Tim Hardaway

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Timothy Duane (Tim) Hardaway (born September 1, 1966 in Chicago, Illinois) is a retired American basketball point guard who played in the National Basketball Association (NBA) and who in his prime was one of the league's best at his position. Six feet (1.83 m) tall, he was best known for his crossover dribble (dubbed the UTEP Two-step by television analysts), a move which he used and which seemingly caused a revolution in the NBA,^[1] and is still used by several current players, notably Allen Iverson, Dwyane Wade and Brandon Roy.

[edit] Early career

After graduating from Carver High School in Chicago, Hardaway attended the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) where he won the Frances Pomeroy Naismith Award as the best college player six feet (1.83 m) tall or under. Hardaway was selected as the 14th pick of the first round, in the 1989 NBA Draft by the Golden State Warriors.

[edit] NBA career

In his rookie season, Hardaway wore jersey number "5", as Manute Bol wore Hardaway's trademark "10." After Bol left the Warriors, Hardaway inherited it. With the Warriors, Hardaway was part of "Run TMC" (a play on the title of the popular rap group Run DMC) which was the high-scoring trio of himself, Mitch Richmond, and Chris Mullin. As part of the Warriors' attack, Hardaway was responsible for leading Run TMC's fast break, displaying his excellent passing and one-on-one skills to complement Richmond's slashing and Mullin's shooting. Hardaway played for the Warriors until the middle of 1995-96 season when he was traded to the Miami Heat along with Chris Gatling in exchange for Kevin Willis and Bimbo Coles.

In his best seasons, Hardaway averaged 18 to 23 points and 8 to 10 assists per game. He reached 5,000 points and 2,500 assists faster than any NBA player, except Oscar Robertson. Hardaway has competed in five NBA All-Star Games. He is the Miami Heat's all time leader in assists and together with center Alonzo Mourning led the Heat to some of the franchise's best seasons. Late season injuries kept Hardaway from performing at the peak of his abilities for almost all of the Heat's playoff runs and he missed most of the playoff games.

He was an MVP candidate following the 1996-97 season, making it to the All-NBA First Team after leading the Heat to the best record in franchise history while averaging 20.3 points, 8.6 assists, and being fourth in the league with 203 three-point baskets.

With his skills declining with age, Hardaway was traded to the Dallas Mavericks on August 22, 2001 for a second round draft pick. With Dallas, Hardaway was mainly utilized off the bench, starting only two games out of 54 and averaging almost ten points a game. In the middle of the season he was traded to the Denver Nuggets which sent controversial point guard Nick Van Exel to the Mavericks. With the Nuggets he started all fourteen games he played with them before retiring and becoming a basketball analyst for ESPN. While playing for the Nuggets, Hardaway was suspended for two games and fined $10,000 by the league when he threw a television monitor onto the court in a fit of rage.^[2] On March 27, 2003, Hardaway signed a contract with the Indiana Pacers where in his first game with them, he registered a season-high fourteen points and seven assists in a game against the Chicago Bulls.

He has a wife, Yolanda, and two children, Tim Jr. and Nia.^[3] Tim Hardaway currently lives in Miami, Florida. Hardaway was a player/head coach of the Florida Pit Bulls of the ABA in 2006, but the team folded, and no longer exists.

[edit] Achievements

• Hardaway recorded 5,000 points and 2,500 assists faster than any player in NBA history except Oscar Robertson. Hardaway accomplished it in 262 games; Robertson took only 247.^[3]

• Hardaway holds the record for most assists in Miami Heat franchise history: 1,947.^[3]

• Hardaway shares the record for second most steals in an NBA Playoffs game, with 8 in Game 2 of the 1991 Western Conference Semifinals against the Los Angeles Lakers and in Game 4 of the 1992 Western Conference First Round against the Seattle SuperSonics.^[3]

• In 1991-92, Hardaway became the 7th player in NBA history to average 20 points (23.4 ppg) and 10 assists (10.0 apg) in a season, a feat he accomplished again in 1992-93 (21.5 ppg, 10.6 apg).^[3]

• Hardaway holds the NBA record for the worst single-game shooting performance in NBA history, having gone 0 for 17 in a 106-102 victory against the Minnesota Timberwolves on December 27, 1991.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Homophobia controversy

On February 14, 2007, Hardaway made a series of remarks that were widely criticized as homophobic. During an interview on Dan Le Batard's radio show on Miami's 790 the Ticket concerning the recent coming out of retired basketball player John Amaechi, Hardaway was asked by Le Batard how he would deal with a gay teammate. Hardaway said he "wouldn't want him on my team." He added that he would shun a gay teammate and would not want him in the locker room. When Le Batard asked Hardaway if he realized that his remarks were homophobic and bigoted, Hardaway responded, "Well, you know I hate gay people, so I let it be known. I don't like gay people and I don't like to be around gay people. I am homophobic. I don't like it."^[4]

Later in the day, Hardaway apologized for the remarks during a telephone interview with Fox affiliate WSVN in Miami. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said I hate gay people or anything like that."^[5] He further apologized on February 15 in a statement released by his agent.^[6] On the same day, the NBA responded to Hardaway's comments by removing him from its All-Star Weekend activities later that week.^[6] Hardaway's employer, Trinity Sports, owner of the Anderson-based CBA Indiana Alley Cats, dismissed him from his position as Chief Basketball Operations Advisor,^[7] and the CBA issued a statement distancing itself from Hardaway's remarks.^[8]

In a September 2007 interview, Hardaway spoke about his February comments, saying he "had no idea how much I hurt people. A lot of people." He described the controversy as "the biggest bump [in the road] in my life," and added, "I'm going to do whatever I can to correct it. That's all I can do."^[9]

After the incident, Hardaway began attending classes to learn about some of the issues facing gay, lesbian, and transgender youth. Speaking about the classes, he said, "I just wanted to go in and get educated. I'm not really trying to make amends. I've been there trying to get help." The director of the YES Institute, which sponsors the program Hardaway has been attending, described him as "genuine" and said that the staff was "surprised how real our relationship with Tim got." A picture of Hardaway and members of the staff appears on the group's website.^[9]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Tim Hardaway Info Page at NBA.com
• Tim Hardaway Statistics at Basketball-Reference.com
• Official site
• Tim Hardaway at the Internet Movie Database

v • d • e 2000 Olympic Champions Men's Basketball – United States Shareef Abdur-Rahim | Ray Allen | Vin Baker | Vince Carter | Kevin Garnett | Tim Hardaway | Allan Houston | Jason Kidd | Antonio McDyess | Alonzo Mourning | Gary Payton | Steve Smith | Coach: Rudy Tomjanovich