“I want to see the Memphis flags waving on the cars. I want to see the T-shirts going again, the hats going again like the old school days, and that’s what we want to take it back to.”
― Penny Hardaway
“As an athlete, the body can fail you. I know. The mind and your education will be there to keep carrying you.”
― Penny Hardaway
“Injuries made people lose confidence in me, but I never lost confidence in myself.”
― Penny Hardaway
“My brain never stops thinking about basketball, and even when I’m asleep, I’m thinking about basketball. I love it; I love the Xs and Os and the preparation of it.”
― Penny Hardaway
“That’s my job as a veteran in the league – to help make the young guys better.”
― Penny Hardaway
“Of course you want people to notice you’re back, and you’re playing well just to be respected. Because I was an All-Star, a first-team All-NBA guy. But I don’t need the media putting a spotlight on me.”
― Penny Hardaway
“There’s going to be situations that you get into that you’re going to need help, for sure. But for the most part, I think coaching is just understanding who you have and your team, understanding yourself, and understanding the situation.”
― Penny Hardaway
“I like to speed teams up. I don’t like them to get in their rhythm.”
― Penny Hardaway
“I don’t think about the money side. I just think about how I can create a culture of winning.”
― Penny Hardaway
“I believe in giving back.”
― Penny Hardaway
“The thing I really want to do is make the All-Star team and have an All-Star season. If I do that, then I know my team is going to be winning.”
― Penny Hardaway
“You wanted to compete against Michael Jordan, because they were the best. You wanted to beat them. Never once in my mind, I went, ‘I would love to play with him.’ I was always like, ‘Man, we’ve got to beat them.’”
― Penny Hardaway
“I’m so appreciative of Orlando. I am Orlando. Orlando made me. So when people link my name, they link my name to Orlando and nowhere else. I’ll always be indebted to Orlando for that and grateful at the same time.”
― Penny Hardaway
“It’s just hard to watch isolation basketball.”
― Penny Hardaway
“Jerry Sloan was a guy that I always respected, but I thought he was mean. Like, he was a guy that was just no nonsense. When coach and I got closer during the Olympics, I said, ‘Coach, I always just thought you were this mean guy, but it was really nice to get to know you and your family.’”
― Penny Hardaway
“I want to contribute in any fashion to a great team.”
― Penny Hardaway
“I’m so thankful and blessed for the Heat organization.”
― Penny Hardaway
“I wasn’t able to explode, jump, run – not even walk without pain being in the back of my leg. Every time I bent my leg, even in a walking motion, I was wondering what was wrong with me. But I stuck with it.”
― Penny Hardaway
“It’s fun coming back home, playing against the Grizzlies and to have the opportunity to come back and see my family.”
― Penny Hardaway
“I wore No. 25 in college, so naturally when I arrived in Orlando, I wanted that number, but Nick Anderson had it. I decided to go with No. 1 because of my name, Penny.”
― Penny Hardaway
“When you accomplish certain levels of success in a number, you want that number to always be a part of you. In a way, you’re bringing that success with you when you’re wearing it.”
― Penny Hardaway
“My microfracture was handled like a routine arthroscopic surgery. They thought it was a 6-to-8 week deal. Now we know, from Amare Stoudemire to Kenyon Martin, that it’s a longer deal.”
― Penny Hardaway
“Orlando is my history.”
― Penny Hardaway
“It’s a huge honor to be put in the Hall of Fame… it’s even better because I played there for six years, and I left on bad terms. To be able to come back and be recognized – in hindsight, I wish I would have stayed, because everyone understands my career was large in Orlando.”
― Penny Hardaway
“I want to leave a mark on society.”
― Penny Hardaway
“Basketball gave me an avenue to live my dream, and I just want to help other kids live their dreams through me.”
― Penny Hardaway
“I feel like I can play point guard for any team in the league and average a double-double.”
― Penny Hardaway
“I want to finish my career on a high note.”
― Penny Hardaway
“I was as popular as you can be – All-NBA, Olympian. You couldn’t get any higher than where I was.”
― Penny Hardaway
“People think I’m soft and bailed out on basketball. But it was five knee surgeries.”
― Penny Hardaway
“A lot of the kids gave a lot of positive feedback about if I ever became a coach, they would love to play in our program. And I was very confident that we would be able to get the top-tier players to come in.”
― Penny Hardaway
“I want the opportunity to play pain-free.”
― Penny Hardaway
“I just want to win.”
― Penny Hardaway
“Personally, I just want to stay healthy.”
― Penny Hardaway
“With Shaq, you have to let him know that he’s the man. You have to do that with him.”
― Penny Hardaway
“I can scream and yell that I can still play, but unless I prove it, people will say, ‘Yeah, Penny, whatever.’”
― Penny Hardaway
“If I’ve learned anything, it’s that you can’t take anything for granted.”
― Penny Hardaway
“I can pass on a lot of information. I’m just never going to be the 21-year-old Penny Hardaway again.”
― Penny Hardaway
“People didn’t want to accept that I was injured. I played on a bad knee, a really bad knee, for a long time. I actually put team before me and played when I was hurt, but people still would dog me.”
― Penny Hardaway
“There’s the hardest thing – when you cannot be as athletic or perform at a level you really want to. Your mind is telling you, but your body is not allowing you.”
― Penny Hardaway
“I felt pain every night. After games, it took me a long time to walk to my car, and the driving home, it took me a couple of minutes even to get out of my car and extend my legs and just walk.”
― Penny Hardaway
“I don’t know who Rick Barnes thinks I am, but I’m not a dude that likes to just mess around about anything.”
