this is Penny before for the injuries, he had all a 6'7 guard who can handle like a small guard, was great athlete , a great vision, passing, playmaker. he also was underrated defender he had good to great post game.. what if
all them so calld greatz.....that waz soft as babyshit.........don't compare them ta Ai.....injuriez neva held him back.....them Philly mtfz tough man.......Dr J.....Moses......Barkley....AI......Yeh...
Since he litteraly outscore MJ when he was a rookie. Nba surely didnt want someone who came from the hood and have gangsta attitude (even tho Ai had a good attitude toward everyone) to represent the league and be the next MJ.
Wow that interview really foreshadowed the troubles the league would experience toward the end of the 90s. With Penny and Grant Hill derailed by injuries there werent undisputed torchbearers to delay the me-first Starburies. Penny, and I'm sure others too, saw it early.
In this era I would take penny 10 times out of 10 over AI or any other guard at that time. His size made him a the most versatile guard. He was posting up AI like a middle schooler, but he did that to most guards then. In the mid 90s Penny really could do it all.
@Ausar AmenRa I BET THAT PENNY COULD FUQ U UP ONE-ON-ONE BACK THEN & NOW THOUGH!! PLUS, A.I. NEVA BEAT JORDAN IN A PLAYOFF SERIES LIKE PENNY & CO. DID NIQQA, DESPITE HIM HAVING JS A FEW REGULAR SEASON GAMES TUCKED UNDER HIS BELT AGAINST THA' T.B.E! #USHOULDTHINKABOUTIT!
For all youngters: notice how penny did not try to get into a dribbling duel with A.I. He simply used his height advantage over a.i. and scored on him in the post where ai was helpless. Thats why eventhough you are a guard you most still learn how to play every position on the floor.
+collinsk85 Everybody admire? I hated his guts more & more after his rookie yr., cause he kept on becoming more & more of an egotistical ball hog. Even his rookie yr. he was a mega ball hog, which was why Jerry Stackhouse left. It's not by accident that he had crap teammates throughout his Philly career. Nobody wanted to play w/ him. Chris Bosh wanted to join Dwyane Wade down in South Beach before he ever knew Lebron James was coming, cause Wade is both modest & unselfish. So many people always want to come to Cleveland of all place because Lebron is not only freakishly good, but unselfish w/ the basketball. I'll take John Stockton, a point guard of limited physical athletic talent over Allen Iverson on my team any day, because talented guys will want to play w/ him since they know they're getting the ball every single time they cut, have single coverage, and for sure when they're open.
+Arsen Akopyan Damn, u said a mouthful on that one. Truth of the matter is (however) AI won hearts after that MVP season. He showed what he could do with the right team behind him. As I've said before it's not his fault Shaq was on the other team.
collinsk85 But it was his fault good players in general never wanted to play w/ him. Just ask Jerry Stackhouse who after his 2nd yr. (Iverson's rookie yr.) demanded to be either traded or let go cause Iverson does not let anybody else get their hands on the basketball.
+Arsen Akopyan 76ers were a bad team when they got rook ai, hence the top draft pick. reasonable that stack wanted to leave. you would be delusional to believe that bosh had no clue that James wasn't comming to Miami. back then players didn't have the ability to decide where they wanted to play, instead the actual gm had full autonomy. now players can band together to form super teams even before gms think about it.
jswats92 You can say the same thing about Hakeem The Dream Olajuwon, Lebron King James, Shaquille The Diesel O'neal, David The Admiral Robinson, Kareem Abdul Jabbar, Dwight Superman Howard, John Wall, Chris Webber, Elton Brand, Bill Walton, Oscar The Big O Robertson & so on, but they're all team players.
+Calia Alba Was on his way to being, but we'll never know what his full career would've looked liked in comparison to Dwyane Wade had he stayed relatively healthy after the 97' season. But I liked the prime Penny Hardaway similar to how I liked the prime Dwyane Wade.
