MEMPHIS — The most talked-about man in Memphis is the hardest man to get to talk. You hear about him everywhere. He’s the hot topic on sports radio and a favorite conversation in basketball circles, his name buzzing across the city like an electrical current.



You hear about him. You just don’t hear from him. Text messages go unreturned, and phone calls bounce to a voice mailbox that is not yet set up. It is the right number, those in the know say. At least they think it is. He changes it a lot, just as he did when he played in the NBA. It’s not that he’s rude, they explain. Couldn’t be nicer once you get in front of him. Getting to him is the hard part.



On game night, he finally appears three minutes before tipoff, he and his two assistants dressed like triplets — gray pants, white shirts, maroon ties. That’s where the similarities end. He is Penny Hardaway, and they are not.



His boss, the principal at Memphis...