The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Injury-riddled Knicks stint disappointing for Hardaway
NEW YORK — Many don’t remember (or choose to forget), Penny Hardaway was a Knick for three separate seasons. Now he calls it “probably the most disappointing time” of his career.
“To be in the city on the biggest stage in the Big Apple, and not be me. I’m out here a shell of myself on the biggest stage and I’m like, ‘Why?’ ” Hardway said on Showtime’s “All the Smoke” podcast. “I wish I could get to the point where I could just be me. And I just pushed through it and I just wasn’t me. And I love New York.
“I just felt the fans deserved me at the highest level because you know how New York is. And playing for the Knicks was a huge honor, and I didn’t take that lightly. But I was also going home like, I hate that I’m not me. I’m not myself.”
Hardaway was once labeled the next Magic Johnson but expectations were much lower by the time he was acquired by the Knicks in 2004. He was 32 years old and endured multiple knee surgeries, no longer the Orlando Magic’s athletic phenomenon with forward height and elite point-guard skills.
Hardaway managed just 83 games combined for the Knicks while averaging 8.2 points, 3.5 rebounds and 1.9 assists. In the end, he joined a long list of stars who played for the Knicks past their prime. Others include
Tracy McGrady, Steve Francis, Baron Davis, Jason Kidd, Mike Bibby, Joakim Noah and Rasheed Wallace.
“I said to myself, you’re here. Let’s make the best of it. Give it all you got. Don’t leave nothing in the tank. And then you can sleep at night,” Hardaway said. “That’s what I did. It does (mess) with you mentally because it’s just — the Garden, the mystique of the Garden. You got Spike Lee on the sideline, you got all these stars, and they want to win so badly, and we weren’t winning. And I was a part of that negative tradition of the Knicks haven’t won in a while. And that bothered me too, because I felt like those fans out of all the fans in the NBA deserve to win. They’re loyal.”
The Knicks went 95-151 with three different coaches in Hardaway’s three seasons. The era was defined by the disappointment of Stephon Marbury, who was acquired with Hardaway in the same trade from the Suns.
“I felt like it was a chance of a lifetime (for Marbury) because he was in his prime. He could still do it,” Hardaway said. “So who wouldn’t want to go back home in the prime of his career? Even though he was playing for the Nets in New Jersey, it’s different playing in the Garden. I felt like he was on Cloud 9 going back, like I’m going to put on for the city and I just wanted to help support that while he was back home.”
Hardaway had one very short stop in Miami after leaving the Knicks in 2006. He was a four-time All-Star and two-time member of All-NBA First Team. Now he’s a D-1 NCAA coach at Memphis, where he recruited projected top-5 pick James Wiseman. He acknowledged the quality of college basketball is down compared to when he played with the Memphis Tigers in the early 90s.
“It was different because guys stayed four years. It was rare for guys to come out early in the early 90s. And guys were staying longer so it was a better game,” he said. “It was kind of a veteran’s league of college players because everybody got a chance to play together for two or three years so the teams were better.
“Now you’re getting guys coming in with one-anddone, and they’ve been taught to be about themselves and really not be about the school. Most guys come in with the one-anddone they just want to get numbers and get ready for the draft. So the basketball is kinda watered down a little bit more now,” Hardaway continued. “Because the substance is gone. Guys aren’t staying two or three years. And I get it, you gotta go get that money. There’s a ton of talented players, but the 90s was just better because the guys stayed in school longer. Even though you’re still getting good basketball now, it was just better basketball back then.”