It started with Reggie Miller but now Penny Hardaway and Allan Houston are also considering making comebacks to the NBA. What in the name of Han "I'm out of it for a little while and everybody gets delusions of grandeur" Solo is going on here? Hardaway is officially back, signing with the Miami Heat and thus reuniting with his old Orlando Magic teammate Shaquille O'Neal. No word yet on whether Li'l Penny is also coming out of retirement. Houston apparently has been working out this summer and he believes that he can be a contributing player off of the bench for a winning team.
Hardaway and Houston are each 36, nearly six years younger than Miller is, but unlike Miller both of them have had microfracture surgery. Hardaway's last reasonably healthy season was 2003-04 and the last time he averaged double figures in scoring was 2002-03; he averaged 2.5 ppg in four games in 2005-06, his last season. Similarly, Houston's last healthy season was 2002-03, when he averaged a career-high 22.5 ppg--but Houston scored just 11.9 ppg in only 20 games in 2004-05, his last season. Hardaway has been talking about coming back for quite some time, claiming that his knees are healthy and that he is in great condition. When he was healthy, he was a very skillful and exciting player to watch; Hardaway has an excellent understanding of how to play and if he can stay healthy--a big if--then he could be productive as a role player. Houston was really laboring to get up and down the court the last time that we saw him. If his wheels are sound then he, like Hardaway, could be a solid contributor. Unlike Miller, these guys are young enough to reasonably believe that they can play guard in the NBA. The big question for both of them is if their injury-riddled bodies can withstand the rigors of an 82 game season.
Hardaway is the most intriguing story of the three right now because he is the only one who has actually signed with a team and because he has--or at least had--the best all-around game of this trio; he could play point guard and shooting guard and even some small forward in a pinch, with the ability to score, pass, rebound and defend. Of course, a lot of those skills were greatly diminished by the time he retired a couple years ago but it will certainly be interesting to see how he, O'Neal and Dwyane Wade interact. O'Neal and Hardaway did not get along very well the first time around, but O'Neal has said that he is on board with the Hardaway signing and one would think that both players have matured a lot since their Orlando days.
All we need now is for Kobe Bryant to go to Miami and Stephon Marbury to go to Boston to reunite with Kevin Garnett and then the circle of NBA life will truly be complete! Obviously, neither of those things will happen and I think that it is only slightly more likely that Miller or Houston will actually play in 2007-08.
Comebackitis: The New Fever Sweeping Across the NBA!
