greatest orlando magic player ever

Jcrawford11 · Post #1 » by **Jcrawford11** » Tue Apr 8, 2008 7:58 pm

is Penny hardaway....hand down.....

all nba 1st team 2 times.....mvp runner up.......only player that ever got the best of jordan .......show some respect!

AdamTheGreek · Post #2 » by **AdamTheGreek** » Tue Apr 8, 2008 8:01 pm

Agreed.
Hopefully this thread doesn't get locked.

Jcrawford11 · Post #3 » by **Jcrawford11** » Tue Apr 8, 2008 8:07 pm

penny the great.....dont forget who he once was the memories he gave u!

cmor42180 · Post #4 » by **cmor42180** » Tue Apr 8, 2008 8:09 pm

you should change this to greatest player while in orlando, because once penny left he sucked... but dwight will have us saying penny who..lol

you should make an all time magic roster next...

Gerhalt11 · Post #5 » by **Gerhalt11** » Tue Apr 8, 2008 8:15 pm

All-Magic (using quality of players while they were playing for us) Team:

PG: Anfernee Hardaway
SG: Nick Anderson
SF: Tracy McGrady
PF: Dwight Howard
C: Shaquille O'Neal

happypedro12 · Post #6 » by **happypedro12** » Tue Apr 8, 2008 8:50 pm

PG: Anfernee Hardaway
SG: Nick Anderson
SF: Tracy McGrady
PF: Dwight Howard
C: Shaquille O'Neal

That would be an INSANE squad, talke about 70 win season. As long as we didn't have Nick shooting FT, we'd win the title :nonono:

OrlandoMagic · Post #7 » by **OrlandoMagic** » Tue Apr 8, 2008 8:57 pm

happypedro12 wrote:
PG: Anfernee Hardaway
SG: Nick Anderson
SF: Tracy McGrady
PF: Dwight Howard
C: Shaquille O'Neal

That would be an INSANE squad, talke about 70 win season. As long as we didn't have Nick shooting FT, we'd win the title

or shaq or howard....

paperboymafia · Post #8 » by **paperboymafia** » Tue Apr 8, 2008 9:05 pm

penny in his orlando days has always been my favorite

Post #9 » by **craig01** » Tue Apr 8, 2008 9:11 pm

Jcrawford11 wrote:is Penny hardaway....hand down.....

all nba 1st team 2 times.....mvp runner up.......only player that ever got the best of jordan .......show some respect!

I don't remember that?

As for the original topic....it's apples vs oranges in how one determines best player ever. Production? Impact? Stature?

No doubt that Hardaway attained his status because of those he was surrounded by. Take away Shaq, and Hardaway is unlikely to be as successful. That was proven the next season.

Take away Hardaway, and Shaq's performance and stature likely remains unchanged.

Gerhalt11 · Post #10 » by **Gerhalt11** » Tue Apr 8, 2008 9:18 pm

craig01 wrote:Take away Hardaway, and Shaq's performance and stature likely remains unchanged.

I don't know about that. Shaq has had that all-star caliber guard backing him up in every season beyond his rookie season.

I'm obviously too lazy to do this, but I'd love to see Shaq's stats in games that Penny/Kobe/Wade sat out compared to his average.

Post #11 » by **craig01** » Tue Apr 8, 2008 9:35 pm

Shaq's rookie season was 23 ppg -13 rpg without an all star guard. No all star guards played with Shaq his second year either.

Shaq opened up the floor for his teammates. Hardaway and others did not open the floor for Shaq.

Hardaway was dynamic, no doubt. But greatest Magic player? Very doubtful....depending on the criteria.

Jcrawford11 · Post #12 » by **Jcrawford11** » Tue Apr 8, 2008 9:46 pm

when shaq was hurt and missed over 30 games in that span penny avg 27 7 and 6.........and in case u forgot back to back 40 point games in playoffs aginst the heat......who were top3 d in nba that season.....penny is great end of story

Max Power · Post #13 » by **Max Power** » Tue Apr 8, 2008 9:52 pm

Penny was great as long as Shaq allowed him to be. Once the big man left Penny folded like a cheap accordian. As far as I'm concerned Shaq is still the best player in Magic history, until Dwight takes that from him in a year or 2. Dennis Scott's fat ass showed up more than Penny did.

Post #14 » by **craig01** » Tue Apr 8, 2008 10:00 pm

Jcrawford11 wrote:when shaq was hurt and missed over 30 games in that span penny avg 27 7 and 6.........and in case u forgot back to back 40 point games in playoffs aginst the heat......who were top3 d in nba that season.....penny is great end of story

27 games is not a full season, and yes, he probably played about the best basketball of his career during that stretch. There is no way he could maintain that pace though, as his perimeter skills were not sufficient enough to allow him to be a great scorer.

And the following season averaged around 20ppg while his shooting percentage dropped significantly. Coincidences?

I was at those Heat games. Penny was great in the last 3 games of that series.

There is nothing to dispute there.

