Penny Hardaway made a bold claim in the most recent episode of Shaquille O’Neal’s documentary ‘Shaq’, claiming that he would have been as successful with Shaq as Kobe Bryant was.
Penny stated that he should have been in Kobe’s place when Shaq won his three straight NBA championships from 2000 through 2002. That’s easy to say, but not many people believe Penny said something that could have been done as easily.
The Los Angeles Lakers of the start of the new millennium were something else, led by Phil Jackson’s tactics and the duo of Shaq and Kobe, who were absolutely unbeatable during that time.
Shaquille O’Neal Doesn’t Think He Would Have Won With Penny Like He Did With Kobe
Shaq has replied to those comments, admitting again that Penny was Kobe Bryant before the Black Mamba became a superstar, but also stating that the system they had on the Lakers played a crucial role in their three-peat. Talking on The Rich Eisen Show, Shaq had this to say (2:14 mark):
“And I believe that. Penny was Kobe before Kobe. As great as Kobe was, Kobe’s first two years, he had to make adjustments. Penny came in great. When Penny came, I think we made the Finals — it’s not the first year, the second year. Penny was great. I kind of felt his pain. The business of basketball is a tricky thing, because in the business of basketball you got egos. I felt we definitely could have got one or two. I was telling some guys, ‘us winning three in a row in Orlando? I don’t know because it’s a system thing. The triangle is an intricate system that not a lot of people understand, so as good as we were, I think the system made us even better. In Orlando, when you’re running the traditional offense to floppy and the pick-and-roll, and all of that, a lot of things can go wrong when you run that kind of offense. But the triangle, when you do something so consistent, it’s kind of hard to stop. Again, I think Penny and I could have got one or two, but three in a row, I don’t know about that.”
That Orlando Magic was memorable. They had a great team led by a terrific duo that could beat anyone in front of them. They made it to the Finals in 1995 but lost due to their lack of experience in those instances. Perhaps not with Shaq, but the Lakers could have created another terrific duo with Kobe Bryant and beat O’Neal and Hardaway in the big series.
Of course, this is all speculation, but it would have been interesting to see how the situation unfolded for Shaq if he stayed on the Magic and Kobe formed a duo with another big man.
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