http://cbs.sportsline.com/spin/story/9920454 Eager to prove worth, Penny's waiting for his (last) chance From his perch in Houston, where he is working out daily and dying to show everybody that he isn't washed up, cashed out and broken down, Penny Hardaway can't believe what he sees. Shabby play. Poor fundamentals. Could it be that at 35 he has turned into a crotchety old-school crank? Not likely. Hardaway loves basketball and the NBA. Now that he's healthy after six years of hobbling on a damaged knee, Hardaway wants one last chance to play the game. He can't get it, and it kills him. Penny Hardaway's last NBA action was Dec. 6-9, 2005, during a West Coast road swing with the Knicks. "I look at the league, and I say, 'I'm sitting out because of this?'" Hardaway says, referring to the level of NBA backcourt play that's beamed onto his plasma screen every night. Hardaway is waiting for a team to decide it could use a veteran backup who can play three perimeter positions and who is healthy -- finally -- after microfracture surgery and the removal of a large bone spur. He'll play for the veteran minimum. He'll come off the bench. He'll do anything, if only he can play. "I have two or three more years in me at a level where I can help," he says. "I don't want to be a star, playing 42 minutes a game. I want to be a role player. A happy role player." Hardaway hasn't been happy for a long time -- six years, to be exact. That's how long he has struggled with injuries. Orlando finally cut him loose last February, just a couple days after trading for him in what was a blatant salary-cap dump. Didn't matter much anyway, because Hardaway wasn't going to help the Magic. He was still in too much pain and unable to handle any full-time work. He couldn't even jump. Hardaway went back to Houston and had yet another MRI of his knee. This time, doctors saw something different. After years of hearing that the pain was due solely to the microfracture surgery he had in 2000, he finally learned the real reason he couldn't run or jump. "There was a huge bone spur on my knee," he says. "I said, 'Go in and take it out.' If I didn't come back, oh well." Houston-based orthopedic surgeon Walter Lowe, chief physician for the NFL's Houston Texans, performed the procedure, which brought almost instant relief to Hardaway. After years of running in pain and looking more suited to an over-40 men's league than the big time, Hardaway was free. No more agony every time he loaded up to jump. No more gimpy gait. "I can do anything," he says. "I can run, jump, dunk -- most of the stuff I did when I was (younger)." Lowe says Hardaway's desire to return too quickly from his original surgery in 2000 led to the formation of bone, not cartilage, on the end of his femur, a crucial weight-bearing area at the top of the knee. Lowe used an arthroscope to file off the spur, which was "about the size of a quarter." Penny Hardaway, a four-time All-Star and 1996 Olympian, spent six NBA seasons with Orlando and 4 1/2 with Phoenix. Lowe says Hardaway "would pass an NBA physical right now" and has been pleased with how Penny has responded since the surgery. Though another spur could form, and a bone-and-flesh transplant will be necessary eventually, Lowe has given Hardaway full clearance to pursue his comeback dreams. The chase has gone slowly. Hardaway has auditioned for three teams, including the Hawks and Sonics, none of which signed him. Seattle coach Bob Hill has said his team was performing due diligence by working out the guard, which is not the worst idea, given the Sonics' last-place status in the Northwest Division. But Hardaway said he was told the Sonics were "going to sign a big guy." As for the Hawks, GM Billy Knight was pleased with what he saw from Hardaway, but cited the team's excess of young perimeter players as the reason why Atlanta decided not to make an offer. "He looked good and was enthusiastic and energetic in the workout," Knight says. "We just have a lot of players who play the positions he does. We have Speedy Claxton and Tyronn Lue at the point, Joe Johnson, Josh Childress and Salim Stoudamire at the two, and Marvin Williams and Josh Smith at the three. "We have a lot of young players playing his positions." It has been so long since Hardaway was at full strength that many don't remember all he could do. He scored, dished and dazzled. His alter ego, L'il Penny, was the coolest 2-foot puppet on Madison Avenue. Hardaway teamed with Shaq to lead the Magic to the NBA Finals in '95. At 6-foot-7 and a sleekly distributed 202 pounds, Hardaway was almost too smooth for the game. He made it look easy, scoring 20 a night and handing out 8-10 dimes. Hardaway started in the All-Star Game four years straight (1995-98), made two All-NBA first teams and was a member of the '96 Olympic team, which won gold. Orlando sent Hardaway to Phoenix after the strike-shortened 1998-99 season, and he continued to thrive. One season later, he had surgery on his knee and began his tortuous odyssey. Though he played 80 games in 2001-02, he was a shell of his former self. Hardaway spent another season-plus with the Suns before moving to New York, where he was again hampered by the knee. After the Orlando deal, he figured it was time to step back. Hardaway's bank book is fat enough that he never has to lace up a pair of sneakers again. But his desire and love for the game lead him to do just that, day after day. "It's not about money," Hardaway says. "I want to end my career knowing I didn't give up. I don't want to say, 'Look how it ended.'" As a result, he finds himself in a role he has never experienced: basketball aspirant. The man who has always been the star is now a walk-on, hoping to find a job -- and nobody wants him. It's a stunning role reversal, but hardly enough to keep Hardaway down. He's convinced he'll be on an NBA roster this season, probably by the All-Star break. Until then, he continues to sell. "My knee is perfect," he says. And he continues to wonder how it all came to this. "I never thought in a million years I'd have to go through this," he says. "Teams want to see how my knee is. Now I understand what it's like for people who have to try to make teams. "But I know it will be worth it when I get in. The coaching staffs on the teams I've been working out for have been extremely happy and impressed with me. It's just that the management doesn't want to waive somebody or cut somebody to sign me." Until then, Penny Hardaway keeps working. And hoping. His knee has been reborn. He hopes his career has one last act, too. --

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