LiFe aFTeR DeaTh

from slam magazine

 

After last season, most

opponments left a much-injured

Penny Hardaway for

dead.

Now he's

ready to return the favor.

 

SLAM: Straight to the point, you fell off right? People saying that you are over, done. [Penny starts laughing.] Serious, answer the shit about last year.

PENNY: I haven't fallen off at all, man. That's just people having a little room to go with something that wasn't about nothing and then taking it further than it should have gone. I was injured, but I wasn't dead.

SLAM: What do you have to say to anyone who says that your game has fallen off? That Penny Hardaway is over?

PENNY: They're wrong. I mean, come on man, I'm a baller, I go out there and compete every single night. See, a lot of people want me to go out and score 35-40 points every night, like I did in the playoffs [two seasons ago]. Michael Jordan isn't going to go out and score 40 every night.

SLAM: Are you even getting the benefit of the doubt?

PENNY: I dont' think a lot of people know about the history of my injury. They just think I'm soft and that I keep getting re-injured. But it's the same injury and it just got worse because it didn't get repaired right the first time. That's why everybody started trippin' about my leg being gone, or that I don't have any cartilage left in my knee. Whatever. But I'll be back.

 

''My mission is to

win basketball games

for the Orlando Magic and

demolish

anybody in my way along the way.''

 

SLAM: You sound like you got something to prove.

PENNY: Yeah. I needed this.

SLAM: Needed what?

PENNY: This... I needed something like this to happen to me. It was like a kick in the butt, and I think I needed it, because sometimes I wouldn't really play hard unless someone challenged me. You know, I could go out and get 25, maybe 30 [points]. But some nights when I got 25 or 30, I could have gotten 40 if I'd played hard. But a lot of that came from me trying to do other things and be unselfish, get my teammates involved. But now, every night I'm going to go for what I can go for. See, it's that nice-guy attitude got me where I am now, as far as people denying me, talking about me and saying that I can't do things that I know I can do.

SLAM: Yeah, because now they've taken your name off of the list. You know what I mean? Whenver they mention the "next greatest" whatever, your name doesn't come up anymore.

PENNY: Yeah, but you know what's so funny about that? Some of the players, like MJ and them, they'll still mention my name, but the media won't. But that's good. God has a plan. They talked about me, dogged me out -- but I'll come back this season and show everybody all over again.

SLAM: So is that your mission?

PENNY: That is my mission. My mission is to win basketball games for the Orlando Magic and demolish anybody in my way along the way.

SLAM: Make me understand the injury and why it kept occurring, or are you just injury-prone like everyone thinks?

PENNY: No I am not. Let me say this again: it was the same injury, it just wasn't fixed correctly the first time. The doctors down in Orlando really didn't have a lot of knowledge about my injury [an irratated popliteal tendon]. I had a really unique injury. An injury that they had never heard of before, so I had to go to Houston, then to Alababma. I had to go to all of these other places, because the doctors there had knowledge of my injury. Man, I just thank GOd that I'm able to walk, because at one point in time that's all I wanted to do, was just walk. It was just so rare for someone to even hear about a popatue tendon being irratated that...[pause] it was just a very, very bad situation.

SLAM: So do you think the "misunderstanding" of your injury really hurt you?

PENNY: Naw. You can't hurt what was already there. My game is the same. I mean they can look at things and say, "Well he hasn't played a full season in two years." But I say that I would have played a full season if everything had gone right at first. The media says what they want to say, but Scoop, you know that as a player you can only trust what the doctors tell you and what they do for you, as far as your injuries.

SLAM: Right.

PENNY: Now I'm not a doctor, I can't go in and surgically repair myself. When things go wrong medically, and you know that you don't have anything to do with it, then somebody else needs to come into the picture and say, "Hey, we messed up. Penny was right. It is the same injury. We just haven't come up with any solutions on what's really going on with this injury." Instead of just saying that I'm injury-prone or that I have a bum knee.

 

''If Orlando

doesn't want me

I know somebody

else does.''

SLAM: Did you get depressed? Because CWebb (Chris Webber) said that he got mad depressed during his injury.

PENNY: Yeah, I did. Because [it seemed like] nobody ever gave me a chance as far as any understanding about what my injury was or where it came from. [Editor's note: In '95, Penny got kicked in the first round of the playoff series against Detroit. That's when he first started to complain aobut his knee.] The doctors in Orlando kept telling me that they didn't know what it was, and that was disappointing. And nobody really went in deep to find out. They only took what they heard, like, "Penny Hardaway's injured again; he won't play for the rest of the season." Everybody knocked me down.

SLAM: Well, why didn't you just say something?

PENNY: I did! I said that publicly! But nobody went to Houston and asked Dr. Walter Lowe, nobody went to Alabama and asked for Kendall Wilke or Dr. [James] Andrews, nobody asked my therapist Russell Paige. They'll just tell you the truth; they don't have to sugarcoat anything. But that just lets you know how many people were on my side. A lot of the media, especially the local media, wanted to get me back because of the Brian Hill incident [rumors persist that Penny got his former coach fired], and they just kill me any chance they get. They just really tried -- and are still trying -- to hurt me, probably, from getting paid.

