I think that's a huge problem and people don't really have economic opportunity."

 

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