Post #15 » by **TheGlyde** » Tue Apr 8, 2008 11:01 pm

Penny was never runnner up in MVP voting, his best finish was 3rd. Shaq was runner up in 94-95.

I already had this Shaq/Penny argument when I wrote my 295 article... Penny was a great player and at times had unbelievable stretches, Shaq was a once in a generation type player.

Dwight will become the best Magic player ever.

Post #16 » by **craig01** » Tue Apr 8, 2008 11:30 pm

TheGlyde wrote:
Dwight will become the best Magic player ever.

Ditto to that.

sChOlaRlY_Magi · Post #17 » by **sChOlaRlY_Magi** » Wed Apr 9, 2008 12:17 am

Ugh...
Nostalgia is deceptive.
Does no one remember Penny harpooning our club several different times. i'll admit he was a great player(when he wanted to be) on our club, but the best? Not by a long shot...

Then again it could just be my 1st impression of him...

Let me explain -
I used to take Kenpo in Lake Mary... the big shopping Center on the corner of Lake Mary and Lake Emma. for those of you that don't know this area, this shopping Center has a grocery store Kmart, Movie Theater, several different eating establishments, etc... What I'm getting at is it has Mall like parking. Well at the time the parking lot was totally full and I saw a line going from the card shop wrapping all the way around the parking lot past the Albertsons.

Anyways, this was before I was ever really into basketball and I had no idea who anybody was other than Jordan. So when I got to the studio and couldn't find parking anywhere, I asked a friend of mine what was going on with the parking.

He told me that Penny was supposed to be signing autographs at 1pm(It was about 4pm at the time he is telling me), but that Penny had been sitting in his car talking on his cell to somebody for like 2 & 1/2 hours.

When he finally did go to the card store Brian (friend telling me this) said that he saw Penny go up to the owner and make the not happening sign to the owner, who in turned got very pale and looked like he just got poleaxed. The owner then walked up to the dias they had made for Penny to address the crowd and said something to this effect: "Due to a misunderstanding Penny Hardaway will not be signing autographs... That he is only here to meet and greet people and shake hands. He will not be signing autographs... We apologize for the inconvience"

Well needless to say the fans were not happy... But Brian told me while laughing hysterically that the fans started flipping/throwing Pennies at Penny! Bet he didn't like people knowing his nickname that day!

Now before someone cries Shenannigans I will affirm that this story was told to me second hand, and all this happened right before I got there. However, my friend was a Magic fan at the time and had no reason to lie to me about it. He actually laughed in my face because I didnt know who Penny was (as I'm sure many of you are now).

For the above story alone, not to mention all the talk I heard of Penny making demands before Shaq asked for his extension(which was one of the supposed reasons Shaq dipped), Penny leading the coup to get Hill fired(which in retrospect wasn't the worst thing to do, but done in the absolutely worst way), to him forcing a sign and trade to Phoenix, Penny hanging out with gang members in Orlando, etc... would lead me to believe that Penny may be on the top of the all time douchebag list, but not the greatest magic player ever. I really do think that it was Karma that got Penny in the end.

Heck even with the missed free throws I would pick Nick Anderson over Penny....But that's just me

I'd still take Dwight over everybody at this point.

magicburt · Post #18 » by **magicburt** » Wed Apr 9, 2008 12:24 am

Come on guys! Penny was fun to watch and all but there is no way he was better than Shaq. He wasn't much better than T-Mac in his prime.

I say

1A Shaq
1B and gaining Howard

EasternMagic · Post #19 » by **EasternMagic** » Wed Apr 9, 2008 12:36 am

nick anderson will always be my favorite magician

Post #20 » by **TheGlyde** » Wed Apr 9, 2008 12:39 am

sChOlaRlY_Magi wrote:Heck even with the missed free throws I would pick Nick Anderson over Penny....But that's just me

Oh I was so with you, but you had to take a shot at Nick :lol:

I admit I'm a huge Nick fan, I admit he is not the most talented player to ever play for the Magic (That spot would be reserved for Shaq, Dwight or T-Mac) but I believe he is the player who gave the most to the organization and is currently therefore the 'best Magic player', even though he isn't the 'best player to play for the Magic'.

It is sad to me that not only that NBA Finals Game 1 (22/11/5/1/3, 4/10 from down town), but his entire career are overshadowed by 4 missed free throws...

He would have been better served not getting his own rebound on his second miss... maybe the ball bounces a different way and we win the game... Any way you cut it without Nick's night we aren't even in that game at the end... one more made shot by anyone and we take game 1.

Nick Anderson, the best Magic player.
First ever draft pick.
#1 All time in Games played
#1 All time in Games started
#1 All time in Minutes played
#1 All time in Field goal makes
#1 All time in Field goal attempts
#1 All time in 3 point attempts
#1 All time in Steals
#1 All time in Points

#2 All time in 3 point makes
#2 All time in defensive rebounds

#3 All time in free throw makes
#3 All time in free throw attempts
#3 All time in total rebounds

#4 All time in offensive rebounds
#4 All time in assists
#5 All time in blocks

First magic player to score 50 points in a game.

Retire #25...