It’s more than just Jordans. eBay’s strongest tie to basketball is not documented footwear, but an infinite inventory of NBA junk, official and otherwise, wearable or not. If it’s old and NBA, it’s worth watching. Keep checking back for the best in vintage NBA memorabilia around. This week, we have Penny Hardaway‘s 1965 Ford Mustang and Carmelo Anthony‘s 1971 Chevrolet Chevelle.
Dead Auction: Carmelo Anthony’s 1971 Chevrolet Chevelle (Baltimore Orioles Edition)
Ended: $18,500
There was lots of hope when Carmelo Anthony signed with the Knicks and almost no blame. While LeBron James was pilloried for leaving his suffering hometown team, Anthony’s upward move was met with almost no consternation. It’s counter-romantic, but both James and Anthony would be pleased to know that plenty of players’ careers can take off when they reach their second teams.
Earl Monroe is, if not the best example, the closest to Anthony. Monroe lit up some Bullets teams in the late 1960s. He won Rookie of the Year (at 23), came in second in the league in scoring in 1969 and earned his paychecks off a bevy of ABA moves. He was one of the more celebrated Philadelphia playground players of his era – he’d go on to have more nicknames than teams, and if he wasn’t the first basketball “Jesus,” he was the first important one – and those moves translated surprisingly well to a regimented brand of basketball. He’d leave Baltimore young, traded to the Knicks at 27, in 1971, and would subsume his production, though not his style, in cooperation with a better shooter (Walt Frazier) and for a better team.
It’s no news that it paid off, with the Knicks winning a championship just three seasons later, though there was no shortage of doubt at the time of the trade as to whether it would work. Would there be enough basketball to go around for both Clyde and Monroe?
Some no doubt crowed, at the time of the trade, that a more conciliatory Earl would go from a ripe stat stuffer to a shrinking violet, but Monroe didn’t change much about his play – he just had a couple fewer shots a game. Monroe went into the Hall of Fame as a Knick, but first a scorer.
Carmelo’s car, an Orioles-clad reminder of home, is not going with him to New York. Like Monroe, he’s the elite pure scorer of their generations. Monroe’s trip to New York was direct from Baltimore; Anthony took a detour. Still, for now, that’s where it ends. Monroe was the most selfless player who shouldn’t have been – sorry, LeBron – but ‘Melo’s style, and his deferral to Amar’e Stoudemire, is still TBD and a subject for a different column. Anthony is the better iso player, which will be the difference late in games, but whether that will gel with a full-court system is up for debate. Indeed, all we can tell from this auction is that he’s not an Orioles fan anymore.
Dead Auction: Penny Hardaway’s 1965 Ford Mustang FASTBACK
Ended: $27,250
The one-uniform notes of Reggie Miller or Kevin McHale‘s careers sound smoother, but all-timers like Monroe and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar made their marks on their second act. It’s a rare thing, in many ways rarer than the one-team man. But in any event it’s better to be the late-blooming elite player, as rare as he is, than Penny Hardaway.
Most people know how good Penny was when he was at his peak, and plenty more know his sneakers. Both bear repeating. For about three years, he was, simply the nastiest, most offensive — in both senses of the words – young player in the game. Maybe not the best, but the nastiest. A big guard, he’d slash mostly, but find guys, and he took the ball if he had to. Penny was so nasty, Jordan wore his sneakers. But like Dale Murphy and the Apple Newton, or, even Arthur Rimbaud, his was a short burning flame.
When Penny was good – steals, mismatches, 50 percent shooting, 60 percent true shooting as a guard, with a pedestrian three and free-throw percentage – he was worth Chris Webber plus three picks. Good didn’t even describe it. But then Shaq left, and Penny dipped a little bit. Then he’d get injured, and soon he was in Backcourt 2000.
No one was telling that to Nike – the Pennys didn’t start releasing until his decline. (He rocked Nike Air Go’s and, along with His Airness, the Nike Air Flight One, until 1996.) Who could tell? Discounting Jordans, it’s hard to think of a shoe that has more favorites. To a straight scout, the Pennys might have been a coda for an elite player, but the Foams and the first three Pennys kept him looking elite all the way up to Backcourt 2000.
Penny didn’t leave right away, but his career value, defined by Win Shares, is somewhere between Corey Maggette and Baron Davis. ‘Melo, surprisingly, has not reached either that level of productivity, and is some years away from lapping Penny for career worth. But while Penny’s car is worth more than Anthony’s, he just had one great season after 26. If ‘Melo keeps up the pace – and whether or not his numbers drop playing with Stoudemire, he should – he’ll have the more productive career. Still, it’s a disturbing thought to a Penny fan. He was just that good, and it seems unfair.
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