It's NBA Draft Lottery day, which means I get to do my annual rant about how the NBA has rigged multiple drafts in the past. And this time, I have some support in the form of this Mike Korzeemba video: Is This Video Proof That The NBA Draft Is Rigged.

The following is what I said back in 2013 after the Cavs won the No. 1 pick for the second time in three years.

Maybe it's the Oliver Stone fan in me that loves a good conspiracy. And when it comes to the NBA Draft Lottery, there's a long history of them. Last night was no different as another chapter was written when the Cleveland Cavs won the No. 1 pick (15.6% odds) and blew it on Anthony Bennett. AB was an epic bust but it didn't really matter because they got the No. 1 pick the following year despite having just a 1.7% of winning it. With that pick, they drafted Andrew Wiggins and flipped him for Kevin Love as a welcome home gift to LeBron James, who grew up in Akron, Ohio and ended up as the Cavs No. 1 pick in 2003 (22.5%).

The Orlando Magic won the second pick, Wizards got the third and the Charlotte Bobcats/Hornets ended up at the fourth spot despite only winning one more game than the league-worst Orlando.

Speaking of Orlando and NBA draft conspiracy theories, let's go back to the early '90s, when the Magic selected the most dominant college player ever in Shaquille O'Neal (15%) and then won the No. 1 pick the very next year despite having the worst odds (1.52%) at doing so with only a single ball in a drum of 66. The Magic selected Chris Webber, then traded him for Shaq's Blue Chips co-star Penny Hardaway and the NBA now had the most exciting and marketable young duo in the league for years. The coincidence was just screaming conspiracy as people called David Stern the best GM in the world. Coincidence is quite common in what seems like almost every other draft. Like in 2011, when LeBron took his talents to South Beach and the Cavs ended up with the No. 1 pick (2.8% chance) the following year, which was used to draft future Point God Kyrie Irving.

Speaking of Point Gods and franchises in need of a new superstar, in 2008, the Bulls ended up with local phenom Derrick Rose despite a 1.7% chance at winning the lottery. Another No. 1 pick point guard that will be battling Irving and Rose for years to come is the Wizard's John Wall (10.3%). The conspiracy behind the Wall pick surrounds the death of owner Abe Pollin months before the draft. The franchise needed a fresh start with the loss of Pollin and drama surrounding Gilbert Arenas, so David Stern gave Washington a present.

Stern also had some fun with the 2012 lottery, when other NBA GMs were crying foul as the New Orleans Hornets (partially owned by the NBA) ended up with Anthony Davis despite only having a 13.7% chance of landing the rare big man, who just happened to be wearing a Hornets hat "a couple of weeks" before the lottery.

This is nothing new to Stern. The marketing genius has been accused of rigging the draft since the very first one in 1985 when Patrick Ewing ended up with the Knicks (14.29%). Conspiracy theories include creased (watch him throw one envelope to the side) and frozen envelopes so Stern would know which one to grab.

If you think I'm wrong for pointing the finger too much at Stern then let me know who I'm supposed to blame. Chance? I could admit everything was just chance but ridiculous conspiracies are more fun to talk about.

BONUS VIDEOS

And here's Nick Smith with his take on the best draft conspiracies of all-time.

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On Sunday, LaMelo Ball had 44 points, 12 assists, 11 rebound, 5 steals, 1 block and 1 highlight Sergie Balashov doesn't want to be reminded of during the JBA's 121-114 win over BC Zenit.

I'm pretty sure the first thing you said to yourself when you read Melo had 44 points was, "How many shots did he miss?" The answer is 17 out of 32 attempts. Not bad. That's 47%, which is pretty good by BBB/JBA standards and pretty great compared to the shooting percentage of all of the young kids pulling up from near half court in high school games because they think they are Melo or a Trae Young.

Anyways, the real reason why I made this post was it gave me an excuse to bring up Penny Hardaway. Melo's spin move was reminiscent of the one Penny used on so many victims in his early Orlando days. And I wasn't the only person who had flashbacks after watching the clip. Jaleel White (Urkel from the show Family Matters) posted this comment on our IG video: "92 P. Hardaway move rt thurr."

Jaleel White commenting about Penny Hardaway! How is that for a 90's throwback?

Back to "The Ankle Bully," here's another angle of his spin and you can see the live angle at the 16:44 mark in the full highlights from the game.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bo7Bo47hi4w

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Due to a tie-breaker with the Indiana Pacers, the Orlando Magic failed to get the final spot in the 1993 NBA playoffs. Orlando fans cried as their magical season ended and the NBA cried because Shaq was the biggest story in the league that year and they would have preferred to see Shaq go for broken backboard #3 in the playoffs than watch Reggie Miller shoot a few more threes.

