"He was a freakish athlete that could run, pass and jump unlike anyone I had ever seen."

Chuck Person's description of Charles Barkley coming out of Auburn sounds very familiar to today's best player -- LeBron James.

Last week, I talked with Person about his college teammate, who was part of the famed 1984 NBA draft class that included Michael Jordan and Hakeem Olajuwon. After hearing him talking about Barkley's basketball ability, I said "that sounds a lot like LeBron James. I know LeBron is bigger, but that's some similar stuff. Am I reaching on that?"

Now understand Person played with Barkley in college and against him in the NBA, but had been an assistant coach in the NBA from 2000 until taking the assistant position at Auburn under Bruce Pearl this year. So he saw James from the bench and in the film room.

Commentary: Person realized Barkley's NBA potential

"You hate to compare players in different eras, but LeBron James is 275 pounds, has four percent body fat and runs like a freight train," Person said. "Now that type of athlete, I don't think any of us have ever seen that on the basketball court. As far as athleticism is concerned, LeBron James far surpassed any athlete I've ever seen physically.

"But Charles was the first of his time to be athletic, fast and could do the things that he did. LeBron just took to another level. He's five inches taller, probably faster and more of a perimeter player than Charles was, but in their own right, they've both revolutionized their era in basketball."

For his 16-year NBA career, Barkley averaged 22.1 points, 11.7 rebounds and 3.9 assists. In 11 NBA seasons, James is averaging 27.2 points, 7.2 rebounds and 6.9 assists. The irony those numbers is James is taller (6-8 to 6-4-1/2) and bigger (275 to 252) than Barkley yet averages four fewer rebounds than Barkley.

It's been said James would have been great in any era. To Person, the same can be said about Barkley.

"He would have been a Hall of Famer today, tomorrow and yesteryear and in the future," Person said.

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