SLAM: So you think a lot of this has to do with money and your contract situation?

PENNY: Yeah.

SLAM: Do you think about that? Do you feel the pressure of playing for your contract?

PENNY: Naw. No. Because I don't have to get out of my contract. [This year] is just an opt-out year. I'm comfortable [in Orlando]. But yeah, I think about what they're doing but not about the contract, because I know what I can do. I don't have to explain anything to anybody. I know how my game is. If Orlando doens't want me, I know somebody else does.

SLAM: OK, can we get some of this BS out of the way? Like the Coach Hill incident. Did you get him fired? Honestly, what did you do? What was your involvement in the whole thing?

PENNY: My involvement was to have a meeting and ask the team, "What is goin' on? DO you think Coach Hill's system is a system we can deal with?" You know, "Is it us? Is it hte coaching staff? What?" Lemme tell you, everybody in that room said it was the coach.

SLAM: So you did have a meeting?

PENNY: Yeah, that was said. But it was what was said in the meeting and who said everything in the meeting [that no one knows].[The media] thought I was in there like [voice drops], "A'ight y'all, listen to me!" C'mon man. I'll say this: one through 12 [players] had their say-so about what htey liked and what they didn't like about what was going on. And the media didnt'e even go into it -- they just figured since I was the captain, Ihad to say something. Anyway, ask any of those guys, and they'll all have to say that they all said that they didn't want Coach Hill as a coach.

SLAM: You naming names?

PENNY: Not my style.

SLAM: The All-Star Game last year. What was that all about?

PENNY: I think that playing hurt me [publicity-wise], but I did it for the fans that voted me in. That's why I played. I didn't do it to show that I could come back and play, because if you remember, I was originally supposed to come back a week after the All-Star break. But I looked at the schedule leading up to the All-Star game, and I saw taht we had some tough games [including Miami, Houston, Phoenix, Atlanta and Detroit], so I decided to get in early to try to help the team win. But it all looked bad, because it happened right around the time of the All-Star game.

SLAM: OK, what about Dennis Scott calling you a baby, and poeple saying that you're a prima donna?

PENNY: Someone said Dennis said that. Man, that's zero. I don't understand it. I don't think he said it. If he did, I'd charge it to his head, not his heart. He and I are closer than that. I like D a lot, so I really don't think he said that. You know me. And that's not me at all! I have never been that way. I can't even pretend to be that way. I dont' know man... jealousy? [He shrugs his shoulders, searchin'.] I never insulted or disrespected anybody in any way, shape or form. That's not how I was raised. That's honest. I treat people the way I'd like to be treated, so I"m not going to go out and be obnoxious, or try to be a prima donna towards anybody. Even on this team, where I could've missed soooo many days of practice and been like, "I don't feel like practicing, I don't feel like doing this." That's being a prima donna. The guys [in the leauge] that are prima donnas, people don't say that they are. I'm just misunderstood, I guess. People will say, "Oh he's moody." Or, "He doesn't say a lot." Or whatever. I don't do anything to anybody. I just live my life, play ball and chill. It's wild, though. I mean, youg ot cats out there that hate MJ. How can you hate MJ? People that don't know me, people that meet me for the first time, they go, "Why do people think that you're such a bad person?" And I'm like, "I don't know." I'm very approachable. I'm not stand-offish. Like a lot of guys, a lot of guys in this league are stand-offish towards me.

SLAM: For real?!?

 

''Charles is weak.

He's just weak minded. Charles just wants

to say something to get something riled up,

so that people will still mention his name, because

his game is gone.''

 

PENNY: Yeah. They're like [sucks his teeth], "I don't care who he is. Whatever." [We laugh.] Man, I'm just with the flow. I just want to go with the flow; I never what to go against the grain. I don't even understand how I got that rap. I htink my rookie season, a lot of it stems from guys pissin' me off. And I'm the type of guy that if someone offends me, I'm gonig to speak my mind. A lot of people in this world think that they can offend you to your face and you're not supposed to do anything , you're just supposed to deal with it. But me? I'm just one of those brothas that, in a nice way, come back at you and let you know that you're wrong. And a lot of people don't like people that come back at them.

SLAM: Like Barkley. Yo, he's been on you, making statements.

PENNY: Charles is weak. He's just weak-minded. Charles just wants to say something to get something riled up, so that people will still mention his name, because his game is goine. He thinks he's the aurhority on who can play and who can't play. If it were left up to him, he and Michael Jordan are the only two people left on earth that could play at this level. That's just jealously with Charles. I haven't done anything to him. He just throws shots at me. Sometimes I just laugh. Charles ...man, ti's funny. The thing that hurts the most is when you've been there and you've proven yourself, then you have guys try to knock you down and make you look bad. That's what hurts the most. I've gotten myslef there. I've proven myself on that level [All-NBA First Team '95 and '96], and just because I got injured, guys want to just start taking shots at me.

