That Barkley fellow is always good for some verbal sparring.
As reported by USA Today's Michael Hiestand:
Charles Barkley, on TNT's Denver-Phoenix outdoor NBA exhibition game Saturday, suggested the Nuggets forward who goes by one name — Nene — is being too brief: "He hasn't done enough in the NBA to go by one name."
That's fair enough, thus far. But if ever there were a year for that to change, it's this one.
With Marcus Camby gone, Nene will finally be the primary man in the middle for the Nuggets in 2008-09. He is fully healthy after a hard-earned recovery from testicular cancer, and we may finally be able to learn something complete about what this guy has to offer on both ends of the floor. He'll have his minutes, and he'll have plenty of opportunities to pile up the stats on a fast-paced team, and he'll be expected to anchor a defense that George Karl has been working hard to improve.
Sir Charles has eaten some crow before, and we'll see if he is changing his tune on Mr. Hilario come next spring.