The basketball Gods (and maybe David Stern) made it up to everybody by giving the Orlando Magic the No. 1 pick in the upcoming draft, despite only having a single ball in a drum of 66.

Orlando fans had wet dreams at the thought of Shaq and Chris Webber being Orlando's twin towers but that idea reportedly wasn't so cool with Shaq and Webber. Luckily for them, during Shaq's acting debut in the film Blue Chips, he got to know toothpick-skinny co-star Penny Hardaway pretty well and told the powers that be at the Magic Kingdom to shock the world and pass on the Fab Five star for a Scott Skiles replacement. The Magic invited Penny to a workout that left Magic GM Pat Williams calling Penny the next Magic Johnson and Oscar Robertson.

On draft night, the Orlando Magic selected Webber with the 1st pick, then traded him 15 minutes later to Golden State for No. 3 pick Penny Hardaway and a few future draft picks (1996, 1998, 2000). Orlando fans were once again crying because Penny wasn't a household name and nobody gave a damn about picks three, five and seven years in the future.

It didn't take long for Penny to turn those tears into cheers; In his first preseason game, Penny posterized the Rockets' Carl Herrera and by the end of the first week of the season, it was evident that Penny and Shaq were going to be one of the most exciting duos in the league and worthy of the Magic and Kareem comparisons.

Webber did go on to win Rookie of the Year and was clearly going to be an NBA great but his rocky relationship with coach Don Nelson made it clear Webber wasn't going to be a Golden State great unless they got rid of Nelson. During the off-season, Webber took advantage of an obsolete loophole that allowed rookies to opt out of their contracts after a year. He ended up being in a sign-and-trade deal with the Washington Bullets for Tom Gugliotta and three future first-round picks.

Just off the fact that the Warriors only got one season out of Webber and the Magic ended up with six seasons -- including four All-Star and one Finals appearance -- with Penny, you would probably say the trade was a steal for the Magic. Then you factor in how marketable Penny was during his prime (second to only Jordan) and it was looking like the steal of the century.

"I thought it was the greatest trade in history," said Danny Ainge. "I thought Penny Hardaway was the best player coming out of college that year. Straight up, I thought it was a pretty good trade, and still do. And three No. 1 picks? C'mon."

This is where the "C'mon" really gets to "are you serious?" levels.

1994

In the summer of 94, the Magic traded Scott Skiles and the 1996 and 1998 picks to the Bullets for a second round pick in 96 and their 98 pick. The Bullets then traded the picks, a 2000 pick and Tom Gugliotta to the Warriors for...Chris Webber.

1996

The 1996 pick turned out to be the 11th pick in the legendary 1996 draft. And with that pick, Todd "F*cking" Fuller was selected. Here's a few guys picked after Fuller: Kobe Bryant (13), Peja Stojakovic (14), Steve Nash (15), Jermaine O'Neal (17).

If the Magic still had this pick, can you imagine a backcourt of Penny and Kobe? It probably wouldn't have worked out and supposedly Penny once blew off a high school Kobe after a Magic game. Ironically, it was Shaq that ended up being friends with the high school star because he remembered how mad he felt when David Robinson blew him off when he was that high school visitor in an NBA locker room (Shaq later admitted he made this story up).

1998

The Warriors drafted future Rookie Of The Year Vince Carter with the 5th pick in the 98 Draft and then traded him to the Raptors for No. 4 pick Antawn Jamison.

As for the Magic, with the 13th pick they got from the Bullets, they selected Keon Clark, who never played a minute for Orlando and is currently serving an eight-year jail sentence.

2000

Seven years after the trade that started it all, the Orlando Magic used their final pick from the deal to select future Rookie of the Year Mike Miller with the fifth pick.

Recap: The Warriors drafted then traded No. 3 pick Penny Hardaway & 3 future picks for No. 1 pick Chris Webber. Those picks turned into: Todd Fuller (#11 in 96), Vince Carter (#5 in 98) & Mike Miller (#5 in 00).

Shout out to Josh Eberley for reminding me how insane this trade became.

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Every time I look at my stack of VHS tapes -- full of every Orlando Magic/Shaq/Penny Hardaway highlight, half-time feature, interview and SportsCenter recap I came across between 1992-1996 -- I think about that horrible day of May 27th of 1996. That day in 1996 was the day a part of my childhood died. It was the last game of the Shaq and Penny era. An era that was supposed to be full of NBA championships for the most dominant center and multi-dimensional point guard in the league. But thanks to the best shooting guard in the league -- who was looking for revenge after losing to the Orlando Magic a year before -- it ended with the sight of my favorite player walking, alone, off the court and to the lockers as a disappointed looking Penny stayed on the court to congratulate his opponents and a high-five giving Michael Jordan, who probably burned Penny's hand since his was still hot from knocking down 16-of-23 shots for a game-high 45 points.

