Complex Penny Hardaway May Have Seen Best Days -- But He Continues Playing In Matter-Of-Fact Style

ORLANDO - There are many phrases and familiar observations one hears in this huge mall often mistaken for a city.

Like "Where's Mickey?" or "The line ends where?" or "How far until the next Waffle House?"

One thing you don't hear, especially around the Orlando Magic, is, "Penny for your thoughts."

Orlando Magic guard Anfernee "Penny" Hardaway doesn't need to be asked.

"I have always been a guy who has spoken his mind," Hardaway said. "Where I'm from in the South, whenever you tell a person how you feel, they respect you for that."

Respect, though, isn't exactly the word Magic Coach Chuck Daly would use.

"He's a different kind of guy," acknowledges Daly, who hasn't seen many like Hardaway and, friends say, nearly has been driven to leave the Magic over disputes with Hardaway.

This from a man who has coached Isiah Thomas, Bill Laimbeer and Dennis Rodman.

Yet Hardaway has just been very matter-of-fact about it all. He has blamed Daly for accusing him of malingering last season when he missed 63 games and the Magic missed the playoffs.

That finally led to a clear-the-air meeting earlier this week which Hardaway says was the best meeting he's ever had with a coach.

And Hardaway, despite just 14 points in a 103-94 Magic win over the Bulls, was hardly the best he's ever been. But he made two key steals from Ron Harper late with the Magic clinging to a lead.

"I feel like I am struggling now," Hardaway said. "I haven't been able to get the elevation in my shot like I want. I haven't been scoring, so I had to do other things, rebound the ball, get key steals or defend my man to the finish."

That has also included blaming Magic management, which he says failed to back him up and let his image be harmed last season.

Hardaway says he intends to opt out of his contract after the season and then re-sign with the Magic because he feels he owes it to his teammates. All so simple, all so straightforward. Anferee Hardaway, all so complex.

He once was viewed as the next great NBA player, a lithe 6-foot-7 cross between Magic Johnson's floor game and Michael Jordan's scoring ability.

But injuries, controversies involving former coach Brian Hill and former teammate Shaquille O'Neal and disappointing seasons have robbed Hardaway of some of his luster, if not his riches.

Hardaway says when he signs that new deal, he intends to build a house with a two-level, 12-car garage.

He lists golfing and playing video games as his passions, and when he recently met an interviewer for a magazine story, he asked they meet at a local Ponderosa-type steakhouse, saying he felt most comfortable there.

An enigma wrapped in a riddle - a remote, sensitive man who delivers outlandish, stinging critiques about his bosses. He is as widely known as any player through the Little Penny commercials, but who rarely goes out and says he has no friends in Orlando and just one in the NBA, Elliot Perry.

But he remains an excellent basketball player.

"I always say, `God works in mysterious ways.' All the people who wrote all those bad articles on me last year are writing good articles now," Hardaway said. "We have (one of the best records) in the Eastern Conference, so now everybody has to talk good about us. All those guys who had all those negative things to say have to eat their words now."

The Magic backcourt is perhaps the toughest to guard in the NBA with Hardaway, Nick Anderson and third guard Darrell Armstrong, who gives them a quick change of pace.

With the addition of Austin, their front line with Horace Grant, Bo Outlaw and Derek Strong, and rookies Matt Harpring and Michael Doleac, is perhaps the most versatile in the league, though lacking in bulk.

"This team has a deeper bench than the team that was in the 1995 Finals," Hardaway said. "No disrespect to that team, but this bench can play with any starting five in the league. Overall, I think this is a better team (than in 1995)."

But Hardaway still is the key, and he is not having one of his best offensive seasons.

He averages a career-low 14.8 points, still somewhat heavy legged from missing much of the last two seasons after surgery and knee and calf injuries.

"In preseason, I thought this team was going to be real good, but I also thought I'd have to score 20, 25 points to make it work," Hardaway said. "We're doing it without my shot."

Hardaway admits he can't jump like he once did, and his time to become one of the dominant players of his era is probably past. But he says he's content.

"When you're winning, everybody is happy," he said. "That's the biggest thing now. I have the talent. All I needed was my health."

How far that will take the Magic, Hardaway and Daly still is to be determined.