Anfernee Hardaway is one of the NBA’s great “what ifs?”
Hardaway’s career started with a shock. A year after landing Shaquille O’Neal in the NBA draft, the Orlando Magic had just a 1.5 percent chance to get the No. 1 draft pick, but the bouncing balls went Orlando’s way. The Magic used top pick to take Chris Webber but 15 minutes later traded Webber for Hardaway, the No. 3 overall pick.
Hardaway’s career started with a shock. A year after landing Shaquille O’Neal in the NBA draft, the Orlando Magic had just a 1.5 percent chance to get the No. 1 draft pick, but the bouncing balls went Orlando’s way. The Magic used top pick to take Chris Webber but 15 minutes later traded Webber for Hardaway, the No. 3 overall pick.
Pairing Hardaway and O’Neal seemed like a match made in
Heaven. The Magic went to the NBA Finals in Hardaway’s second season, knocking
off Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls. The Magic though blew game one of the
NBA Finals to the Houston Rockets when Nick Anderson suddenly forgot how to
make free throws and the Rockets went on to sweep Orlando.
The next season, Hardaway had his greatest year, finishing
third in the MVP race and leading the Magic back to the Eastern Conference Finals.
There, a rejuvenated Bulls team ousted the Magic and O’Neal then left for the
Lakers. That left Hardaway free to be the No. 1 option, but a knee injury in
1997-1998 led to a series of leg injuries that robbed him of his jumping ability.
Although he had a couple of solid seasons for the Phoenix Suns, he was
essentially done as one of the NBA’s top players by age 25.
Still, his brief time at the top was enough to sneak him
into the top 100.
|
Penny
Hardaway bio info
|
|
|
Career
|
1993-2008
|
|
Games
|
704
|
|
Points
|
15.2
|
|
Rebounds
|
4.5
|
|
Assists
|
5.0
|
|
FG Pct.
|
45.8%
|
|
All-Star Games
|
4
|
|
MVPs
|
0
|
|
NBA Titles
|
0
|
|
Playoff seasons
|
8
|
|
Playoff games
|
64
|
|
Points
|
20.4
|
|
Rebounds
|
4.7
|
|
Assists
|
6.2
|
|
FG Pct.
|
44.8%
|
|
Hall of Fame
|
|
|
Top 100
rankings
|
||
|
|
Points
|
Top 100 ranking
|
|
1-year
|
326.54 (1995-1996)
|
58th
|
|
5-year
|
1,317.10
|
87th
|
|
10-year
|
1,919.73
|
Not in top 100
|
|
Career
|
2,11.078
|
Not in top 100
|
|
Penny
Hardaway at his peak
|
|||
|
1995-1996
|
Hardaway
|
NBA Top 5
|
Points
|
|
PER
|
24.6
|
27.33
|
|
|
Win Shares
|
14.4
|
16.25
|
|
|
Box +/-
|
6.4
|
7.67
|
|
|
VORP
|
6.4
|
7.38
|
|
|
Total Advanced Stats
|
51.8
|
58.62
|
88.36
|
|
Playoff PER
|
24.5
|
27.08
|
|
|
Win Shares
|
1.9
|
3.37
|
|
|
Box +/-
|
5.9
|
7.98
|
|
|
VORP
|
1.0
|
1.80
|
|
|
Total Advanced Stats
|
33.3
|
40.22
|
82.79
|
|
Reg. Season Win %
|
73.17
|
|
73.17
|
|
Playoff Win %
|
58.33
|
|
58.33
|
|
MVP Voting (75 points)
|
360/1130
|
|
23.89
|
|
Finals MVP (25 points)
|
0
|
|
0
|
|
Total Score
|
|
|
326.54
|
|
Hardaway’s 10 greatest seasons
|
|
|
1995-1996
|
326.54
|
|
1996-1997
|
277.55
|
|
1994-1995
|
267.25
|
|
1999-2000
|
236.55
|
|
1998-1999
|
209.21
|
|
2002-2003
|
165.03
|
|
1993-1994
|
160.00
|
|
2003-2004
|
106.03
|
|
2000-2001
|
85.93
|
|
1997-1998
|
85.64
|
|
Career
winning percentage
|
|||
|
|
W
|
L
|
Pct.
|
|
Regular Season
|
414
|
290
|
58.81%
|
|
Playoffs
|
27
|
37
|
42.19%
|
No comments:
Post a Comment