Barkley: D-Will won't be enough for Mavs

FRISCO, TEXAS — Sitting at an interview table beyond the right-field
wall at Dr. Pepper Ballpark on Saturday evening, Charles Barkley said he
receives a hundred requests a week to participate in charity events, but
obviously can’t make them all.

Barkley said he simply picks the ones hosted by people he likes. Fortunately
for Dirk Nowitzki, Barkley likes the Dallas Mavericks star.

Folks in the Metroplex may have adamantly disagreed with Sir Charles when he
said in February that Father Time was catching up with Nowitzki, less than a
year removed from winning an NBA title.

But that shouldn’t lead anyone to believe Barkley isn’t a fan of the
34-year-old Nowitzki.

“Dirk called me and I’m here because of him,” Barkley said at a news conference
for Nowitzki’s Heroes Celebrity Baseball Game. “I’m a big Dirk Nowitzki fan.
Obviously as a player, but also as a person.”

So what was with the Father Time comment?

“I know what I watch,” Barkley responded. “Dirk’s been a hell of a player.
He’s obviously on the down side of his career. First of all, you don’t get
better as you get older. I don’t know if he got some special German blood.
Maybe they do get younger as they get older over there.

“But anytime you start putting great miles on your body, you can tell. I
tell people when I watch Kevin Garnett play, I tell people, ‘Kevin Garnett sure
is shooting a lot of jumpers.’ And they say, why? Because he can’t explode to
the basket anymore. Same thing with Tim Duncan. I know what I’m watching.”

Nowitzki simply responded: “He’s dead on.”

Having Barkley within a half hour drive of American Airlines Center meant
there were some extra Mavericks questions for the NBA analyst.

The hottest topic obviously being free agent point guard Deron Williams and
whether he will choose the Brooklyn Nets or the Mavs.

“Whoever gets Deron Williams, he’s going to help that team a lot,” Barkley
said.

However, that doesn’t necessarily mean the Hall of Famer and 11-time
All-Star thinks the Mavericks will return to title contention by just adding
Williams.

“It obviously would put them in a good situation,” Barkley said. “But even
getting Deron, they’d have to get bigger, too. That was the difference last
year when they had Tyson (Chandler), DeShawn Stevenson and those guys. They
were much bigger. The reason they lost to the Heat the first time, they were
too small, too finesse.

“But if they get Deron, will they be better? Yeah, they’ll be better. But
I’m not sure they can beat the bigger teams out West.”

According to Barkley, one way the Mavs could have competed with those bigger
teams was by re-signing Chandler last summer. Barkley said Chandler, 29, is in
the prime of his career and he made the 2011 championship team tough in the
paint.

Barkley, one of the most opinionated people in sports, touched on a couple
of other NBA topics as well.

Along with saying “San Antonio’s probably had the best organization in the
NBA the last 20 years” and that the Oklahoma City Thunder have “probably the
best fan base in the NBA,” Barkley shared his thoughts on Orlando Magic center
Dwight Howard.

“I’m sick of hearing about it every year, where he’s going to go,” Barkley
said. “I told him he needs to grow up and make a decision. I don’t want to hear
this stuff every year coming up on the trade deadline. Make a decision and live
with it.”

Barkley almost never disappoints.

Follow Jon Machota on Twitter: @jonmachota