"It's really sickening because we are a better team than what we displayed,'' Hardaway said after the 106-101 loss. "Even though we had injuries and everything, it's still hard to take and live with.''

In the Magic's defense, this wasn't your typical Jordan and Bulls either. This was the 72-win Bulls that would go on to win the first of three NBA championships between 96-98. Still, this was the Orlando Magic team that won 60 games without Shaq (thanks, Matt Geiger!) for much of the first half of the regular season. This was the Orlando Magic team that was supposed to be looking for redemption after being swept by the Clutch City Rockets in the 95 NBA Finals. Again, this was the Magic team that was supposed to produce multiple championships with a lineup of Shaq, Penny, Nick Anderson, Dennis Scott, and Horace Grant. But, after getting swept by Jordan and the Bulls on this day, the team and my dreams quickly fell apart.

On July 16th of 1996, the Orlando Sentinel newspaper posted a poll asking, "Is Shaq worth $115 million for seven seasons?"

That might sound like scrub money in today's NBA but on this day in 1996 that was the biggest contract offered to an NBA player. 91.3% of 5,000 fans called in and left a "NO" on the paper's answering machine. When those results made it to the Dream Team 3 practices, Shaq was teased by Olympic teammates (especially Charles Barkley) about it, especially since Alonzo Mourning just signed a deal for $105 million.

Two days after the poll ran, Shaq conducted "the original decision," announcing he was taking his talent to La La Land (worth mentioning is Shaq did give the Magic a chance to match the Lakers 7-year/$121 million deal but they decided not to). That decision led to a new stack of VHS tapes from 1996-2004 and another Shaq-related story of redemption, championships and the falling out between two superstar teammates.

THE SHAQ & PENNY ERA

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Granted, much of Penny's rise happened while the GOAT was trying to get grand slams instead of slam dunks and companies like Nike and Upper Deck were doing their best to put Penny's face everywhere they originally had Jordan's mug (including on mugs), but, Penny wasn't hype created in a marketing meeting; Penny was more like a what-if player made in hoop heaven: What if Magic Johnson had hops? What if Isiah Thomas was tall?

Earlier this year, Gatorade had Penny Hardaway present high-school phenom Jayson Tatum with the Gatorade National Boys Basketball Player of the Year award and then gave me the opportunity to spend a few minutes with the man who gave me years of joy and reminisce about the 90s and his most memorable moments with and/or against Michael Jordan, who once wore Penny's Air Flight One signature sneakers during a Playoff game.

THE DREAM TEAM

Penny's first encounter with?Jordan came during the summer of 1992 when the Dream Team scrimmaged against a group of college players including Chris Webber, Grant Hill, Bobby Hurley, and Penny. In their first scrimmage, the college stars pulled off a shocking 62-54 victory over the unbeatable Dream Team. Barkley got dunked on by both Webber and Rodney Rogers and a frustrated Jordan said afterward, "we got killed."

On the following day, the Dream Team got payback and schooled the college kids by destroying them. How bad? According to Charles Barkley, it was by 100.

I asked Penny if he got to match-up with Jordan in the scrimmages and if he ever schooled him.

"Oh yeah, we matched-up but he schooled me." Replied Penny.

SCOTTIE PIPPEN ALL-STAR CLASSIC

On September 9th of 1994, a retired Michael Jordan played in a charity game called the Scottie Pippen All-Star classic. It was the last basketball game played in the old Chicago stadium. The image people remember from the game is one of Jordan kissing the ground and the stat people remember is 52, which is how many points he had (on 46 shots). ?For many in attendance, the player and stat that left them scratching their heads was Penny Hardaway and his unofficial 42 points and 80 assists! Did he really have 80?

"I probably did," laughed Penny. "We ran the other team out of the building. They put all of the guards (Jordan, Penny, Jason Kidd, John Starks) on the same team and we were going against the Bulls (BJ Armstrong, Toni Kukoc, Ron Harper).

THE PASS. THE POSTER

This moment is also my favorite door poster ever and maybe my favorite Slam magazine cover too. ?Penny already knew what play I was talking about by just mentioning the poster. ?I asked if the assist was instinct or planned.?

"I remember that play and I'm not sure how I made the pass," said Penny ?"Michael was coming from behind and I saw Horace coming and it just happened."?

It also happened to really piss off the recently un-retired-45-number-wearing Jordan, who committed the turnover, which led to this memorable playoff moment and photo.