Juniu R When he had Horace Grant, but before Jordan had Dennis Rodman. This is where these debates get highly subjective, because it's just too easy to cherry pick information. Penny had a terrific series in 95' against the Bulls, and played great in the 95' playoffs & regular season. But I wouldn't go so far as to say that he head-to-head outplayed Michael Jordan in that six game series. Jordan averaged 31ppg to Penny's 19. Penny did average 8 dimes to Jordan's 4. Jordan averaged 7 boards to Penny's 4. Jordan also averaged 3 thefts to Penny's 2, & 2 rejections to Penny's 1. What's interesting is that the last two stats are really a thing of prime years for your blocks & steals averages typically dip more as you get older than does your scoring average. I mean if you were a gifted scorer to begin w/, you can usually offset the loss in your athleticism by developing an extra move or two, or becoming a bit more comfortable w/ a certain shot, or just being more patient and timing a certain dribble move or pump fake or up-&-under move or anything like that better to largely make up for losing a step in your explosiveness. I mean you see a lot of guys like Karl Malone, Hakeem Olajuwon, Kobe Bryant & so on still remaining great scorers into their 30s because of great footwork or strength, even though they can't be acrobats for 48min anymore. But for blocks & steals, it's not enough to just have great timing; those are young man's stats that are usually the first to go. In 95', Penny wasn't yet at his overall prime at 23 (a prime he'd never get to see), but he was at his athletic peak, which for most elite athletes is around the 21-25 year age bracket. Now depending on how hard you train, how lucky w/ injuries you are, your genetic & mental makeup and all that, some guys can stay at their athletic peak all the way to 28 or 29, but you're basically at your athletic apex when you're 23 if you've trained your whole life since Junior High, which most guys in the NBA do. An overall apex for a basketball player is basically 25-30 in terms of age. So Penny wasn't actually that far off his highest potential in 95'. It varies for each person a little, but losing Shaq + injuries just before his absolute peak years, was a grand grand loss to Magic fans, and just fans of basketball to be treated to what I truly feel was a once in a generation type of talent in Anfernee Penny Hardaway. But back to the Bulls-Magic series of 95'. The fact that Jordan bettered Penny in steals & blocks by a comfortable margin at 32 when Penny was 23 (before the injuries); something Penny was actually good at, shows me that Jordan was really in his own world when it came to greatness on both ends of the floor. And Penny doubling Jordan in the assists department, only narrows the gap in their 12ppg difference in the scoring column, when you consider that Jordan also shot 48% from the floor to Penny's 44%. Now these stats are all rounded, for I don't believe in being too much of stats freak. If you want exact stats, you can get them here: www.basketball-reference.com/playoffs/1995-nba-eastern-conference-semifinals-bulls-vs-magic.html Watching that series via the naked-eye test, I felt that Shaquille O'neal & Michael Jordan were clearly the two best players on the floor, followed by Scottie Pippen & Penny Hardaway. Penny Hardaway often times had to get his #s against the greatest perimeter defender of all-time in Scottie Pippen, while Nick Anderson did an admirable job in single-coverage against Jordan, not letting Jordan go completely off like he would against the Cavs, or against John Starks on occasion. Nobody gets crazy #s against Pippen, even in single-coverage, and Penny's all-around performance was quiet good. He had a lot of weapons around him at the time, and was getting them involved. It was just sad they weren't able to get it done against the Rockets, who were actually an inferior team to the Bulls, and aging at the time more than the Bulls. Experience can be overrated. The Warriors won it all in 15' w/ a youthful bunch. The 95' Magic are a classic example of how there are just no guarantees that you're ever going to get another chance to do it all w/ the nucleus that should've did it for you.
Juniu R Penny was Magic on steroids? No, Magic was actually a little bit bigger than even Penny. When you think of steroids you think of size. Penny was more athletic than Magic, but although a good solid passer, he still could not see the whole floor most of the time, especially from all the angles like Magic could. Magic averaged more rebounds, was a superior shooter, so how was Penny (even the prime one) Magic on steroids? Also, Isiah Thomas' Bad Boy Pistons squad beat Michael Jordan in his prime too, as did Larry Birds' great Celtics teams before that. But Michael didn't lose again after that when he had either Horace Grant or Dennis Rodman at power forward.
+ Arson Hakobyan. That Magic squad in the mid-90s had a deep line-up. They lost to the Rockets mainly because of inexperience not just from their two stars, but the HC was also inexperienced. Brian Hill I would say was a decent coach, if they had a more component coach, let's say Chuck Daily they wouldn't have constantly been swept in the playoffs. Of course Penny doesn't compare to Jordan because he was only in this third year as a pro. And yes the Bulls did sweep the Magic in 96, but Horace Grant did get injured in the 1st game (Grant was trying to set up a screen and his arm got caught in-between Shaq and Pippen) which was a huge blow. If Horace was able to play in that series, I would say the Bulls would have still won but the Magic wouldn't have gotten swept. I think by 96 the Magic needed a new coach, but unfortunately Shaq left and Penny got injured. Penny Hardaway and the Orlando squad in the mid-90s is the biggest what if in basketball. If only Shaq stayed and Penny fully recovered from his injures.
@@JuniusR. Jordan unretired and came back to play in the NBA. That's more of the reason than it being Penny and Shaq stopping the Bulls that year in the playoffs. If Jordan doesn't retire, Penny and Shaq wouldn't have beaten the Bulls to advance to the chip.
