For Anfernee Hardaway, Orlando will always be home

Anfernee Hardaway had a brief glimmer of greatness in Orlando with the Orlando Magic. Hardaway has kept his distance, but finally returned home to the Magic

As the lights dimmed between the first and second quarter at the Amway Center on Friday, the atmosphere changed with anticipation. The video played on the jumbotron and the 6-foot-7 guard walked onto that somewhat familiar court (it was a different building then).

As Anfernee Hardaway reached midcourt and the highlight video finished playing, the crowd rose to its feet. The roar of appreciation was only beginning to rise and get louder and louder

For a moment, it felt like the old days. Like Hardaway would go streaking down the lane with the basketball, rising up in a flash and throwing a dunk down with some thunder. It felt like he was going to pull up on a dime (pun intended) and drain a jumper over a hapless defense.

Time passes and there were no more highlights to make. Hardaway left the Orlando Magic on bad terms as superstars tend to do. He returned Friday night to the Amway Center completely forgiven, of course. Time healing all wounds and the tinge of nostalgia flooding everyone.

Anfernee “Penny” Hardaway was home. And right where he belongs in the Orlando Magic Hall of Fame.

“Every time I come back here, it just brings back those memories,” Hardaway said. “I haven’t come back a lot, as you guys know, and come to games in the past unless I have been invited. Hopefully, this will jumpstart me coming back more and being around more. It’s home, really.”

Behind-the-scenes... as @Iam1Cent is inducted into the @OrlandoMagic Hall of Fame! pic.twitter.com/4LVyFnGWuV
— NBA (@NBA) January 23, 2017

When it comes to his NBA achievements, Orlando is home for Hardaway. In six seasons with the Magic, he averaged 19.0 points per game and 6.3 assists per game. He was a four-time NBA All Star with the Magic and a three-time All-NBA selection, including two first-team selections.

Hardaway was a true superstar and the point guard that put the Magic over the top, turning them into title contenders in just their sixth year of existence and taking them to the NBA Finals in 1995. He was a unique player — a point guard with the size to post up smaller players and the speed to keep up with them.

With Shaquille O’Neal providing a lot of the flash and personality a young team needs as it gains confidence, Hardaway was the quiet soul. He was a different kind of guy, complementing O’Neal well. They were perfect foils building the team of the future.

But when he needed to turn loose, Hardaway certainly could. He was special in his own right.

“Being on the floor with him eased my mind,” Nick Anderson said. “When he went out of the game and come back in it was kind of like a stress reliever. He just made the game look so easy. He played it so smooth from that position. He just brought so much to the game.”

Eventually, after the disappointment of the 1995 Finals series and a sweep to the great 72-10 Chicago Bulls in 1996, the band got broken up. Hardaway was left alone with all the pressure to carry a franchise that had suddenly become used to success.

Hardaway took the mantle as far as he could. He remembered when the Magic were in the 1997 Playoffs against the Miami Heat and got beat up on 3-pointers from Dan Majerle and Voshon Lenard in the first two games. Then early in Game Three, Rony Seikaly went down with an injury.

Coach Richie Adubato pulled Hardaway aside and told him the game and the series was really on his shoulders. Hardaway put up back-to-back 40-point games in two of the best individual Playoff performances in franchise history.

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That was seemingly the last gasp for Hardaway. His time with the Magic ended in turmoil as he struggled with knee and ankle injuries. Eventually, he departed Orlando under poor circumstances, lashing out to the media in one infamous episode.

It was the kind of break up that was bitter and disappointing in a way that was not like Shaquille O’Neal’s departure.

It felt like Magic fans turned on Hardaway before he left. It was so bad, Hardaway was unsure how fans would receive him when he returned to Orlando for the team’s 25th anniversary season.

His departure was one of the big things he regretted in his playing career. He turned his back on some place that had a lot of meaning to him.

“First of all, I would have never left,” Hardaway said. “That was just an emotional kid being spoiled and doing something that is out of body. That isn’t even my element or my norm. I usually try to fight through things. I didn’t fight through and I regret it to this day. I would have cherished more here. We had some super teams and I took it for granted.”

Like so many others, there is a tinge of regret the Magic could not put things together and earn a NBA title. That Magic team brings up a lot of fond and painful memories for everyone. It was a lot of potential unfulfilled.

As was Hardaway’s career in many ways. The former first team All-NBA player never was the same after those injuries. Hardaway’s flame flickered quickly. And it seemed like it hardly got going.

For however long Hardaway’s career was and whatever impact it had nationally, he remained one of the key figures in Magic history. Undoubtedly, he is on the team’s Mt. Rushmore. His addition to the Hall of Fame was not a matter of if, but when.

He called his induction into the hall of fame “icing on the cake.” He could not wait to return to Orlando.

The question is just how often will he return.

For now, he is coaching high school in Memphis. It was a natural evolution from his foray into coaching helping a friend with his middle school team. And he is making a big impact as a mentor and coach in his hometown of Memphis.

Hardaway would not close the door to more coaching pursuits. His former teammate Jason Kidd suggests Hardaway could one day join the NBA coaching ranks.

Next: Is Anfernee Hardaway worthy of the Hall of Fame

Orlando, though, will still hold a special place. It is his basketball home in many ways. And finally Hardaway is exactly where he belongs.