THE STEAL

More memorable than "The Pass" was "The Steal" in game 1 of the ECF. ?With 10 seconds left, Jordan had the ball poked away?by his friend Nick Anderson, Penny gathered up the loose ball and passed it to Horace Grant for the game-winning dunk. The steal and image of former teammate Horace Grant celebrating after the Magic eliminated the Bulls haunted Jordan and became his biggest motivation to come back with a vengeance. ?

"It felt great to beat the unbeata-Bulls." Said Penny.?

Not so great was having a similar feeling when the Magic lost a heart-breaking game 1 in the NBA Finals and ended up getting swept by the Houston Rockets. ?Like MJ and the Bulls, Penny and the Magic seemed unbeatable the following season.

PENNY & ONE OF THE MOST UNDERRATED TEAMS OF ALL-TIME

Everybody remembers the Bulls going 71-10 the following season but not many remember how dominant the Orlando Magic were ?- even without Shaq.

During a preseason game against the Miami Heat, center Matt Gieger broke Shaq's?big thumb, forcing him to sit on the Magic bench for 22 games. Penny stepped up and helped the Magic start the season with 33 straight home wins.

"I think that was my coming out party. That’s when I averaged the most points and showed I was one of the top players in the league." Said Penny with confidence in his voice I often thought he lacked during his early playing days.

I brought up the November 14th game against the Bulls when Penny outscored the league's best scorer 36 to 23 and gave the Bulls one of their 10 season losses.

"I was giving him fits." Laughed Penny.

I then told him how me and my friend jumped off a couch when he gave Jordan a taste of his own medicine with a turnaround fadeaway shot in the 4th.

"Oh yeah, I remember that too."

We then discuss how he thinks this underrated Magic team would have done against the current record-breaking Warriors team.??

"We would have adopted the strategy of Milwaukee on Steph." Answered Penny, referencing to the Bucks ending the Warriors' 24 win streak to start the season. "We had a real big team with me, Nick and 3D."

Penny and Nick were often the two best rebounding guards in the league and one of the many reasons why I believe this Magic team is a better team than the current Warriors team, which has no business being compared to the 72-10 Bulls team that swept Penny and the Magic at the end of this breakout season.

MJ THE JOKER

The last moment I brought up came during All-Star weekend - where Penny can enjoy how?great it feels to get easy assists by passing to Jordan and not have to worry about keeping him under 50. The 96 Eastern All-Stars are being introduced, Penny's name is announced and every eye is on him as he grabs his falling pants, which were pulled down by a pranking Jordan.

"Maaaaan, MJ was always playing around." Said Penny in a tone that sounds like a person talking about how he wish he could go back in time and punch a bully known for taking lunch money.

I smiled and remembered not spending my lunch money so I could buy a pack of Upper Deck, Hoops, Skybox or Fleer basketball cards, hoping to pull a card of one of the most talented basketball players to ever bless the NBA. A player not going to the hall of fame and not on any basketball Mount Everest, but he's "your favorite players favorite player" and if it wasn't for injuries, he would have been just as good or better than those players and maybe even the GOAT himself.

BONUS VIDEOS

I Love The 90s: Penny Hardaway pic.twitter.com/qUfPAQlAjf

— David Astramskas (@Redapples2021) July 20, 2021

Growing up in Florida, I had the pleasure of watching every Penny Hardaway game with the Magic.

I also had the pleasure of interviewing him a few years ago. That was a bucket list moment. pic.twitter.com/H0yrZqhmH0

— David Astramskas (@redapples) July 18, 2023

The Shaq & Penny era started 27 years ago today!

They made the NBA Finals the following year then broke up 2 seasons later. pic.twitter.com/AMbLLIwMWr

— www.ebooksnet.com (@Ballislife) November 6, 2020

The post Penny Hardaway On The Best Penny Hardaway vs Michael Jordan Moments appeared first on www.ebooksnet.com.

If your favorite NBA player is in his late 20s or early to mid-30s, there's a good chance that Anfernee Deon "Penny" Hardaway was one of his favorite players growing up. Kobe Bryant? Yes. Tracy McGrady? Yes. Gilbert Arenas? Yeah. LeBron James? Yep, Penny is one of the reasons James became a right-handed player even though he's a lefty.

I was lucky enough to be living in the Orlando area when Penny came into the league. This allowed me to acquire hundreds of hours of Penny footage on VHS tapes: Full games, half-time reports, news at 11 local footage. I was like a hunter in a tree but with a VCR remote ready to record over my favorite 90's shows (usually Saved By The Bell except for the ones that had Kelly in a swimsuit) to catch the latest Penny pass that would be viral and trending on social media today.

