Top 81 Quotes & Sayings by Penny Hardaway
Explore popular quotes and sayings by an American coach Penny Hardaway.
Last updated on November 21, 2024.
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.
It's fun coming back home, playing against the Grizzlies and to have the opportunity to come back and see my family.
I'm so thankful and blessed for the Heat organization.
Basketball gave me an avenue to live my dream, and I just want to help other kids live their dreams through me.
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.
If I've learned anything, it's that you can't take anything for granted.
I feel like I can play point guard for any team in the league and average a double-double.
I lived the dream. God blessed me to live the dream.
For sure, I definitely feel like there's a target on my back.
I keep myself in shape. I love the game of basketball, and I really feel like it doesn't matter about your age.
Personally, I just want to stay healthy.
I like to speed teams up. I don't like them to get in their rhythm.
I can pass on a lot of information. I'm just never going to be the 21-year-old Penny Hardaway again.
Someone takes the challenge with me, I'm going to take it right back.
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.'
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.'
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.
I just call it like I see it.
I love basketball, and I didn't get a chance to finish my career the way I wanted.
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.
I was as popular as you can be - All-NBA, Olympian. You couldn't get any higher than where I was.
I was a sneakerhead before I even made it to the NBA.
I want to finish my career on a high note.
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.
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.
Orlando is my history.
People think I'm soft and bailed out on basketball. But it was five knee surgeries.
It's just hard to watch isolation basketball.
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.
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.
I want to contribute in any fashion to a great team.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
I want the opportunity to play pain-free.
With Shaq, you have to let him know that he's the man. You have to do that with him.
I didn't do it the traditional way of being an assistant first and then becoming a head coach.
Injuries made people lose confidence in me, but I never lost confidence in myself.
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.
I am used to the hype because I played in the NBA.
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.
When you still have something in the tank, it's really hard to let it go.
I don't think about the money side. I just think about how I can create a culture of winning.
As an athlete, the body can fail you. I know. The mind and your education will be there to keep carrying you.
I want to leave a mark on society.
I don't know who Rick Barnes thinks I am, but I'm not a dude that likes to just mess around about anything.
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.
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.'
I'm not the kind of coach who feels like they know everything and 'Don't say anything to me.'
I can scream and yell that I can still play, but unless I prove it, people will say, 'Yeah, Penny, whatever.'
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.
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.
I like to keep teams off balance.
There are a lot of people who came out of adverse situations and made it. Use it as motivation. Use it to drive you.
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.
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.
That's my job as a veteran in the league - to help make the young guys better.
I feel like I've paid attention to all the great coaches who have coached me.
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