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One of the reasons we rivet so intimately with talented athletes whose careers are cut short by injuries is that they prompt us of ourselves. We think: That player would have been great…Just like me if my job hadn’t been downsized, my spouse hadn’t liberal, I hadn’t quit school to take care of my parents, etc. We allow ourselves to romanticize the superb-case scenario even though, for all we know, that player may have already peaked. The dream is improve this way and we stay there, freezing those moments in time.
For a generation of basketball fans who came of age during the mid-’90s, Anfernee “Penny” Hardaway is presumably the face of this sentiment. The Memphis native and University of Memphis merchandise was an unquestioned phenom whose impact on and off the court made him an immediate superstar. By his number two season, he was a First-Team All-NBA selection, and along with Shaquille O’Neal and a group of under age and talented players, helped lead the six-year-old Orlando Enchanting franchise to a 59-23 record and Finals appearance. At 6-7, with ground star athleticism, he dominated opposing point guards and looked to be on the brim about to of a Hall of Fame-type career. By just his fourth age, however, injuries began making it all tumble down. In the end, Penny played in 704 unvarying-season games over 14 seasons for four different teams, with craft per-game averages of 15.2 points, 4.5 rebounds and 5 assists, numbers that don’t charge close to doing justice to what he was like at his peak.
Source: SLAM Online