Then tragedy struck in O-Town. Shaq divorced the Magic and fans had to choose between Shaq Daddy or Penny. Since I was a Laker fan for life and a Shaq fan before a Penny one, I had to pack my bags, go with the Big Fella to Hollywood and just shake my head watching Felton Spencer try to fill his shoes back home. Things then got worse for Penny as injuries became frequent as did beef with teammates, coaches and the media. He quickly went from being the second most marketable player in the league to the second-best Hardaway in Florida.

In 1998, I started a silly website (Geocities anyone?) called Penny aka P---y. The site offended so many oversensitive Penny stans that I actually received daily death threats in my animated mailbox gif at the bottom of the anti-Penny site. But as Penny faded away, so did my negative feelings. I started ripping a bunch of those VHS tapes and putting the clips on better sites of mine and forums on the web. Before YouTube blew up, there was a good chance if you saw any rare Penny highlights on the web, it came out of my personal collection. I put out Penny mixes. Penny and the 90's Magic Mixes. Remixes of Penny mixes composed of the mentioned mixes. My love for Penny was back and stronger than ever.

A couple of years later, I was asked to do a T-Shirt design for a company called Hoop Culture. The shirt ended up on the backs of a lot of kids and streetball players, but the most rewarding moment for me is when I saw a pic of my 90's idol posing with that shirt. It made me forget that I did the shirt for pennies (no pun intended).

Years have gone by since that day, but every July 18th, I look forward to telling the same stories and reminding anyone willing to listen, that Penny was not only one of my favorite players but most likely your favorite player's favorite player too.

You will probably watch the following YouTube videos, look up his not so amazing stats and accomplishments and try to justify why people like me that saw him play in his prime thought so highly of him. All I can really say is he is one of the true rare cases where you just had to see it to believe it.

So enjoy a few clips that I proudly recorded and watched over and over again until I wore out my VCR heads. But first, a short Penny mix from my friend at OldSkoolBall.

https://twitter.com/Oldskoolbball1/status/1019528857601368065

UPDATE: On April 1st of 2016, I got to interview Penny Hardaway and it ended with him thanking me for "my knowledge of the game." Yeah, I'll be bragging about that moment for a very long time.?Here's him talking about the best moments between him and Michael Jordan during that interview.

4 HOURS OF PENNY

You read that correctly. This video is made up of 4 hours of Penny footage from 1992 - 1995!

BONUS?STUFF

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In the Dream Team Documentary that aired a couple of days ago, it states that the Dream Team “l(fā)ost” in a scrimmage to a young talented USA Select Team filled with college stars. Included on that team were Anfernee “Penny” Hardaway and Grant Hill who were both supposed to be the next big thing. The future was bright for the NBA with MJ leading the way and these young stars to fill in after. They were the ones who were supposed to challenge MJ for his top spot for years to come. They were the ones that MJ was supposed to pass the torch to once he was too old. But, instead, injuries kept both Grant Hill and Penny Hardaway from reaching that top level of superstardom. Both were still good, but not what they were supposed to be. They never reached their full potential as NBA players because of many injuries before hitting their prime. Penny had a horrible knee injury in his 5th year in the League, which led to more surgeries and less productivity as his NBA career past along. Grant Hill has been able to endure his ankle injuries, but he never got back his athleticism. Hill was touted as the future of the NBA coming out of Duke back in ‘94 since MJ retired.

Grant Hill and Penny Hardaway both stood at about 6’8, were strong finishers around the rim, and had the playmaking abilities of point guards. Both were considered Point Forwards because of their versatility. Penny’s best year was his third when he averaged 21 points, 7 assists, and 5 rebounds while Grant Hill’s best year was his sixth year where he averaged 25, 5 dimes, and 7 boards. If Penny never got injured, his numbers would probably have been pretty close to Grant’s in that sixth year. However, we didn’t get to experience Penny nor Grant’s full potential because of their pre-prime injuries, and it resulted in both of them having to play lesser roles in their respective primes. Check out these highlights and say they wouldn’t have been a great matchup for the Post-Jordan Era.

[jwplayer config="Click N Play" mediaid="15293"]

You can’t go wrong with choosing either one, but who would you take if they had no injuries: Grant Hill or Penny Hardaway? #FlashbackFriday

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Dwight Howard has given us some news that we should all be happy about. He's going to reunite the Magic combo of Shaq and Penny.

Howard tweeted that he will be hosting an Orlando All-Star game at the University of Central Florida on November 13th. The game will feature "old school and new school players."

Two Supermen on one court? And Penny?! Lucky Orlando fans...

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