If the NBA stays in lockout mode for the entire season, I may miss the interviews more than the play and the players.

Having been in my share of NBA locker rooms and at my share of press conferences over the years, you have a good idea of what a player might say. Most use cliche lines like, “We played hard” or “We wanted to come out with great energy.”

But then there are those who throw caution to the wind and either say what pops in their head or what has been on their mind for so long that they can’t contain it anymore.

Now we’re going to get some real doozys if the lockout goes all season, but right now, check out some of the ones that have always left me either laughing, scratching my head or amazed.

Allen Iverson – “We talking about practice.”

I miss A.I.

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Just came across Charles Barkley welcoming Shaquille O’Neal to TNT to work with Ernie Johnson, Kenny “The Jet” Smith and Chris Webber.

Still gonna need to clear some space on the desk for the Diesel, but Barkley basically told O’Neal he can’t upset Johnson, who is the host of the show.

“Second thing, pretty much nothing after that matters,” Barkley said. “Ernie is the man.”

With that being, we don’t want to see Barkley and O’Neal do this again. For those two to be athletes, they’ll never be mistaken for Muhammad Ali.

1. Pre-game hype man Ahmad Crump.
“If you believe in Dan Gilbert, make some noise.”
“This is the capacity for the other team
“I’m predicting a win for the Cavs.”
2. Very loud cheers for Charles Barkley when he, Kenny Smith and Ernie Johnson took the floor for the TNT show (I thought the Cleveland fans hated Charles. They dont’ know since he said ragged on LeBron James)
3. Fans waved towels. Look like playoff game when Cavs came out.
4. LeBron James came out skipping to some very loud boos from fans. Dunking in layup line. Did a windmill dunk off that bounced off the back of the rim.
5.  Did his powder routine.
6. Didn’t wear the brace (Arroyo had one on)
7. Josh Cribbs, Bernie Kosar, Shaun Rogers, Ron Harper, Michael Bivins, Drew Carey, Joe Haden, Terrell Owens.

One of my favorite shows is TNT’s Inside The NBA.

Host Ernie Johnson and NBA analysts Kenny “The Jet” Smith and Charles Barkley not only talk basketball, but the show is funny. Tonight was no execption.

They ended the show with having Kenny and Chuck guess the nicknames of the 16 D-League teams. Now they put some fake nicknames to throw Kenny and Charles off and it worked, but Charles won the competition with getting two of the eight nicknames right. Kenny was an unfortuante 0-for-8.

So you’re probably wondering if Charles got the Erie BayHawks right.

He didn’t.

Barkley thought they were the Erie Flash. It’s the Utah Flash, but at least he didn’t think they were the Erie Lobsters.

Good stuff. Here’s the video. Might have to search for it below the main screen, but it’s worth it.