Charles Barkley Doesn't This This HoFer Deserves His Defensive Reputation

During a past interview with ESPN, Charles Barkley said that fellow Hall of Famer Dennis Rodman didn't deserve the reputation he has as an excellent defensive player. 

Dennis Rodman was an unusual player who helped his teams in many ways. He wasn't a scorer, he only averaged 7.3 points per game. 

He was a maniacal rebounder, though. Rodman led the NBA is rebounds for seven consecutive seasons from 1991-1998. He was also known for his incredible energy on defense, harassing even the best of opponents. 

Barkley, though, didn't feel like Rodman could defend him. He explained his strategy:

"I think the thing you have to do is you have to hit him really hard early in the game, that is what I try to do, and I notice Karl Malone tries to do the same thing."

The Hall of Fame forward continued, "If you notice, when he gets started with his antics, it is only against players who get frustrated. I always let him know in the first two or three plays in the game, I always hit him as hard as I can, he cuts all the antics out and just plays."

The stats definitely back up the comments made by Barkley about his matchups against the Worm. The two met 34 times during their career and in those games Barkley averaged 23 points and 13 rebounds per game. But that didn't necessarily get him over the top as Barkley's teams only won 12 of those 34 games overall.