― Penny Hardaway
“I just call it like I see it.”
― Penny Hardaway
“I keep myself in shape. I love the game of basketball, and I really feel like it doesn’t matter about your age.”
― Penny Hardaway
“For sure, I definitely feel like there’s a target on my back.”
― Penny Hardaway
“I’m getting used to this as a coach because it’s a little jealousy from a lot of these coaches around the country. I do understand that, because we are NBA players trying to come back, and we didn’t have any experience as college coaches. So we didn’t, quote, unquote, ‘Pay our dues.’”
― Penny Hardaway
“I feel like I’ve paid attention to all the great coaches who have coached me.”
― Penny Hardaway
“I didn’t do it the traditional way of being an assistant first and then becoming a head coach.”
― Penny Hardaway
“I’m not the kind of coach who feels like they know everything and ‘Don’t say anything to me.’”
― Penny Hardaway
“I like to keep teams off balance.”
― Penny Hardaway
“Someone takes the challenge with me, I’m going to take it right back.”
― Penny Hardaway
“If I had stayed there, swallowed my pride, been able to save Orlando all over again, which is what they were trying to get me to do there, I’d be O.K. now.”
― Penny Hardaway
“I have two people that I mainly look up to: Magic Johnson is one of them. He just blew everything out of the water. He didn’t make much money in basketball, but since basketball has been over, he’s investing in the community and making a lot of money at the same time. The next one I look up to is Sean Combs, who has always been a hustler.”
― Penny Hardaway
“When you still have something in the tank, it’s really hard to let it go.”
― Penny Hardaway
“Mentally I was retired, and physically I was retired. I was playing recreational ball. But when the decision happened with Chris Bosh and LeBron, I felt like I could really be good in that system.”
― Penny Hardaway
“I love basketball, and I didn’t get a chance to finish my career the way I wanted.”
― Penny Hardaway
“To be able to bring an entire city together is not easy, and we definitely have one thing in common in the city – that’s the Tigers. The history of the school is well-noted around town. It is an SEC kind of country with all the SEC schools, but Memphis trumps all of that in the city. I embrace that.”
― Penny Hardaway
“I am used to the hype because I played in the NBA.”
― Penny Hardaway
“I was a sneakerhead before I even made it to the NBA.”
― Penny Hardaway
“Recruiting is tough because you have to stay in the battle. You’ve got so many guys that are going after a certain amount of kids.”
― Penny Hardaway
“The college kids are recruiting each other. When they go to a school, they start recruiting each other.”
― Penny Hardaway
“Playing the game at a high level, understanding what it’s like to get to where I’ve already been and where they want to go. I tell those kids that we’re going to develop you, we’re going to teach you, and we’re going to have you ready off the court and on the court to be an NBA player.”
― Penny Hardaway
“There are a lot of people who came out of adverse situations and made it. Use it as motivation. Use it to drive you.”
― Penny Hardaway
“I was blessed to get the contracts I had.”
― Penny Hardaway
“I lived the dream. God blessed me to live the dream.”
― Penny Hardaway
“It’s amazing to see these young guys come into the league and want to wear my shoes.”
― Penny Hardaway
“I think what makes a really good shoe is something that you can play ball in but also something that you can wear off the court as well.”
― Penny Hardaway
“My favorite sneaker is the Penny 1. The Penny 1 is an original, man, and I loved them from the beginning, and other people loved them, too. It was a comfortable shoe, and the Penny 1 was definitely my favorite to play in. The Penny II was a close second, though.”
― Penny Hardaway
“I think it’s a huge compliment from the younger guys understanding what I did for the game and wanting to represent me by wearing my shoes.”
― Penny Hardaway
“When Grant Hill came back to Orlando after having all of his surgeries, I was the first person to call him and congratulate him for making it back. It seemed like nobody cared about what I was dealing with.”
― Penny Hardaway
“I went from being very athletic, one of the best guards in the NBA, to barely making it. No speed, no agility. I had to change how I played because I couldn’t exercise or train because my knee constantly hurt.”
― Penny Hardaway
“I’ve coached grassroots for eight years, I coached middle school, and I coached high school.”
― Penny Hardaway
“Kobe has a different temperament than me. We’re both competitive, but he was much more outspoken. I would let anything roll off me. Nothing bothered me. I never complained.”
― Penny Hardaway
“I was an introvert.”
― Penny Hardaway
“I didn’t care about titles unless they were championship titles. I don’t care about who the man is on the team.”
― Penny Hardaway
“I wasn’t trying to make First Team All-NBA. I just wanted to win.”
― Penny Hardaway
“I made it real clear I wanted to play in Orlando. Part of it was Shaq. But I also just liked Orlando. It’s not all glitzy and reminds me of Memphis.”
― Penny Hardaway
“I haven’t felt like I ever had a chance to blossom into the player and the person I want to be in Orlando. It’s almost like I’ve been held down every time.”
― Penny Hardaway
“I was into ‘In Living Color,’ ‘Martin,’ the ‘Ace Ventura’ movies. I love slapstick stuff, too: ‘Naked Gun’ and ‘Caddyshack.’”
― Penny Hardaway
“I was one of the best players in the NBA.”
― Penny Hardaway
“People who weren’t watching basketball were still fans of Lil Penny.”
― Penny Hardaway
“Talk about full circle, I never saw this coming. It wasn’t like I said, ‘Someday, I want to be the head coach at the University of Memphis.’”
― Penny Hardaway
“The NBA is my history.”
― Penny Hardaway
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