Not only was Penny Hardaway once a four-time All-Star and a three-time all-NBA selection, but he was considered one of the players who eventually would revolutionize basketball.

He was bigger than other guards and quicker than other forwards. He could run a team from the point or carry it from the low block. And when he wasn't setting up teammates with passes he was usually knocking down foes with talent that seemed to ooze out of his every pore. He was, in essence, the NBA's new guard, a player who would alter the position forever.

"Back then, I thought other than (Michael) Jordan, Penny was the best player in the game," said current Magic guard Tracy McGrady, who always has worn No. 1 and a wristband on his elbow in honor of his boyhood hero. "He was that 6-7 guy who handled the ball, ran the show and did it all. I was in love with his game, and I saw myself being the next guy with his kind of game. I wanted to be just like him."

But those memories are just that now -- memories. It's come to this for Hardaway: His athleticism sapped by four knee surgeries, he's fallen behind a rookie and out of the starting lineup for the woeful Phoenix Suns. It's gotten so bad that when the Suns lost to Charlotte four days ago, Hardaway played just 4 minutes and failed to score.

Quite a fall, for sure. The reasons for his downfall now are debatable -- injuries, age or his often self-destructive nature? But as he returns to Orlando tonight -- the place where he experienced so many exceptional highs and disastrous lows -- the blame game Hardaway is playing might sound like a broken record to Magic fans.

"There's a whole lot of pressure on me being an injured guy who wasn't supposed to play again," Hardaway said earlier this season. "Every mistake I make, the fans are getting on me. Everybody is down on me. Everybody has given up on me. I have to push through that at home and on the road."

While former Magic player Bo Outlaw likely will receive a rousing ovation tonight during his first return to TD Waterhouse Centre, Hardaway most certainly will be jeered again. Strange stuff, indeed, for arguably one of the three best players in franchise history. But the boos and bitterness that still linger some three years later give some insight into just how sour things had become by Hardaway's final season in Orlando in 1999.

"Penny was young and still learning when he was here and all the money he made just attracted the attention and put even more pressure on him," said Magic point guard Darrell Armstrong, Hardaway's former teammate in Orlando. "He didn't always handle it the right way. He took offense to everything written and said about him and he responded to it.

"Really, I think he got a bad rap. He was a young guy and a lot was put on to him quickly. He didn't go out the way he should have. It was a really bad situation, and you know he will be booed. I don't think that's right, but that's what will happen."

In the days after the Magic were bounced out of the 1999 playoffs by the upstart Philadelphia 76ers, Hardaway unleashed an emotional tirade in which he verbally shredded management, coaches and fans. Weeks later, Doc Rivers replaced Chuck Daly as the Magic head coach and tried to talk Hardaway into returning to Orlando. But Hardaway informed Rivers he was finished playing in Orlando, opted out of his Magic contract and began negotiating a free-agent deal with the Phoenix Suns that would pay his $86.6 million over the next seven seasons.

Phoenix was supposed to be about new beginnings for Hardaway. He even got a tattoo on his upper left arm that reads: "Part 2: Heaven Cent." He did play well in his first season in Phoenix, teaming with Jason Kidd to upset the San Antonio Spurs last week in Atlanta.

in the playoffs.

But that is when things started to unravel again for Hardaway. He reinjured his left knee and needed two surgeries -- procedures that ruined another season for him. He did play four games last January, but the persistent pain led to him shutting it down for the season. Matters only got worse when he was arrested for threatening his girlfriend with a gun. It all led to more criticism about Hardaway's toughness and commitment.

"People assumed that he could still play at the level he once could, but that just wasn't going to happen with all of the injuries he's had," Rivers said. "I really think that's affected him emotionally."

Hardaway, 30, finally looked healthy again to start this season, scoring 20 or more points in seven of the Suns' first 10 games. He even registered a triple-double in December against Denver (12 points, 10 rebounds and 11 assists) -- rekindling the memories of when he was a do-everything player who dominated foes in all phases.

But soon many of the same problems that he had in the past began to resurface again, bolstering his reputation as a malcontent. He publicly criticized point guard Stephon Marbury's unwillingness to pass the ball, and later the two scuffled during one practice. He also was repeatedly at odds with head coach Scott Skiles -- just as he had been with Brian Hill and Daly in Orlando.

His play has continued to fall off as the season has progressed. He has topped 20 points eight times since the hot start and has failed to reach double digits in 18 games.

Also, the tendinitis in his knees returned, further robbing him of his once-explosive first step. Things got so bad that after the Suns lost in Chicago recently, Hardaway left the team and headed to see a knee specialist in Toronto. Ultimately, he had forgotten to bring along his passport and had to miss Phoenix's next game.

Because he is making $11.25 million this season and still is owed about $30 million the next four seasons, Phoenix reportedly tried moving Hardaway in the months leading up to the NBA trade deadline. There were no takers. Odd, noted McGrady, for a player who was once on top of the basketball world.

"Penny used to be so hot, and then to go through the injuries and just fall off the way he has is really something," McGrady said. "To go through it has to be devastating to him. I hate it for him, and to this day I hate to see him this way. I mean he's coming off the bench for a team that's struggling and you just don't hear too much about him any more. It's kind of sad."