by Derek Flack

Created on: May 06, 2008   Last Updated: October 31, 2008

Who is my favorite basketball player in the NBA Hall of Fame? That question is absolutely impossible to answer, but not for the reason you are thinking. You probably think it is difficult to answer because there are so many great players to choose from, but that's not why. The reason why the question is impossible to answer is because there is no such thing as the NBA Hall of Fame, it doesn't exist. There is, however, a Basketball Hall of Fame that is located in Massachusetts

Who is my favorite basketball player in the Basketball Hall of Fame? That is a difficult question to answer, but I do have an answer for it.

My favorite player in the basketball Hall of Fame is "Sir" Charles Barkley. There are many reasons to love and hate this guy both on and off the court, but no matter what you think of him, you can't deny that is one of the best players of all time.

Barkley, known as the "Round Mound of Rebound" due to his pudgy stature and excellent rebounding ability is one of the players responsible for making the NBA so popular in the 1980's and 90's. Barkley came into the league as part of arguably the greatest draft class ever, 1984, which featured another Hall of Famer (and former teammate) Hakeem Olajuwon, as well as two future Hall of Famers, Michael Jordon and John Stockton (Jordon and Stockton have not been retired as players long enough to be in the Hall of Fame yet).

Barkley was one of the best rebounders in the NBA, despite only being listed at 6 feet 6 inches. He averaged double figures in rebounds during every season of his 16 year career except for his rookie year. He was also a great scorer, averaging 22.1 points per game for his career to go along with his 11.7 boards a night for his career.

During his 16 seasons in the NBA was an 11 time All Star, making the squad each year from 1987-1997. He also won the MVP award in the 1992-93 campaign, which was a spectacular season when Charles averaged 25.6 points per game on 52% field goal shooting to go along 12.2 rebounds and a career high 5.1 assists a night.

1993 was also the year that he led the Phoenix Suns to the NBA Finals, where they unfortunate lost to maybe the greatest player in NBA history in Michael Jordon.

In his 16 years in the League Barkley played for three teams, the Philadelphia 76ers, the Phoenix Suns, and the Houston Rockets. He was an All Star for each of these teams. He started in Philadelphia playing with Hall of Famers Julius "Dr. J" Erving and Moses Malone, and ended his career playing

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