Barkley, who recently signed a 1-year extension with the Houston Rockets, spoke openly with host Gary Miller about Scottie Pippen and the Rockets struggles last season.

	Sir Charles is all smiles after signing a one year contract extension with the Rockets.

"Well Gary, we just weren't good enough, we have to solve the point guard problem," says Barkley. It's not fair to have Scottie bring the ball up the court. Number one, we don't get into fast breaks and that is the biggest problem. Number two, it puts too much pressure to have Scottie bring the ball up the court every time."

Barkley also touched on his presidential picks, Dennis Rodman, and even Y2K.

Barkley: I've got over twenty thousand points, I don't know how many of them I've scored on that one move. I think it is going to help me, I like having five seconds to score. Usually it doesn't take me five seconds to score, but I am honored because when I am dead and gone they're going to have a rule named after me, so I feel good. Even when I am dead people are going to remember me.

Miller: So if it doesn't take you that long, it's the back down rule "The Charles Barkley back-down rule" why do you take longer than five seconds?

Barkley: Well, because most of the time I'm just waiting on the double-team. That is the Rockets offense, that is the same offense we used in Phoenix, that is the same offense we use with Hakeem. We are just mainly trying to draw the double-team, because if they don't come down and double we are basically going to score, get fouled or miss an easy shot, one of those three options. I am glad for the rule because I can keep the clock in my head, I can make quick more aggressive moves, but they are still going to have to double because if they don't double, I am going to score or get somebody in foul trouble.

Miller: Is this going to add years to your career?

Barkley: I hope not!! I really don't, I hope not!! (laughing)

Miller: What do you think of the other rules they have put in to boost the offense? It was really an abysmal year for offense this year?

Barkley: I think number one, they are always messing with the game. The game is fine, there are just a lot of bad teams in the NBA. Number one: we have got just so many young guys in the league... you have got so many young teams out there and so many bad teams out there... The game is fine and we've just got to get back to the basics. I think the biggest problem of the game is that we don't have that many great point guards who can run the fast-break. People are talking about scoring being down, but we are talking about three baskets a game. It is not as bad as people make it out to be.

Miller: How much of that do you think is the fifty game season, the lockout, people just not being in shape?

Barkley: Well it had a lot to do with it. That was a terrible idea, they should not have shortened the season. You were tired the whole time and the level of the basketball was terrible, especially when teams had to play three games in three nights. I like David Stern, but that was just a bad decision he made. We should have just played three games a week, stayed in our own conference and every game would have been more important. I mean the level of basketball was just terrible!

Miller: You mentioned point guards, Steve Francis, who just came to the Rockets in a big trade, he is a guy who is considered to be one of the great talents coming out of this draft, but not a true point guard. How do you think he will fit in with the veteran Rockets?

Barkley: Veteran? No, we're old! Its true, we're old, that is all that "veteran" means. Steve Francis is obviously going to have to play the one (the point), he is not big enough to play the two. He says he is comfortable playing the one, he said that the point was his original position in Junior College. I'll tell you, he has got a lot of talent and if he is able to make that transition, then we are going to be a lot better team. I think that is one of the reasons Scottie (Pippen) struggled, because he had to do so much as our point forward. I think if we get a legitimate point guard we are really going to be strong.

Miller: How did you feel about all this talk, with Phil Jackson going to the Lakers now and all this talk about Scottie going to the Lakers with him?

Barkley: I was disappointed with Scottie, because I made a great sacrifice to get Scottie in Houston. For him to want to bolt on me after one year, I was very disappointed. I was disappointed, I am not upset, I don't hold any grudges but I gave up more than anybody to get Scottie and for him to just want to leave after one year just disappointed me greatly. The Rockets went out of their way to get Scottie and the fans have treated him well and I was just disappointed in him.

Miller: You mentioned him having to play the point, and that really didn't play on him well, but it seemed to be more than that; what we thought was the missing piece to getting the Rockets another championship and get you your first one just didn't quite work out that way.