@Dani DLF I was impressed, he knew it was gonna go out and his only option was to yell it in. I thought it was dope and so did the crowd. they even ahhh and clapped. Never seen such heart like that in a game. That right there is pure heart in physical form. nothing funny about it at all. Mad respect and a differnt IQ for the game.
Allen Iverson was never ever disrespectful to jordan & always treated him with the utmost adoration on & off the court, what they wanted to do was make ai bow down in submission & ai wanted to chart his own court & ot be ushered in by the conventional norm, his own style dress code etc, that's why he said i don't wanna be like mike, not to diss mike, but to assert his individuality to do things his way. Apparently that had never been done before & it scared some if not all ppl. If he had no talent & wasn't such a threat they wouldn't have cared what he said or did, but they wanted him to conform
It's painful to read so many basketball fans saying they'd prefer AI to Penny... Iverson was an incredible offensive player but he didn't understand the game. Penny always saw the whole game and made his teammates players. I'd play with Penny over Iverson any given day. Basketball is not fun when all you get to do is stand still and watch your teammate playing iso, even if you're winning. I really hope people can appreciate great players who likes passing the ball to his teammates. Guys like Penny, Brandon Roy, Pippen, Grant Hill, Duncan, Ginobili etc. are still under-appreciated.
better than magic johnson? are you kidding? magic johnson got five rings, 3 times final mvp, 3 times seasons mvp....the man who dominates the 80s with larry bird. thats a whole decade man.i am penny big fan but what has he done to justify that? i bet even you ask him he wouldnt think of it for a second.
yes iverson has incredible scoring ability and is probably best scoring point guard in the history. iverson has shown what a 6'0 man can do at the maximum. but then thats all he could do because his height just limits his defensive ability. its difficult for him to guard penny or any tall guard that he will have to shift duty. and if the opposition has two tall guards starting together then iverson is screwed. on the scoring end iverson is among the best, before him we would never dream of a scoring mvp for 6 feet only. but this is his ceiling.
since ever man ring defines greatness but im not talking abt being carried. being the main man to win ring thats what we called the champion. and thats all the past great players chasing for. its no point to win all the individuals awards if you cant lead your team to champions. if you dunno who magic and bird are, go look up and check out videos there are plenty on youtube. btw magic won his first ring in his rookie year and was finals mvp.
@Joseph Kony - child kidnapper WarLord Prophet Iverson never NEVER had Penny's skillset and talent. Penny made 1st team all-nba in his 2nd year as a pro. In his 2nd year year as a pro Penny was considered to be one of the best players in the league. In his 3rd year (95-96 year) Penny made 1st team all-nba again and was 3rd in MVP voting. In 3 years, Penny made 1st team all-nba X2. Iverson is not even fucking comparable to Jordan, Kobe, Wilt, or Olajuwon who the fuck are you kidding? So he had a block on Penny, so what? Penny post up game was still fucking good. And Penny wasn't injury prone, if you knew the TRUTH about Penny's injury you wouldn't say that. You don't know shit.
I know people are probably gonna think that I'm hating but for some reason I really love his style of slashing to the hole and athleticism (Iverson) than Curry's constant three point shooting. All that 3 point shooting to me is just boring. I even loved Nash's game, and allot of other current point guard's, to me Curry is just a bore.
+Omar Jo But it wore AI out by the time he was at the tail end of his career he was worthless. Curry when he is at the tail end of his career will still be a deadly shooter.
@@ncm2738 AND, ALL OF DAT DRANKING & GAMBLING!! I'M FROM DETROIT, & HEARD THA' STORIES (MOST OF THA' STREET NIGGAZ HERE DID BACK THEN, ESP. WHEN HE STARTED LITERALLY LIVING AT A CASINO HERE DAT I USE TO WORK AT!!)!
+Choi Soo 10+players in the league could avg. the points he averaged if they had the combination of green light & selfishness to just shoot shoot shoot all the time, whether anybody's open or not. I mean at only 5'10, Iverson averaged more shot attempts per game than Kobe Bryant & Michael Jordan in many of seasons, and his efficiency stats sucked.
Allen Iverson is right “I don’t have to respect Michael Jordan” that man ain’t do nun for him. Onna sode note this was a fye ass match up I wish they would’ve been on the same team AI at the 1 Penny at the 2
I was definitely sad that penny’s career was cut short. He was fun to watch back then. But AI stayed healthy and consistently grew to be one of the all time greats. 97 was a good year for ballers.