SLAM: And what's up with you and Shaq? Y'all did Oprah together last year. Are you all cool or is there beef?

PENNY: I dont' know what kind of relationship me and Shaquille have right now. I really don't. I still love the brotha. I think he's a genuine brotha. But I odn't know where he comes from as far as me and him. I think it's just we're both different. Different people. We both like different things, do different things, so I mean...we're just different.

SLAM: What aobut a couple of years ago when he never returned any of your phone calls, when you were trying to get him to play in your charity game? You had to sense something then.

PENNY: See, Shaq really doesn't show up to a lot of stuff in the summer anyway. So you got it wrong. Look, when I came here, Shaq waqs the superstar, and I was like the blossoming flower that could eventually become a superstar. My first year, I took the backseat. My second year, we went to the Finals; I did a little more. By my third year... after my second year, I was already First-Team All-NBA. So it was like by not even trying to be the star, everybody was giving me all the credit as being the star. So I don't know if that clashed with Shaq, because he wanted to be the man? But I can say this: I never made him feel threatened at all. Never. I could have gone to the management and been like, "All right, I want the ball, clear Shaq out. I'm First-Team NBA..." You know. I could have been an asshole about it. But I always took the back road, because that's the way it seemed like they wanted me to be. I mean, ever since I've been here in Orlando, I've just tried to blend. I'm the guy -- mI'll take all the heat for everybody. That's just how I am. It seemed like they wanted me to do my thing, but don't step on Shaq's toes while you're doin' it.

SLAM: So did you feel that, uh, tension?

PENNY: Yep. SLAM: Through Shaq or just through people saying it?

PENNY: Just through the management, but he probably felt that way a little bit. You have to figure, he was our go-to-guy. It was kinda like [voice deep like Shaq's], "Do what you gotta do, but give me my shit too." You know what I'm sayin'? It was like that, one of those things.

SLAM: "The Decline of Penny Hardaway." Sports Ill. When I saw that on the cover, I flipped.

PENNY: You? It made me feel cheap. Like I had never been in the League or proved to anybody that I can play on this level. It pissed me off, really. They didn't give me the benefit of the doubt; they just said I'm gone, I'm done, for the rest of my life. You know what, that SI thing was pitiful. I didn't know those cats, they didn't know me.

SLAM: Yeah, but as bad as it was, do you think it was fair?

PENNY: You know they came to me and asked me about my injury, and I told htem specifics, I told them everything and none of it made the article. I think they already had the story written, and then they came to me [at the last minute], and they just took some of the other stuff I said and threw it in there. BUt it's not just htem; I don't think any of the media has been fair with me when it comes to my injury.

SLAM: What about the other players in the League? I know you said earlier that MJ sitll gives you props, but...

PENNY: I got disrespected a little last year by some guys in the League. They talked a little trash, knowing that I couldn't go at them like I wanted to.

SLAM: So you got personal vendettas.

PENNY: [Voice high-pitched] Yeah! But I ain't going to mention any names. They know. They had rookies coming into the League saying that I wasn't even one of the top five guards in the League. You know, just dissin' me. Just really, really dissin' me. Because I basically haven't played since the Miami series. [He gives me that look, making sure I'm connected on his back-to-back 40's two years ago.] But they had their last laugh, because I told them that I'd come back. And I'm coming back.

SLAM: Does the media love you or hate you?

PENNY: Don't know. But the thing I always think about is what Big Daddy [Randy Wade, family friend] always tells me. He'll say, "Penny, you can't worry about what people say about you; they talked about Jesus. If they talked about Jesus, you know they'll talk about you." And I believe that. But see, I'll get mine. I'm not going to go out there and try to get all the glory. I'm just going to do my work, and my work is going to take care of itself.

SLAM: So this is going to be your best season?

PENNY: As far as I'm concerned I haven't had a good season yet.

SLAM: What?!

PENNY: I haven't had one yet. When I made All-NBA, I was playing with Shaq. We were doing it together. Since he's been gone, I haven't made it there, because I've been injured.

SLAM: Do you think that because of that, you're going to get slept on?

PENNY: I hope. I hope to get slept on, because if they sleep on me, I'll love it. I mean, if I'm supposed to be done, and my game is supposed to be so over, tell every team in the League to play me one-on-one. Tell them to play me head-up. Like they do MJ. If you're done, you don't need to be double-teamed anymore. Just have them play me one-on-one. That's all I have to say.

SLAM: So at the end of the season, you're going to make a speech...

PENNY: ... in a nice way, I will. It won't be like, "I told you so," because I know what I have, and God has given me a talent, but I'd tell them in a smooth way, in a smooth way, kiss my ass. I will be giving that speech at the end of next season. I'm telling you. I promise.