Barkley: Well Gary, we just weren't good enough, we have to solve the point guard problem. It's not fair to have Scottie bring the ball up the court. Number one, we don't get into fast breaks and that is the biggest problem. Number two, it puts too much pressure to have Scottie bring the ball up the court every time. It slows the game down and it wears him down. I think if we get a point guard that can run the fast-break, you know, everybody says that Scottie had a down year, but his averages were only down two baskets or three baskets. He will get that on lay-ups if we can get a legit point guard who knows how to run the fast-break.

"Nobody knows about anybody's personal life. We really don't know about whether or not anyone has had kids out of wedlock. We don't know if any of the athletes are gay, and we do have gay athletes. But that is nobody's business, if a guy wants to be gay that is nobody's business. I have plenty of gay friends and there is nothing wrong with being gay." -- Charles Barkley

Barkley: I think he was a very intricate part and I am very concerned with the Lakers because they have got the talent. If they don't listen to Phil Jackson, it would be a travesty. He has a proven track record and he is a heck of a coach. I think everybody has a great concern with the Lakers, but it is just a question if they are going to listen to Phil or not.

Miller: We showed you a clip of you backing down Dennis Rodman. What is a night like when you know you are going to have face him?

Barkley: Actually, Dennis is pretty easy to play against, he is easy to score on, he is very easy to score on. The thing is, you have to box him out every single time. 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. Because, 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.

Miller: What do you think of his off the court antics and his latest escapades that seem to be escalating? He's making quite a name for himself in Las Vegas?

Barkley: Well, I think he is kind of caught between a rock and a hard place. I don't think he is going to play in the NBA anymore. I think right now he is trying to decide what he wants to do with his future. Obviously he is going to do well in movies, but he has to be careful in Las Vegas, because sooner or later something real bad is going to happen. And you know, I like Dennis a lot, I think he is a heck of a player and I like him as a person. But he is at that stage where he has got to get on with his life. The antics aren't going to work anymore, he doesn't have Michael, he doesn't have Scottie, it didn't work out with the Lakers and he has got to get on with his life and figure out what he wants to do.

Miller: You have been known to enjoy late nights. Have you changed since the incident in Orlando?

Barkley: No, not at all! I do travel with a bodyguard most of the time. I am going to enjoy this, you know Gary, this is a great time and the only thing left for me to do is to get old. I am older but I am not old, because the best time in your life is between 20 and 40, after you become 40 there is nothing for you to do.

Miller: You could host Up Close!

Barkley: Too much work!! I don't want to work, I have worked these last 15 years. I have saved my money, don't want to waste it. I don't have a lot of cars, I have a truck, and I don't have houses all over the world. I don't waste my money, so I am set financially. I just want to relax and enjoy my life and play golf everyday.

Miller: But you would like to have a ring on one of those fingers?

Barkley: I would, I would, but let me just tell you this: I really would like to win a championship but let me just tell you this, I can promise you this: I'm not going to go crazy if I don't win it.

Miller: Any crazier, you mean...

Barkley: Any crazier.

Miller: When you broke into the NBA in Philadelphia, you were a teammate of Julius Erving. When you found out about Erving's daughter, Alexandra Stevenson, and her making a run at Wimbledon, what did you think about all that and when it came out?

Barkley: I was sad because I love Doc. He was great early in my career and it was really nobody's business, and I think it was just really inappropriate. You know, people have known about this for 18 years and people wait until she makes a splash and becomes famous before they bring this out. That is my biggest problem with the media. And obviously people have known about it for a long time, but to wait until she's famous to bring it out, I didn't think that was fair to Doc, and I definitely don't think that was fair to her. Really, that is nobody's business. Take the Sports Illustrated article that was written a few years ago about all these athletes that were having illegitimate kids, that is not in anybody's contract to publicize who your kids are. I think they (the media) cross the line when it comes to stuff in your personal life.

Miller: What was the general reaction around the NBA when that (Sports Illustrated) cover story came out?

Barkley: I think everybody was disappointed. I think everybody was just mad. Number one, they lumped all of the athletes in a group. They picked out a couple of guys in every sport. You can go out in every profession in the world and find people who have had kids out of wedlock. But that is really not the general public's business. (Barkley turns to the camera) CONTRARY TO WHAT YOU BELIEVE, EVERY THING WE DO AIN'T Y'ALLS BUSINESS!!!

