Placing Penny: Is Hardaway’s future in the Hall of Fame?

In the mid-’90s, Anfernee Hardaway became an NBA superstar on the court. Off of it, Penny Hardaway was becoming an icon.

Just as he so rapidly appeared on the scene, injuries derailed his course to superstardom at a young age. Yet, Hardaway was humble and preferred to look at his successes over his injuries.

Between 1993 and 1998, he accomplished more than what most NBA players did in their entire careers. He was a Rookie game MVP and All-Rookie First Team member, All-NBA First Team member twice and NBA All-Star four times. If it wasn’t for all the injuries, he might be pushing for the Hall of Fame.

During this stretch of success, he was one of a few bright spots on the Olympic Dream Team 2, helping win the USA a gold medal amid the controversy created by his aggressive and obnoxious teammates.

It’s impossible to know for sure, but Hardaway could have become the best player in the NBA if he hadn’t been derailed by injuries and a series of catastrophic circumstances. Hardaway was once the heir apparent to Michael Jordan’s title of best player in the world, and even bested Jordan in the ’95 Eastern Conference Finals – the only player to do so in the ’90s.

What most people call Penny’s “prime” actually began during his 1993 rookie campaign and ended after his fourth season in 1997. While he was certainly productive for several seasons over the remainder of his career, he was never the magician that he was as a young Orlando point guard. In reality, he never experienced the true “prime” that most superstars do.

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It was during Hardaway’s early years of success that he and “Lil’ Penny” – a miniature wooden puppet formed in Hardaway’s likeness and voiced by Chris Rock – dominated dozens of Nike commercials promoting his original signature shoe line. Lil’ Penny’s brash arrogance played well off the calm head of the real Penny Hardaway, and combined with cameos from Spike Lee and Tyra Banks, this connected the average fan with Penny as much as his on-court performance did. Check out the YouTube evidence, if you’re so inclined.

The shoes themselves often took a back seat to the comedic interactions between Penny and Lil’ Penny. After several years, the line that these commercials promoted had featured several of the most popular shoes of all time, and certainly the decade. If Jordans are forever the most iconic shoes of any player, then Hardaway’s is the only other signature series that even comes close.

Ironically, it was Penny’s Nike Air Flight One sneaker that Michael Jordan decided to wear against the Orlando Magic in the 1995 semis, when his own shoes were disallowed by NBA regulations. Jordan and the Bulls ended up losing that series to a prime Penny Hardaway and the Orlando Magic, which may have been the greatest individual accomplishment of Hardaway’s career.

Despite a successful 60-win season and a trip to the Finals the year before that, a youngShaquille O’Neal bolted for the glamour and lights of the Los Angeles Lakers after just three seasons with Hardaway. It was in LA that he teamed with a rookie named Kobe Bryant, though he admitted years later to some selfishness in an interview with the Orlando Sentinel.

“Business wise, I had a better offer in Los Angeles… I didn’t want to go back and forth, you know, match this number… Plus, a lot of other selfish reasons, movies and all that stuff out there. I thought it was the right choice for me.”

Yes, O’Neal went on to star in spectacular things in Los Angeles, such as “Kazaam,” and in doing so left behind a potential all-time great in Orlando. Things turned out well for him in the end, as Bryant developed into a superstar and the rest is NBA folklore. But that wasn’t a guarantee when he left Orlando, and at the time he barely gave Penny a chance. Shaq left for the wrong reasons and benefited huge, while Hardaway was left behind, where things went downhill for both him and the Magic.

Left on his own for the first time in his career, Penny Hardaway was now the sole star of a team that had lost a key part of its identity. The roster was talented enough to tread water, but inconsistency and injuries hampered the Magic throughout the year – including Hardaway who experienced his first injury issues. Coach Brian Hill was eventually fired, as the team finished just 45-37. Still, Hardaway averaged over 30 points a game in the opening playoff round against Miami, but it wasn’t enough as they were knocked out in five games.

The following season, Hardaway suffered a knee injury early that required surgery. Because of his previous successes, he was still elected to the All-Star team which he rushed back to play in, but in the end he was unable to finish out the NBA season and played in a total of only 19 games. His team finished with a .500 record.

Hardaway made it back the next year to play all 50 games in a lockout-shortened season, but it was clear he had lost a step and was still recovering. He averaged just 16 points, which still led the team, and continued his strong all-around play with over five rebounds and five assists per game. The Magic finished with a good record at 33-17 but lost in the first round to Allen Iverson’s Philadelphia 76ers.

The Magic subsequently made the difficult decision to trade Hardaway to the Phoenix Suns.Jason Kidd, the Suns’ point guard at the time, lobbied for the deal. If both players had played healthily and to their full potentials in that first season, they could have contended for the title. Hardaway went to the wing alongside Kidd, but both players suffered various injuries and played only 45 regular season games together.

Nevertheless, their pure talent won out and the Suns finished 53-29, a worthy contender for the championship. During nine playoff games after this first season with the Suns, Hardaway looked to be back on track towards superstardom as he averaged 20 points, nearly six assists and five rebounds per game over the course of the two playoff series. Though the Suns did lose in the Western Conference semifinals that year to O’Neal and the Lakers, fans were excited about Penny and his potential return to the top.

Unfortunately, early in the next season, Hardaway was forced to undergo micro-fracture surgery on his left knee, which ended his season and his short career as Kidd’s teammate. For the rest of his career with the Suns, New York Knicks, and Miami Heat, Hardaway shuffled in and out of the starting lineup and eventually only came off the bench. The remainder of his career was mostly productive when he played, but essentially unspectacular in every way. He battled injuries for the remainder – mostly to his knees – and eventually retired for good at the end of the 2007-08 season.

In many ways, Hardaway was a precursor to the young point guards of today’s NBA. While he was quickly forced to switch positions after the prime of his career was cut short, his play as a point guard in his first three years with the Magic was a revelation. At the time, his combination of height, quickness and athleticism, along with his scoring, passing and defensive abilities made him a unique NBA Superstar at the position. He would fit in perfectly today with the likes of Derrick Rose, Russell Westbrook and John Wall.

Today, he is still recognized as the superstar he once was. Just recently, Nike reintroduced his original signature shoe into their lineup. While his attempted 2010 comeback with the Miami Heat did not work out, Nike has at least stayed loyal to Hardaway and one of their best brands of all time.

The Nike Air Max Penny 1 was the first new Penny shoe to hit the market in 2011, and another shoe called the Penny Nike Air Force One is on its way. Basketball fans old and new will be excited to see these and even more Penny shoes on the way, and will trigger a renewed interest in the NBA icon.

Hardaway has also stayed active with the University of Memphis, where he played for three years. He recently donated $1 million to the school and returned to complete his degree in education after his NBA career ended. Hardaway doesn’t look back at the negatives and has certainly adjusted following his career, but his fans still may have trouble ignoring them, and wondering what could have been.

In the end, it’s simply hard not to ask the tough questions. What if Penny hadn’t suffered through injuries? What if Shaquille O’Neal had stayed with the Magic and never teamed up with Bryant? Could Penny have become the best player in the NBA? How many championships could he have won?

The possibilities are endless, but there are no “what ifs?” in sports as much as fans exhaust the possibilities. His career numbers aren’t all there, and the story of Anfernee Hardaway is at times tough to swallow, but serves as a grounding example that athletes are human like anyone else.

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