Barkley Talks The Talk Again

Monday, May 22nd 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

NEW YORK (AP) â€” Charles Barkley leaves the NBA without a title but as an unquestioned champion in one regard: For the 13th straight year, he was voted to the league's all-interview team.

The retiring Houston Rockets star was joined by Grant Hill of Detroit, Avery Johnson and David Robinson of San Antonio and John Amaechi of Orlando.

Orlando's Doc Rivers led the coaches in voting announced by the league Monday.

Barkley has spent 16 years in the league with Philadelphia, Phoenix and Houston. He has been on the all-interview team every year since 1987-1988 and barely missed in 1986-87, the first season of the award.

The second team was: Utah's Karl Malone, Minnesota's Kevin Garnett, Sacramento's Chris Webber, the Los Angeles Lakers' Kobe Bryant, Milwaukee's Ray Allen and Milwaukee coach George Karl.

The award, by the NBA Public Relations Directors Association, was determined by a panel of sports writers and broadcasters who regularly cover the NBA. They were asked to vote on media accessibility and informative and interesting quotes.