<\/p>\n
The remarkable part \u2014 honestly, the sad part \u2014 is that younger basketball fans know Penny Hardaway primarily as the head coach of the Memphis Tigers. <\/p>\n
He\u2019s a very good coach; he\u2019s on the doorstep of a fifth 20-win season in five years at the university for which he once starred as a player.<\/p>\n
Watch an average of 9 LIVE NBA Regular Season games per week on ESPN on Kayo Sports on ESPN on Kayo Sports. New to Kayo? Start your free trial now ><\/a><\/b><\/i><\/p>\n But there was a moment \u2014 so fleeting \u2014 when Hardaway was one of the biggest basketball stars in the world. <\/p>\n Fri, 17 Feb<\/p>\n Friday February 17th<\/p>\n<\/div>\n His first four years with the Magic went this way: All-Rookie first team, All-NBA first team, All-NBA first team, All-NBA third team.<\/p>\n The Magic, with Shaquille O\u2019Neal and Hardaway paired, were the best show in the NBA during Michael Jordan\u2019s sabbatical. <\/p>\n Even after Jordan returned and Shaq fled for L.A., Penny was poised to be a marquee player for a decade to come.<\/p>\n And then he tore his left meniscus.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd you could see it in him,\u201d his old teammate, Nick Anderson, said on the terrific ESPN 30-for-30, \u201cThis Magic Moment.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHe wasn\u2019t Penny Hardaway anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n Bucks bag big win over Boston in East | 01:01<\/p>\n MORE COVERAGE<\/b><\/p>\n \u2018Not a coincidence\u2019: LeBron \u2018not happy\u2019 with $274m star as shock exit route floated<\/a><\/b><\/p>\n \u2018Feel bad for him\u2019: Ben \u2018broken\u2019 and \u2018scared\u2019 as \u2018sad to watch\u2019 reality sets in \u2014 US View<\/a><\/b><\/p>\n Hardaway stuck around. <\/p>\n He became a journeyman, roaming from the Suns to the Knicks to the Heat. <\/p>\n In his two All-NBA first-team seasons, he\u2019d been good for 21.3 points, 7.1 assists and two steals per game, shooting 51.3 per cent from the floor; his last 10 seasons, he averaged 11.8, 3.8 and shot .428.<\/p>\n \u201cI should\u2019ve retired eight years sooner than when I did,\u201d Hardaway admitted in that documentary. <\/p>\n \u201cIt made it worse for people to see me in that light but I loved the game so much I played through the pain.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s hard not to think about Hardaway when you see Ben Simmons scuffle for the Nets, and for the same melancholy reasons. <\/p>\n Simmons wasn\u2019t nearly the total offensive weapon Hardaway was, but at his best, with the Sixers from 2018-2021, he sure was one of the most fun players in the NBA: unselfish, a hawk on defence, good with the ball.<\/p>\n He was never a high-volume shooter and to this day has taken only 36 3-pointers in his career \u2014 but that, too, was part of his appeal. <\/p>\n He knew his limitations. <\/p>\n He knew he had other guys to shoot the 3, and a beast underneath in Joel Embiid. <\/p>\n And he is still a remarkable 56.5 per cent career shooter on 2-point attempts.<\/p>\n \u201cHe knows what it\u2019s like to be a great, great player,\u201d Pat Williams said of Simmons a few weeks ago. <\/p>\n \u201cThere aren\u2019t a lot of people who can say that.\u201d<\/p>\n Williams was Hardaway\u2019s general manager in Orlando and he\u2019s now a keen observer of the league, in which he worked for 51 years, as a radio commentator in Central Florida. <\/p>\n He has seen his share of players \u2014 Hardaway and Derrick Rose to name two \u2014 whose careers were forever altered by injury at a painfully young age.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s heartbreaking,\u201d he said during a break in his radio show. \u201cIt really is.\u201d<\/p>\n Heartbreaking is a kind way of putting where Simmons is right now. <\/p>\n For the Nets, he is a high-end enigma, due $77.9 million. <\/p>\n For their fans, for now, he is a constant reminder of the big-name experiment the Nets invested in the last four years. <\/p>\n Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving and James Harden \u2014 traded to the 76ers for Simmons \u2014 are all elsewhere now.<\/p>\n Simmons \u2014 or the imposter wearing No. 10 \u2014 remains.<\/p>\n He earned that contract based on early speed similar to Hardaway\u2019s. <\/p>\n He was Rookie of the Year. <\/p>\n He was third-team All-NBA once, first-team All-Defense twice. <\/p>\n He and Embiid \u2014 like Penny and Shaq a generation earlier \u2014 were going to be a force to be reckoned with forever. <\/p>\n Except forever turned out to be four years, and the end for Simmons in Philly was as ugly as any star\u2019s departure has ever been.<\/p>\n Now he fights for backup minutes behind Nic Claxton. <\/p>\n In 20 quiet minutes in Wednesday\u2019s 116-105 Nets win over the Heat at Barclays Center, Simmons took two shots and scored two points.<\/p>\n \u201cTrying to figure out what lineup fits around Ben, what position fits for Ben, how we can make him look good at every opportunity,\u201d Nets coach Jacque Vaughn said of his expensive spare piece. <\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s the goal and I\u2019m still trying to figure that out. That\u2019s on me to figure out.\u201d<\/p>\n Like Hardaway, physical injuries have played a part in Simmons\u2019 plunge, though there is also an added mental-health component to it and that makes you wonder if he could ever channel Hardaway \u2014 \u201cI loved the game so much\u201d \u2014 because locked somewhere inside Simmons is something other than a second-string centre. <\/p>\n Fifteen minutes ago \u2014 or thereabouts \u2014 he was a foundational player on a contender.<\/p>\n Has that really all just vanished, at age 26?<\/p>\n If so, Pat Williams had the right word for it. It really is heartbreaking.<\/p>\n This story originally appeared on the New York Post <\/a>and has been reposted with permission<\/b><\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n