[Highlights] Penny Hardaway pre-knee injury.
His spin stepback move is probably one of the sickest moves I’ve ever seen in the game. It looks impressive
Anthony Edwards:
In MJ Time he played against people with no skill, he was the only skilled one
Young bloods not realizing that a 90s elite fucker would leave them in the dust …
Known intelligent person Anthony Edwards
send da video
I think evidence says Ant is an elite fucker himself
I’m with Ant on this one, and I am 45.
Plenty of those 90s stars are just role players today, no doubt.
38 myself, I think you didn’t start watching basketball until your 20s.
Gotta use time frames bud. Definitely a lot of 90s players that would be top stars of the league with the amount of knowledge, training, diet, etc that today’s players have.
Advancement inflation doesn’t work like that bud, have you sat down and thought about it for 3 minutes at least lol
5000m World Record was 12:39 1998 and it’s 12:35 today, where is this amount of ‘knowledge, training, diet, etc’
4 seconds is a lot. You throw Penny into today’s game straight from the 90s he’s still all star caliber. You give him the training etc of these players today, he’s all nba.
this sub is full of teens with zero knowledge lmfao
Penny WAS all-nba, what does this mean?
Because you’re saying Ant is right, that there was no one good but Jordan which means you discount Pennys all nba teams from that era. I’m saying he would be all nba in this era and that Ant is wrong in what he said. He is wrong, as are you in agreeing with him.
Dude basically has no idea what he’s talking about.
One day you’ll feel me. You’ll grow up too.
47… you’re insane. And never played ball competitively.
Y’all are crazy, Payton is Dillon Brooks. That’s the difference between then and now.
I’m surprised nobody has tried to emulate that. I’ve had to slow it down a bunch to think through how he does it.
Wiggins has done it quite a few times. Not often but he’s the only one that comes to mind that has successfully done it. Looks exactly like it.
No wonder that knee popped. These are inhuman speeds!!
The cuts he makes are absolutely nasty and the lateral load on his knees must have taken its toll. It’s like watching DRose land hard on one leg after his dunks. An amazing physical spectacle but you could tell that these types of play-styles would hurt them in the long run.
What you say is true but Penny originally hurt his knee when positioning for a rebound. Joe Dumars tried to box him out and his knee struck the back of Penny’s extended left knee. Penny later described the contact as a hard blow directly behind the knee and said it never felt the same afterward.
The big issue is that he didn’t stop playing. Penny completed that Detroit series, played through Orlando’s remaining 1996 playoff run, then played for the USA at the Atlanta Olympics and continued playing basketball during the summer. He later said that when the problem persisted into training camp, imaging showed a torn meniscus/cartilage injury.
So he basically played through a persistent injury to the point that it was fucked.
What killed drose was that hop step he’d do
Penny had an unanimous approval rating from everyone in the 90s. I don’t recall any penny haters.
Shaq said Penny was Kobe before Kobe and said he should have stayed in orlando.
The Magic FO messed him around and refused to pay him. 24-year-old Shaq who had already reached the finals was only offered 4 years, $54.8 million.
In comparison, Alonzo Mourning got 7 years, \(105 million to remain with Miami and Juwan Howard got 7 years, \)105 million with the Wizards…
Eventually Shaq received 7 years, $120 million from the Lakers.
Magic fucked up big time.
I knew they lowballed him a bit but that Juwan Howard contract makes it look criminal!
To be fair, it was considered a big overpay by most people at the time
Imagine lowballing one of the most dominant players ever lol.
And the newspaper poll that pissed him off, Orlando fumbled so much, he even wanted to stay too.
I’ve watched so many Penny and Shaq playoff games, Penny didn’t shy away from the spotlight, people forget about his dope shoes and commercials, dude was in the making of a mega star with the play to back it up. Dude went up against MJ when he came back and beat him in a playoff series, in his 2nd year in the league! It’s a fucking shame he only had 4 fully healthy years, he would probably be one of the most electrifying acts in the late 90s if he was in full health and if Shaq stayed, they eventually would have retooled and got over the hump after being swept, sucks we’ll never know.
Little penny
Shaq and Penny was kind of over before it really started, such a shame we never got to see how it panned out.
Shaq was already jealous of the attention penny was getting. People forget this as well.
It’s Alonzo not lonzo 😂. Also Shaq lucked out considering pennys knees would implode
Lol i know but my phone autocorrected it. Fixed.
If the Magic still had Shaq for the 96⁄97 season, there would not have been the same amount of pressure on Penny to be the offensive lead. Could have rested him while Shaq went HAM. Instead Penny was playing almost 40 mins in the season after his surgery.
Been watching a lotta Lonzo ball podcasts have ye 😂
They put a fucking poll in the newspaper asking if he deserved to get paid. It was beyond disrespectful.
