OH PENNY, WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN?

Charles Barkley interviews Anfernee "Penny" Hardaway — perhaps the Second Coming of Irvin "Magic" Johnson but a series of career-ending injuries (more specifically, four left-knee surgeries including a micro-fractured knee), derailed the once-promising Hall Of Fame career of a tall, prolific & gifted point guard from University at Memphis.

His Airness hinted on passing-the-torch over to Penny when he retired...
...Penny became a "perennial" All-Star, won the Olympic Gold Medal in 1996, granted a "personal" line of sneakers (including his very own "Mini-Me" doll) by the powers that be at Nike. The "early" mega-success and overall potential of this prototypical "big" PG quickly fueled the unwarranted Michael Jordan comparisons.

Anfernee Hardaway's NBA Career Statistics
SEASON	TEAM	G	MIN	FG	FGA	FG%	FG3	FG3A	FG3%	FT	FTA	FT%	PTS	AVG
1993-94	Orlando	82	3015	509	1092	46.6	50	187	26.7	245	330	74.2	1313	16.0
1994-95	Orlando	77	2901	585	1142	51.2	87	249	34.9	356	463	76.9	1613	20.9
1995-96	Orlando	82	3015	623	1215	51.3	89	283	31.4	445	580	76.7	1780	21.7
1996-97	Orlando	59	2221	421	941	44.7	85	267	31.8	283	345	82.0	1210	20.5
1997-98	Orlando	19	625	103	273	37.7	15	50	30.0	90	118	76.3	311	16.4
1998-99	Orlando	50	1944	301	717	42.0	40	140	28.6	149	211	70.6	791	15.8
1999-00	Phoenix	60	2253	378	798	47.4	33	102	32.4	226	286	79.0	1015	16.9
2000-01	Phoenix	4	112	15	36	41.7	2	8	25.0	7	11	63.6	39	9.8
2001-02	Phoenix	80	2462	389	931	41.8	23	83	27.7	158	195	81.0	959	12.0
2002-03	Phoenix	58	1777	256	573	44.7	26	73	35.6	77	97	79.4	615	10.6
2003-04	Pho-NY	76	2095	279	679	41.1	30	79	38.0	111	138	80.4	699	9.2
2004-05	New York	37	894	110	260	42.3	15	50	30.0	34	46	73.9	269	7.3
2005-06	NY-Orl	4	72	4	14	28.6	0	1	0.0	2	2	100.0	10	2.5
2007-08	Miami	16	325	22	60	36.7	8	19	42.1	8	9	88.9	60	3.8
TOTAL		704	23710	3995	8731	45.8	503	1591	31.6	2191	2831	77.4	10684	15.2

Anyone around my age remembers how great it was to see Penny Hardaway play — he made any tall kid believe he didn’t have to be a power forward or center. We could all be point guards! I actually got s chance to play against Penny a summer or two ago — he wasn’t dunking in or crossing anyone over anymore, but we have our memories. Want Penny’s game? The Hoop Handbook would be a good start.

Penny had his own Nike commercials feat. Lil' Penny a.k.a. Chris Rock

Penny had his own signature-line of Nike sneakers— simply called, "Penny's" was revered by "die-hard" sneaker collectors & enthusiasts — went on to become One of the Most Popular Kicks in the Sneaker Industry!

What Could Have Been?