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Penny denies blame for Hill's ouster in '97; Sentinel reports...
Topic Started: Dec 15 2005, 12:54 PM (228 Views)
MagicMadness
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Former Magic guard Penny Hardaway, who is on the New York Knicks' inactive list, says that the Orlando media blamed him for Brian Hill's ouster in a player coup in 1997.

"The media in Orlando tried to make it out as something like I got him fired," Hardaway said. "But it was never that way. It was a young team trying to get better and we felt that as a team, we needed to make a change. Seeing him over there, I'm glad he got a second chance with the team."

Hardaway, who played for the Magic from 1993-99 and became an all-star, acknowledges he has an awkward relationship with Hill.

"Every time we see each other it's so strange. I only passed by him once when he was an assistant in Charlotte. We didn't say anything to each other," he said. "I would love to talk to him. I don't have any hard feelings and hopefully he doesn't either. But the media has made this split between us. And we did too many great things as a team with him as our coach to just be thinking about negativity."

Hill declined comment on Hardaway.

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I like Hardaway, and I think it'd be interesting to see him come back, but unfortunately this is the wrong place, wrong time. With Brian Hill as head coach once again and many fans still harboring ill will towards Penny, it would just cause too many problems both from a PR and a team standpoint.
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Magic Buddy
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I think Penny should just own up to it. He was not the first or last player to get a coach fired. The only time I really got pissed off at Penny was when he made some bad remarks about the City of Orlando as a whole before he got traded. The funny thing about the revolt, was alot of fans were blaming Brian Hill for the Magic losing the 1995 Finals and Shaq. I guess Penny thought he had green light to demand that Brian Hill be fired.
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Niquephreak
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It is kind of a shame that even six years after the fact (I suppose it was when he got traded) there's still a lot of ill-wll between Penny and the fans. He probably should own up to the fact that he got Hill canned because the longer he keeps this a secret, the more his legacy in Orlando is tainted. Let's not forget that the best years of the franchise were when he was there. BTW, at what time did Orlando fans move on from Shaq jumping ship to the Lakers?
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Black and Blue
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Penny is a jackass. He hates where he is now and is trying to preserve the one legacy he might have after he retires, which would be in orlando.

Hey Penny, the fans hate you for bashing the team, and its obvious all of your motives are self centered.
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MagicMadness
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Like B&B is saying, it's kind of obvoius that Penny knows he's no longer a stud and is trying to grasp to any kind of lasting legacy he might have in this league.

While I still like him as a player, the things he did and said in the year or two before he was traded was enough to discredit anything he's saying now.
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gomagic33
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Black and Blue
Dec. 17 2005 10:40 AM
Penny is a jackass. He hates where he is now and is trying to preserve the one legacy he might have after he retires, which would be in orlando.

Hey Penny, the fans hate you for bashing the team, and its obvious all of your motives are self centered.

Hell Yeah! He is a jackass!
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MAGICMANEVAN
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hes in denial. he wouldnt just go out and say that he got him fired. but we know he did. hes just trying to make himself look good.
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adamosthegreek
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I'll still stand by the fact that the media pushed Penny to the point where he becamse a jacka**. How else does Penny go from a loveable guy in '96 to once Shaq left and the media thought Penny had to be God himself that in '97 he became a jacka**??? :(
Penny was and still is my favorite NBA player of all time because of what he had to go through without Shaq, without fan and media support, and without injuries. He all by himself almost beat Miami in the playoffs in '97. :yes:
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