This isn’t exactly what happened. The team treated it like any negotiation where you start low and end up somewhere in the middle. Shaq was offended and used it as an excuse. In reality he was going to LA no matter what because he was trying to foster a movie career at the time.
This is why you see so many teams offer stupid contracts though. Guys get offended when you try to negotiate.
Lil Penny was an all time ad series too.
No diggity
He was my favorite player and my best friend liked Chris Webber, so we had that going as a little friendly rivalry..,
Still proudly rock all my Penny jerseys. His jersey was everywhere in the 90s.
Was in grade school mid-late 90s in southern indiana, for a while there the number of Penny jerseys at school rivaled MJ jerseys. You could just make teams on the playground by jersey color
As a kid I had a magic hardaway jersey. Wore it to Orlando Disney. An employee told me take it off because they hated him lol
What? Why?
I’ll be honest I’m an NBA casual and wasn’t around for this era. This guy looks like Magic Johnson in these clips but with a step back lol. Very impressed.
Len Bias might be no. 1 but Penny Hardaway not getting injured might be 2nd all-time what if moment.
Shaq wasn’t even in his Prime (22) and him and Penny (23) managed to make the NBA finals in 95. They then lost in the ECF to the 72-10 Bulls in 96. Penny hurt his knee during 96 playoffs, Shaq left, then Penny had surgery in November of 96 and was never really the same…
Penny, Hill and TMac are just huge what ifs for that era
Prime Grant Hill has entered the chat
People shit on T-Mac for Play Off performance, not realizing that the back issue started at his age 26 …
Just for perspective -
Jokic first title age 28
Lebron first title 27
KD’s GSW title age 28
We were robbed of Prime T-Mac’s 6-7 years, maybe more. And the dude was unstoppable on offense
Here’s how Healthy T-Mac looks locked in
For me personally, this is more impressive offensive prowess than KD, or any similar player, how do you even guard this ?
yup his back was already bothering him before he got to houston.
MJ’s first was also 28, he was in year 7 of his career
U actin like two of those guys didn’t make the hall 😂
How is it acting like that? If they were still that good imagine what we missed out on is all I’m saying
I think missing out on prime Sabonis has to be number 2 all time.
Yeah that’s a good one but you’ll call it numbers 2 because you’re a Blazer fan lol.
I just think what we saw out of Penny at such a young age was pretty crazy. DRose’s injury is another big one,
Nah I’d only put Sabo that high bc we didn’t get to see him play against NBA competition until he was broken enough to be eligible for a handicap placard.
With guys like Penny and Rose, we at least got an idea of how good they were.
until he was broken enough to be eligible for a handicap placard.
lol that’s true. Kinda crazy he was only 30 when he got to the NBA.
Are you suggesting that their Blazer bias might be leading them to differ from your unbiased Bias opinion?
I think its 1.
Old heads tell me they see a lesser Sabonis from Jokic.
Imagine that guy on the late 80s early 90s blazers squads and I think it changes the entire narrative on Drexler and Jordan.
Drexler paired with prime Sabonis playing when zone defense was illegal. That’s a fun thought experiment.
A 7’3” super Jokic would have been terrifying.
Shoot even within your own team you’ve got better what if’s than Sabonis IMO. What if Walton stayed healthy?
Or Roy.
Or Greg.
A healthy and young Sabonis would’ve probably been leaps and bounds betters than a healthy Walton.
Drazen would like a word.
I thought about mentioning him but I thought I’d get flack bc he was like 28 when he died.
I’d think Blazers fan would say Bill Walton
Shaq entered his prime at 21. He wasn’t at his pure peak as he was at 27, but go ahead and check out VORP, WS, PER and any other advanced metrics. He was already MVP caliber at 21. Shit, he came in 2nd in MVP voting at 22.
Swept Jordan in ‘95 btw. Though he’d only been back for like two months or something at that point
45 ain’t 23
He was still 23 then? That was right before the second three peat. 1996 was the 72-10 bulls
Bill Walton is way up there. That Blazers team should have been a dynasty
People looooved penny back in the day
L’il Penny, too.
That was Tyra Banks foo’!
Come to think of it, I don’t remember anyone hating on Penny - fans, players, coaches, media.
I’m a Bulls fan who watched that Bulls/Magic mini-rivalry in the 90s realtime. I fucking loved Penny.
Same, saw the ascent of the Magic of the 90s
Shaq said he was Kobe before Kobe, and I think had Penny gotten a longer elite playing window there’d be a generation of players idolizing him too. The same way we have Kobe-stans bricking fade away jumpers, the same way we have kids chucking 30 footers like Steph, there’d be a generation of guys turning the ball over missing those impossible no-look passes and trailer drop offs. The guy is almost the complete package, but the court vision is unreal
Hee-hee but for real
And that’s just the highlights. In the regular course of a game you can see his high bbiq and unreal court vision. Very clutch too
You’re explaining almost exactly how he was billed. He was a taller point guard who was a great passer and shooter. I think his downside was not just the injury, but that he didn’t come across as someone who could lead the team.
