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Originally Posted by Diophantos
I think Barkley probably played in stronger leagues throughout his career (late 80s to mid 90's for Barkley vs. mid 70's for Hayes). It's true that Hayes has a ring and overall greater playoff success, but Barkley's teams were losing to Larry Bird, Michael Jordan, Hakeem Olajuwon, Karl Malone. The teams Hayes was up against in the playoffs were not as talented.
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1973: Elvin and the Rockets lost to the Knicks (Frazier, Monroe, Lucas, Reed, Debusschere, Bradley)
1974: Lost to the same team.
1975: Defeated Buffalo (McAdoo), Celts (Havlicek, Cowens, JoJo, Silas, Westphal), Warriors (Rick Barry)
1977: Lost to Rockets (Rudy T, Moses, Calvin Murphy, John Lucas)
1978: Defeated Spurs (Gervin, Kenon), Sixers (McGinnis, Doug Collins, Dr. J, World Free), Sonics (DJ, Sikma, Gus Williams, Fred Brown)
1979: Defeated Spurs again, lost to same Sonics team.
1980: Lost to very good Sixers team including Dr. J
A lot of HOFers sprinkled in there. I'm not convinced the league was inferior then.