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Scott Brooks wasn't short of anecdotes from his time as a rookie for the Philadelphia 76ers back in 1988, but it wasn't the ins-and-outs of the NBA that fascinated him, but who he went through those with — none other than a very lively roommate, Charles Barkley.
A four-year veteran in the league, Barkley was enjoying his time in the league when Brooks came along. The two couldn't have been more different as players — one an established star, the other, a young rookie trying to hold on to his chance in the league.
An L.A. reporter once suggested how unusual their friendship was:
“You got that right,” Barkley agreed, via Dan Steinberg of The Washington Post. “I’m tall, muscular, dark and handsome, and he’s a short little geek.”
But the Sixers' star wasn't short of his own dubious quirks, a thing which Brooks found out rather curiously after hearing several buzzing noises through the middle of the night, eventually working up the courage to inquire about it.
“What the [bleep] do you think it is? I’m vacuuming!” Barkley told a young Brooks. “I can’t sleep if the lines in the carpet aren’t straight.”
“Well, I’m a clean fanatic,” Barkley said in a phone conversation, confirming his former roommate's 30-year-old tale. “If I get up in the middle of the night and all my lines aren’t going in the same way, I always vacuum.”
The now-coach of the Washington Wizards has plenty-a-tale to tell, especially when it comes to Barkley's unorthodox lifestyle, which has carried many adventures during their two-year run as teammates.
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Even as a second-year player, Brooks was tempted to sign a six-month lease for an apartment of his own, a thing which Chuck had picked up on rather quickly.
“Ohhhhh lil’ fella, why don’t you hold on for a second and make sure you’re gonna make the team before you put all that money in a lease,” Barkley remembered telling Brooks. “I wasn’t 100 percent sure, but if I’m not sure if he’s gonna make the team, I didn’t want him to put all this money into getting a lease.”
The Hall of Fame forward had somehow picked up a liking for Brooks despite their vast differences in size, talent, and athletic prowess.
“I don’t know why, but I just really liked him,” Barkley said. “I just had a connection with Scott for some reason. I’m not sure I’ve seen a guy undrafted work harder to make an NBA team or make an NBA career.”
The most interesting story of them all, is one that caught Brooks for a loop. The two players had stopped at a nearby grocery store on their way from practice and prepared to shop after Barkley said: “grab a basket, knucklehead.”
“So I have a big basket, he has a basket, and then we’re going down the aisles and we’re putting stuff in there,” Brooks said. “And I’m thinking to myself, ‘This guy is living up to his reputation as the Round Mound of Rebound.’ We’re getting everything: bread, Oreos, milk, cookies, crackers, you name it. This thing is piled.”
Both players checked out at the cash register — “bags and bags and bags and bags,” Brooks said — and suddenly Barkley starts driving in the wrong direction. Brooks didn’t say anything, per his usual demeanor around the Sixers' star.
“Now we stop underneath an underpass, and now all of a sudden, I swear, it was like 30 or 40 or even 50 homeless people just converge on our car,” he said. Barkley “opens up his trunk and he passes out the groceries. And that day right there, that made such a lasting impression on me — on who he is, and what it is to be a professional athlete.”