6:45 It's funny that the commentator points out the foot shuffle upon catching the ball. Everybody in the NBA does this now and much more blatantly than McLean. It drives me nuts.
He did he probably had a michael jordan poster on his wall growing up...but the first words Michael Jordan ever said to him was "what's up .... You little bitch!" People forget just how ruthless MJ was
I've heard the opposite like Iverson arguing with Sixers front office over the trade, but all word of mouth stories anyways. Both were starting shooting guards however so it couldn't work.
+Cooley96 I never heard that one before, but that's definitely a lie. What I'm isn't word of mouth. First, AI and Stack's entourages got into it with each other outside of the Sixers practice facility. The team tried to downplay it to the media, but then later at a shootaround AI and Stack got into a fistfight. Stack kinda dissed him in the media. Then in the off-season Stack let the Sixers know he would not re-sign with the team, so they traded him. And AI told reporters the move was "better for him and better for us."
PRIME PENNY 1st glance had the length of a small forward with posture handles pen point passes of a pure point guard and a Sniper from beyond 3pt range. INJURIES derailed him from being the Coldest 2guard parrelle to kobe behind Jordan for the simple fact that he had a Point God mentality because he was the 1st Hybrid point guard that transitioned over to the 2spot and became even more of a matchup problem especially in the midpost after yr3 when Shaq first left Orlando.
Love ai and penny. Who would you take with you in a brawl? Ai! Who would you take with you to the four seasons to meet up with babes? Penny! Hard to choose
Yes AI is a unique & at one point of his career is great also. But for me greatness is with results.. And for some absurd comments by people saying that Ai is somewhat better than Mj just because he crossed him over is unacceptable. It's because Mj has done so many highlights that it became so normal that when people see one doing it to Mj, it was so great for them and will say that player is better.. That's how great Mj. Its a basketball game anyone can get caught off-balance even AI.
The reason people say he was somewhat better than MJ is because of what he accomplished with the team he had MJ had a all-star team he didn't have nothing and he took the Sixers to the finals I doubt very seriously MJ could've done that
@@sherrillraymond7595 BUT, HE HAD HOF DIKEMBA M., TOP SHOT BLOCKER IN THA' LEAGUE THAT SEASON THEO RATLIFF, THA' BEST DEF. SQUAD DAT YEAR, & ONE OF THA' BEST HALF-COURT COACHES IN THA' LEAGUE BACK THEN (LARRY B.)!!! PEOPLE TRIP ME OUT SAYING DAT ISH ABOUT HIS TEAMMATEZ THEN!
penny has it wrong though. mj did it for himself, he paved the way but he did it for himself. and I confidently could say I choose ai over penny any day.
Penny was only healthy for 3 seasons from 93-96, his first 3 years in Orlando. In 3 years Penny made 1st team all-nba twice (both in 95 and 96), made the playoffs ever year even reaching the finals, and was 3rd in MVP voting during the 95-96 season. I would rather have a healthy Penny than AI.
+Arsen Akopyan who was he going to pass the ball to? people say LeBron had scrubs on his 07 finals cleveland team AI had no one and the guy was banged up all season. and he went up against shaq. Shaq was probably the equivalent of wilt in terms of domination and physical abnormalities.
i think penny hardaway is 100000000 better than iverson. penny was a team player also was a leader.people always compared him to jordan.the injuries blocks. his nba career however in his prime he showed his level and noby could defense him. iverson was good player but not like penny.thanks
Raul Morel you really think Penny was better than Allen Iverson are you crazy you better go look at some numbers & stats. Penny in his prime wasn't even better than Allen Iverson. Penny had a squad unlike A.I. he had to score at will. We seen A.I. max out his full potential unlike a Penny. It's a bunch of what ifs, example what if Penny didn't stay injured. If" if was a fifth we'd all be drunk so I know you drunk Raul Morel.
also people forget a.i had the third highest ppg average in nba history behind wilt and Jordan at 27.5 but then he went to Detroit and the rest was history
Penny was a big A.I. hater. He let the media goad him in speaking on another man's words instead of speaking to that man himself. He hated on A.I. when he got to Phoenix too, even though Iverson made him a victim in the playoffs during that lockout season. Sixers was a sixth seed, Magic was the third seed and A.I. overshadowed him. C'mon bruh.
Considering the fact that Penny Hardaway use to be my fav player before AI, he's made out of crochet paper and is a bum in comparison to AI. F Mj to. Who gets Steve Kerr to punch them in the face? Answer, egomaniac Mj & in comparison to ai if Mj was 5'11" and weighed 165 he would be a bum to. FOH, ai is one of the most exciting players to ever grace a basketball court!