Miller: Where should the line be drawn? Because the personal life shapes everybody's opinion, because if we just saw what you did on the court.....

Barkley (interrupting): Nobody knows about anybody's personal life. We really don't know about whether or not anyone has had kids out of wedlock. We don't know if any of the athletes are gay, and we do have gay athletes. But that is nobody's business, if a guy wants to be gay that is nobody's business. I have plenty of gay friends and there is nothing wrong with being gay. But I don't think it is fair for the general public, because they are hypocrites. I mean, because these people out there act like they are a bunch of saints, and some of them are idiots and some of them are good people, but they still do some things that are wrong.

The public has a different perspective on famous people, especially athletes. We get blamed for everything, we got blamed for the Columbine thing, God bless those kids and their families. They tried to say that they were mad at the athletes and that had nothing to do with it, those kids were just ass-holes! They were crazy. It had nothing to do with them trying to kill jocks or anything, because you know Gary, you go back and every high school in America has the pretty girls, the smart girls, the nerds, the jocks and the guys who were in the band, but back in the day we didn't go out and get a gun and kill people. That is just a cop-out. Those kids are just bad kids and their parents, I don't know, they had to be bad parents because if those kids had enough time to sit around and build 30 or 40 bombs, their parents aren't spending enough time with them. But it always comes back to, well they were mad at the jocks, and it was the athlete's faults; it's crazy.

Miller: Let's talk about one of the things your doing with your summer vacation. "The List." A show on VH-1....Here's just a little clip of what you've done on VH-1...

(show runs a VH-1 clip; at end of clip, Eddie Griffin (from Malcom and Eddie) wonders why Barkley is hosting a talk show, mainly in reference to basketball players not being able to speak well)

Miller: Maybe he's talking about The Magic Show.

Barkley: Everybody killed Ervin (Magic Johnson) when he did his show. First of all, the man is a better basketball player, but I'm more intelligent than he is. I've got an Auburn education. I never went to class, but I went there, and I hear they have great classes down there.

Miller: Did you rent books?

Barkley: Are you crazy? I didn't want to take the chance on losing them. I went by class. I knew exactly where I was supposed to go, just in case the coach ever called me. At least I woke up in the morning before I went back to bed. I enjoyed college, I really did. I was there for three years. I'm almost a sophomore. I have a couple more credits before I'll be a sophomore (laughing).

Miller: Do you think you'll be a talk show host?

Barkley: No, that's too much work.

Miller: Y2K, what are you going to do?

Barkley: Well, right now I'm in the process of getting all of my money out of the bank, because I want to make sure that if something happened I wouldn't lose it all, because it took me a long time to get it. I just bought this really big house in Phoenix and I'm getting all my money in cash and I'm keeping it in the house, just in case. I'm going to have a really big party somewhere, but it won't be at my house. I always have a big New Years' Eve bash. I've got to do something nice for the millennium.

Miller: In the year 2000, we're having another presidential election. Who are you throwing your support behind?

Barkley: The guy I like the most is probably Steve Forbes, but he's not going to win. The governor of Texas is terrific. He's got some problems down in Texas, too, I live there. He's done a good job there, but (turning to the camera) there's still a lot of work to be done, Mr. Bush Jr. He's got a lot of problems down there. Al Gore's a nice man. He doesn't have the charisma it takes to win, I don't think. You have got to have charisma. You don't have to be any good, but you've got to have charisma.

Miller: You left out the NBA again, Bill Bradley.

Barkley: Bill Bradley's got a nice little platform, but he doesn't have that charisma either. You've got to have that charisma. Right now, I have to say, George Bush, he's got the most charisma and that is what the public wants. They want somebody they can follow like Bill Clinton. I like Bill Clinton a lot, he has great charisma, I am a Republican and I still like Bill Clinton.

Miller: Are you still going to run for office one day?

Barkley: I would like to. I don't have anything else to do when I retire.