I don't like him. Too often he tries to be insightful, clever and controversial all at once and it just doesn't work. Many of his comments seem pre-prepared and he seems more concerned with trying to make a witty remark about players than actually offering something more insightful. Barkley pulls that off most of the time but even that gets tired after a while. There's a simple rule when it comes to comedy. When everything tries to be funny, it usually isn't.
Sometimes he may be wrong but at least he's honest, you can't really fault a guy for that. I've seen so many of those analysts tippy toe around topics where I feel they arent telling me the truth about what they reeeeally think, whether it be wrong or right.
You raise a good point and I can certainly respect that, but just because one boldly blurts out rubbish doesn't take away from the fact they're blurting out rubbish.

Does Steven A Smith know a thing or two about basketball? Absolutely. But, in my opinion at least, he focusses too much on being entertaining and sacrifices better contributions in the name of entertainment. He might be saying what he really thinks but that doesn't mean what he's thinking is genius.
Or maybe he's just got the kind of personality that irritates me. He's not my favourite analyst.