LeBron James: Could he survive Dennis Rodman and the Bad Boys?

Charles Barkley feels that LeBron James doesn’t want that “Bad Boys” smoke! 

Lake Show Life tends to have troll type comments about former players that speak out against LeBron James. Charles Barkley is at the top of the list. Barkley has never shied away from giving his opinion and not caring about what people think about it (Fits the description of a certain writer on the staff!).

But to alleviate the readers having to deal with the ignorant statements, for this discussion, Charles Barkley knows of what he speaks about the Bad Boys. Seems to be a lot of Dennis Rodman sightings.

The funny thing about that fight was that Rick Mahorn was on the first Piston championship team. Just classic. Now could LeBron James survive an environment like that? Charles Barkley doesn’t think so.

The physical play from the Detroit Pistons during the “Bad Boys” era is something that Barkley believes LeBron James would want no part of.

Barkley spoke with University of Kentucky head coach John Calipari on Calipari’s “Coffee With Cal” podcast and offered his opinion (Start at the 23:54-minute mark) of how the game has evolved since that Pistons era.

"“I love LeBron, but I do think the way they play the game today, he didn’t want a part of those Bad Boy Pistons,” said Barkley."

LeBron stans will state that James has been a part of three NBA championship teams with three Finals MVPs. However, critics have historically attacked James for a perceived lack of mental toughness. They may have a point. How about this list.

• In the first Finals loss to the San Antonio Spurs, whether the Spurs had his number (Lack of a jump shot or teammate talent) with their defensive schemes. LeBron looked mortal.
• In 2010, when the Boston Celtics beat the Cavs in the playoffs, LeBron looked broken with his bags already packed to go to Miami.
• In 2011, against the Dallas Mavericks,he disappeared.  LeBron even admitted later on that he was terrible. On social media, everyone goes to that performance.
• In 2014 Finals against the San Antonio Spurs, LeBron looked like he had made his mind up to go back to Cleveland as the Spurs steamrolled the Miami Heat. Look, for the readers looking to argue, about the year before, Lake Show Life has one name…Ray Allen.

Sure, LeBron James led the Cavaliers to a historic comeback in the 2016 NBA Finals. That seven-game series victory marked the first time ever that an NBA team had come back from a 3-1 deficit in the NBA Finals.

Then the Golden State Warriors went and got Kevin Durant and LeBron couldn’t sniff another championship which included a Finals sweep.

The fact that Barkley has never been shy about taking shots at James is something that should be taken into consideration when pondering the remarks. Like the very next year after LeBron won the title before the Finals whippings.

Anyone miss the NBA yet? These four are a major part. But we can make a strong case for LeBron James. It happens to be against the Detroit Pistons. They weren’t the “Bad Boys”, but they were some bad boys.