Tim Hardaway Jr.: Concerned Over Zero Playing Time?
By John Buhler
Tim Hardaway Jr. is the only player on the 2015-16 Atlanta Hawks that has yet to earn a second of playing time for the club. Should the Hawks have concerns?
Through the Atlanta Hawks first ten games of the 2015-16 NBA Season, the basketball club has gone 8-2 and remain one of the better teams in the Eastern Conference. In a team-first environment where seemingly everybody can become the star on any given night, one player on the 15-man roster has yet to contribute in any capacity. That man is newly acquired wing Tim Hardaway Jr. Should Hawks’ fans start to worry about their NBA legacy on the bench?
The path to getting Tim Hardaway Jr. from the New York Knicks stems from the aftermath of the second greatest trade in franchise history. While we all know that getting Dominique Wilkins from the Utah Jazz in 1982 was by far and away the best deal the Atlanta Hawks organization has ever made, the Joe Johnson deal with the Brooklyn Nets was a front office masterpiece orchestrated by former GM Danny Ferry.
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For simplicity’s sake, the Atlanta Hawks got a series of draft picks from the Brooklyn Nets for All-Star SG Joe Johnson back in 2012. One of those picks became Mike Muscala, another was the unprotected first round pick of the Nets in 2015.
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Brooklyn had the 15th overall pick in the 2015 NBA Draft, as the worst team to make the NBA Playoffs last season. Atlanta selected SF Kelly Oubre out of Kansas and promptly swapped his rights with the Washington Wizards’ first round pick Jerian Grant, a forward out of Notre Dame. Atlanta then traded Grant’s rights to the New York Knicks for third-year pro Tim Hardaway Jr.
Hardaway’s father was one of the better guards in the NBA in the last 25 years. Tim Hardaway’s number hangs in the rafters of American Airlines Arena for his contributions to the Miami Heat. Jr. starred at the University of Michigan and helped get the Wolverines to the NCAA Championship Game in 2013.
Tim Hardaway Jr. had tremendous promise as a shooting guard and he was one of three players the Atlanta Hawks supposedly targeted with their 2013 first round pick. The two others were Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo who went 13th and Dennis Schroder who the Hawks selected at 17.
Though Hardaway’s NBA career has been massively disappointing the first two years with the New York Knicks, the Atlanta Hawks’ front office took a chance on the 23-year old. Head Coach Mike Budenholzer believed that Hardaway’s questionable shot selection and disinterested defense could actually be rectified if he bought into the Atlanta Hawks basketball system.
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While Hardaway seems to have approached this new way of playing basketball, Hawks fans still haven’t seen him play in a game for their team. That pick that Atlanta essentially stole from the Brooklyn Nets is perpetually sitting on the Atlanta bench. Was the move to acquire Tim Hardaway Jr. a mistake?
It’s way too early to tell. We all probably knew that Tim Hardaway Jr. was a reclamation project for the Atlanta Hawks’ player development program. Playing in the antiquated Triangle Offense for a puppet head coach in Derek Fisher under Phil Jackson doesn’t seem like a great foundation for anybody. The “who cares?” defensive approach plaguing the Knicks in recent years is understandable given the culture that is exists under Owner James Dolan.
Atlanta is notorious for their poor history in NBA Drafts, so what seems like taking a gamble on Hardaway with a “gimme” pick from the Nets doesn’t feel so egregious. The truth is Mike Budenholzer won’t play somebody in the backcourt if he can’t cut it defensively, no matter how skilled of an outsider shooter he is (i.e., SG John Jenkins, now with Dallas).
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It will still take some time for Bud to feel comfortable about putting Tim Hardaway Jr. out on the floor, but he will get his opportunity at some juncture. Then again, Coach Bud only needed to see roughly three games from 2014 first round pick Adreian Payne in his rookie year before dealing him to the Minnesota Timberwolves. One thing is certain: Bud will take a lot of flack if he moves Hardaway in a similar manner that he did with Payne. First round picks normally aren’t handled in that manner.