One of the most aesthetically pleasing playing styles. So smooth.
Clutch AF too, and one of the really few people who can go toe to toe with MJ
If memory serves, wasn’t his knee injury misdiagnosed for ages? What an absolute shame, he was a great talent. I had a pair of his Nikes, rhey were great. Cool ad’s with lil penny roo
Misdiagnosed initially AND poorly treated even when correctly diagnosed.
Aye, this is the big thing the majority (younger) people here in this sub fail to fully comprehend. Not just for basketball either. The evolution of modern medicine and sports science from the 90s onwards is massive. There is little chance Penny gets misdiagnosed in today’s era. And you can bet the recovery programe would have been far better.
And btw, the reverse is true as well.
But yeah, Penny’s shoes were my first basketball shoes as a kid. Coming from Ireland to Orlando on holiday. Everyone loved them. Had to pick me up some last year when Nike got fresh pairs out.
I didn’t get to go to Orlando on holiday, I had to get the bus to Dublin and mine in Champion Sports!
Haha, them were the days.
My first pair of signature basketball shoes back in middle school. I remember them being bigger than AJs at the time.
I often wonder what would be different for Penny with modern medicine. He was basically unplayable.
He’s one of the early microfracture surgery victims. To my knowledge, they don’t do that surgery, at the least same way nearly as much in the general population.
I can’t think of the last time I have heard of an athlete getting microfracture surgery.
Yeah I’m sure he did. I think too they didn’t have level of scanning then, that we would take for granted today.
Every time I watch young Penny I understand why old heads get mad when people say “we’ve never seen this before.”
Another victim of the terrible trend of microfracture surgery in the 90s.
One of the stupider approaches to knee injuries of all time.
In 6th grade there was nothing cooler than a blue Penny Hardaway jersey
The shoes, the Lil Penny commercials. Truly awesome
It’s still one of the best jerseys of all time
Penny is what made me a basketball fan as a kid. Always wanted to emulate his style even though I had more of a Shaq body type (less 1’ of height).
Young Penny was a problem.
Young Penny was All-NBA 1st team in his second and third seasons, dude was a problem
He kinda looks like a Luka/T-Mac/SGA Hybrid.
Shaq met Penny while filming the movie Blue Chips. He asked the Magic to draft him over Webber. The Magic ended up drafting Weber but trading him for the next pick which they used on Penny. Preinjury the magic were considered the future of the NBA
I’m guessing Shaq was just expecting to have someone feed him the ball constantly instead of scoring as much as he did, which took the spotlight off of Shaq hence him getting all pissy leading to him demanding to be traded.
You can see bits and pieces of his game in TMac / Kobe / Kyrie / SGA, and the big guard passing savant influence from Magic. Amazing player
T-Mac grew up in central FL. Vince Carter is from Daytona Beach and went to Mainland high school (my High School’s deep rival). They both have talked about how Penny influenced their games, especially T-Mac.
Penny is the reason T-Mac wore number 1. His style mimicked Penny’s style by design.
Never saw Penny flop, not sure what you saw in FTA
I mean if all you saw about SGA is his tiktok edits of him flopping then sure. But if you actually watch basketball, you’d know that SGA has one of if not the best footwork in the league currently. Dude’s nasty skilled, and why he’s highly efficient despite taking a ton of midrange shots.
Fellow Lake Show fan… How could you… Nah all joking aside, haha, I watch SGA, it’s just that I was also old enough to watch Penny in his prime. Penny was silky smooth in transition and strong as hell. SGA is honestly kind of wimpy, have you seen his Instagram videos of him “working out”…dawg, he’s skin and bones. It’s a different motion than Penny.
OP didn’t say penny and shai were the same player he said you can see similarities in their game, that’s fair no?
Haven’t seen anyone since that played like Penny
Injury has robbed us of some great basketball.
Still the GOAT signature shoes IMHO.
One of my favourite highlights from Penny was when he was down on the baseline, kinda going up for a lay up/jumper off the glass.
He was fouled on the way up and while in mid air he looks to the right at the ref as the whistle blows and then looks back to the basket to lay in the shot. He gets a continuation on the shot so it counts initially but the opponent (which I think was the Bulls) claim the shot shouldn’t count because of the look-away to the ref and they reverse the call and he gets two shots at the stripe instead.
I haven’t seen that replay for decades. I’ve tried looking for it and haven’t had any luck and all the highlight reels I’ve watched never have it.
Promise you’ll post it if you ever find it
I hope I’ll be that lucky :)
His game was so pretty!
