(外電)With Health on His Side, Hardaway Is Ready

看板Penny_1作者david319 (黑色大衛貓..喵喵喵)時間20年前 (2004/10/08 00:18)推噓1(1推 0噓 0→)

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消息來源: http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/07/sports/basketball/07knicks.html?oref=login 那張Penny的照片好帥喔...... 看來我們今年還是可以看到一隻活跳跳的penny啦 OH YEAH!! 請大家放心吧^^ With Health on His Side, Hardaway Is Ready By HOWARD BECK Published: October 7, 2004 HARLESTON, S.C., Oct. 6 - With their constant pursuit of marquee free agents and a never-shy attitude toward discussing their agenda, the Knicks put a healthy, sustained buzz in the N.B.A.'s off-season. They talked to Kobe Bryant. They danced with Erick Dampier. And they negotiated furiously for weeks until finally, triumphantly, they captured one of the free-agent prizes of the summer. The Knicks' acquisition of Jamal Crawford from Chicago in a sign-and-trade deal was Isiah Thomas's greatest coup since obtaining Stephon Marbury seven months earlier, and it left team officials giddy. Soon they were boasting of the potential of their new high-scoring guard rotation of Marbury, Crawford and Allan Houston and likening it to the old Detroit threesome of Thomas, Joe Dumars and Vinnie Johnson. So where, exactly, would all this leave the Knicks' most versatile veteran guard, the one with a team-high 64 playoff games and 4 All-Star Games to his credit? "I was wondering, too," Penny Hardaway said with a smile and a chuckle after practice at the College of Charleston on Wednesday. In truth, he understands the situation all too well. Being an afterthought has, oddly, become routine for Hardaway, a one-time superstar. Hardaway was a salary-cap balancing adjunct in the Marbury trade, a high-priced throw-in of sorts. In Phoenix, he was once paired with Jason Kidd in what the Suns hyped as the greatest backcourt of the modern era. By the time he was traded to the Knicks, the Suns had buried him on the bench in favor of young prospects. So here he is again, fighting for respect and for minutes while Knicks officials do back flips over their new favored son - Crawford, a 24-year-old guard who has never played for a winning team in the N.B.A. "That's how it is," Hardaway said without a trace of bitterness. "Allan and Steph are our captains, and Allan has been here and been the man for so long here. And Steph coming in, they're very excited about having him in. Now they're very excited about having Jamal. I'm kind of used to that situation, like the last five or six years being in Phoenix." That's the perspective of a 33-year-old veteran coming through, but also the confidence of a player who believes he has finally overcome a 10-year struggle to get healthy. Between 1994 and 2001, Hardaway had five operations on his left knee and never fully recovered. In Phoenix, he was always rushing back, to support his team and to stem the constant carping about his fortitude. So the knee kept bothering him, and his summer workouts were limited to rest and rehabilitation. This summer was the first in years in which his knee needed no special attention, and Hardaway was able to work on reconditioning everything else. "This is the best I've felt since six years ago, when I first got to Phoenix," he said. Which means, perhaps, that the Knicks' best weapon off the bench may be the guy no one is talking about. "You know, you just have to make them say your name," Hardaway said. "You have to come in and work hard and show them that you're ready, and then see what happens after that." At 6 feet 7 inches and 215 pounds, Hardaway has the skills and the size to play three positions, so he will most likely find steady minutes one way or another. He averaged 9.6 points in 29 minutes for the Knicks last season. "I see Penny in a critical position for this team," Coach Lenny Wilkens said. Hardaway has no illusions about regaining the form that made him a candidate for the "next Michael Jordan" in the early 1990's, but he does say that, with good health, he can recapture some part of his youth. "Oh yeah," he said. "Oh yeah. All I have to do is just get the ball in my hands, and I'm going to try to make magic happen." Marbury and Crawford have been criticized at times for their wildness with the ball. Houston, when healthy, is as dependable as they come, but his knees remain a concern. Hardaway's steady demeanor and selfless playmaking could be exactly what the Knicks need as they try to segue from upstarts to division winners. "I think I'm going to find a way in there, because I just play basketball the right way," he said. "I just try to get everybody involved, try to keep the ball moving, try to keep things running very smoothly out there. I just have confidence that I'll be out there. "Even if they're not mentioning my name, I know I'll be out there." -- 因為喜歡尼克所以改型叫NYK 囉^^ http://www.wretch.twbbs.org/user/NYK 被叫去當拍照的MODEL 真爽^^ -- ※ 發信站: 批踢踢實業坊(ptt.cc) ◆ From: 218.166.209.241