Damn, I forgot how good he was
Orlando really got fucked in the late 90s - early 2000s with injuries to generational talents in Penny and then Grant Hill. T-Mac and Grant Hill would have been like Tatum and Brown but better.
Penny was my favorite player as a kid. He was HIM
Nephews these days don’t understand
Wow… he looks so good woth those moves man. Love this high light =]
In case you forgot!!!
Penny and Shaq in their early 20s was something else - they weren’t ready for Hakeem but egos and injuries ruined what could’ve been even more iconic than Shaq and Kobe, cuz iirc Penny was more reserved and deferred to Shaq and fit in better playing with him
I saw a lot of broken ankles.
Penny had one of the prettiest styles of play ever. Still looks futuristic af til this day.
Magic moments is a great watch. They were so much fun.
are they gonna retire him or tmac’s 1. or neither?
Penny was so cold!!! When they ask the biggest “what ifs” in NBA, its gotta be him
Man, before the internet, we relied on newspaper and magazines. And in one magazine article about him, they were saying that ‘this Penny was priceless’. It really stuck with me. Too bad he never really reached his potential.
Back in the day I read articles saying Hardaway scored X for Orlando… I thought wait they traded Tim?
First game I saw him on TV was vs New Jersey. Clock down to 4 or 5 secs, he crosses his guy from the left 3pt break, drives in, tomahawk at the buzzer.
He was a bad man. Look at those ankle breakers .
Little Penny was even better.
So cool so smooth so bouncy. One of my favourite player to watch ever , unfortunate about the injury. Another what if
Holy shit is that Citizen Kane - Black Rain? Never have I thought I’d find that on this sub
But also, who the hell likes the original version more than the Elements of Mind remix?
Totally agree. The remix is so better lol.
It’s become my #1 favorite song and I grew up on melodic death metal and power metal
Props for showing the song title toward the end.
Citizen Kane - Blackrain (Instrumental)
Maaan I lived near Tampa and watched Magic games on Sun Sports. When they gave T-Mac his number and to this day I became a Heat fan
Back when style was as important as skill.
Fun fact: he got the nickname Penny because his grandma called him pretty but had a southern accent so it sounded like penny
One of those herky-jerky guys, as Bill Simmons would say.
What’s the name of the song? 🎧 🎶
My first favorite hooper
D. Wade / D. Rose type player!
That’s my dude. I was such a big Penny fan.
Now I know what happened… One day his knee was just like, f this shit
Back when I first got into basketball. He was so good.
Magic were, and never have again, been as cool as they were in this era
inside out stepback smooth af
I had his shoes in middle school!
My first bball jersey was Hardaway!
That guy looks a lot like Butch McRae…
The Penny logo is still my favorite individual branding for a player.
My favorite player growing up in the 90’s.
Butterfly effect: the air currents from Nick Anderson’s missed free throws caused Kobe’s helicopter to crash
Nick Anderson doesn’t miss those 4 free throws, the Magic win Game 1 of the Finals against the Rockets
The Magic put up a better series without that deflating loss, perhaps even winning it
Even if they don’t win it, the Magic look better going forward, particularly because Nick Anderson doesn’t implode career-wise
Shaq ends up staying with Orlando because the owners pay him appropriately thinking they’re about to win a title (or they already have)
Without Shaq on the Lakers, Phil Jackson never comes
Kobe becomes a good player, but probably not an all-time great without Shaq and Phil in his early career
Kobe doesn’t make as much money and thus can’t afford to commute by helicopter. He may not even have stayed a Laker for his entire career, so even if he does take a helicopter, he’s not flying in coastal fog through seaside hills.
TLDR: Nick Anderson makes one free throw, Kobe lives
Imagine is Penny, G Hill, and T Mac didn’t have the career altering injuries. These 3 in particular could’ve really done damage.
My favorite player growing up, collected his cards back in the day. Almost ridiculous to think he was drafted only 10 years before LeBron, his short prime makes it feel like he was drafted from way earlier.
My favorite player all-time!
Such a special talent and we only caught a glimpse in the pros.
For you young nephews, go dig up his Memphis State games and watch this dude. He’s one of the most incredible all-around players to ever play.
Nothing from these highlights makes me think today’s players are much better. If anything, the opposite.
There was a brief time in the 90s people thought Penny was going to be the successor to Jordan (myself included).
I still have my Penny rookie cards. It was one of my most prized possessions back in the day. I thought he was going to be a legend.
Him and Jabari Parker remind me of each other. Penny was more polished with point guard skills but their individual offense was insanely similar.
Hardaway was 10000x more skilled than Parker
What did I just say mutha fucka.
Great footwork, but the handles are weak, at least when compared to today.
Out of curiosity, who are you comparing him to today who’s at least 6’7” with better handles?
Doin moves without carrying or gather stepping is weak?