Tim Hardaway Jr.
Timothy Duane Hardaway Jr. is an American professional basketball player for the Denver Nuggets of the National Basketball Association. He played college basketball for the Michigan Wolverines and declared for the NBA draft after his junior season for the national runner-up 2012–13 team. Hardaway was selected as the 24th overall pick in the 2013 NBA draft by the New York Knicks. He has had two stints with the Knicks and has also played for the Atlanta Hawks, Dallas Mavericks, and Detroit Pistons. He is the son of Hall of Famer Tim Hardaway. He holds several Mavericks three point shooting records as well as the Pistons’ single-playoff game made three point shots record.
As a freshman during the 2010–11 NCAA Division I men's basketball season, he earned four Big Ten Conference Freshman of the Week awards, including three in the final four weeks during which he averaged over 20 points a game to help the 2010–11 team to climb up to fourth in the 2010–11 Big Ten Conference men's basketball season standings. He was an honorable mention All-Big Ten selection and a unanimous Big Ten All-Freshman team selection following the season. He established the Michigan freshman record for single-season three-point shots made. He was a 2011 Collegeinsider.com Freshmen All-America selection and participated as a member of Team USA in the 2011 FIBA Under-19 World Championship. As a sophomore for the 2011–12 team, he earned the 2011–12 All-Big Ten 3rd team recognition. He earned 2012–13 All-Big Ten recognition.
Early life
Hardaway is the son of Yolanda and former NBA All-Star Tim Hardaway. He was born in Alameda, California, while his father was a member of the Golden State Warriors.High school career
Hardaway graduated from Miami Palmetto High School in the Pinecrest neighborhood of Miami-Dade County, Florida. As a freshman, he played high school football for a year before focusing on basketball. As he focused on basketball, he had a tumultuous relationship with his father, who acted like a second coach. His first college recruitment contact was by University of Michigan, communicating by mail during his second year. During his junior year, Michigan head coach John Beilein invited him on an unofficial visit to watch Michigan play No. 4 Duke on December 6 to see unranked Michigan pull an upset. The 81–73 victory was an important win for the program. Following his junior season, Hardaway began training with Ed Downs, with whom he would work every summer until he became an NBA draftee. In the summer before his senior season, he attended Beilein's Elite Camp in Ann Arbor, Michigan, receiving an offer that he accepted. At the time, Hardaway was unranked in the Rivals.com Top-150 and his only other offers were from Minnesota and Kansas State. He was a first team All-City selection in 2009 and 2010 after being a third team selection in 2008. During his 2009–10 senior season, he averaged 31.7 points, 7.3 rebounds and 4.0 assists. In the Florida state championships against Pine Crest School, he posted 42 points against Brandon Knight who had 36. ESPN rated him as the 93rd-best player and 28th-best shooting guard in the class of 2010. Scout.com rated him as the 36th-best shooting guard in his class. He was not top-ranked by Rivals.com. Hardaway has played summer Amateur Athletic Union basketball for both the South Florida Heat and Chicago's Mac Irvin Fire, where he teamed with Meyers Leonard and McDonald's All-American Jereme Richmond.College career
Freshman season (2010–2011)
Hardaway joined the team that had just lost Manny Harris who had declared for the 2010 NBA draft, and he began his season in the starting lineup for the 2010–11 Wolverines on November 13 against. Although Hardaway led the team in scoring in his first career game and the season opener with 19 points, he was soon in a shooting slump that saw him shoot 4-for-30 on his field goals in late November games against Syracuse and UTEP. These games marked the beginning of a slump during which he went 13 consecutive games without achieving a 50% field goal accuracy and 19 games without exceeding that number.Hardaway earned four Big Ten Freshman of the week awards. On December 27, the Big Ten Conference named Hardaway co-freshman of the week along with Jared Sullinger. On December 23, 2010, against, the team tied its December 13, 2008, single-game school record of 16 three-point field goals made, and Hardaway was one of three Wolverines to make 4 three-point shots. It was Hardaway's first 20-point game. On February 14, Hardaway earned his second Big Ten Conference Freshman of the week recognition for his first career double-double on February 9 against Northwestern and a career-high 26 points on February 12 against Indiana. The following week, Hardaway earned a third Big Ten Conference Freshman of the week award as he became the first Michigan freshman to score 30 points in a game in eight years. His thirty points came in a 75–72 February 19 overtime victory over Iowa. He had also scored 10 points and added 5 assists in a 54–52 loss to Illinois. On February 28, Hardaway earned his third consecutive and fourth overall Big Ten Conference Freshman of the week recognition. During the week, Hardaway extended his double-digit scoring streak to eleven by posting 22 points against Minnesota on February 26 after scoring 16 against No. 12 Wisconsin on February 23. For the week, he shot 9 for 15 on his three-point shots.
As a result of the three consecutive freshman of the week performances and a final week in which he scored 20 in the team's only game, he averaged 20.1 points during the final 7 games of the regular season while the team won six of its final eight, which enabled it to finish tied for fourth for the conference standings and earn the fourth seed in the 2011 Big Ten men's basketball tournament. He led the team in scoring during the 18-game conference schedule of the 2010–11 Big Ten Conference men's basketball season, edging out teammate Darius Morris by a 268–263 margin. He also led the team in steals, free throw percentage, three-point shooting percentage, and three-point shots made per game over the course of the conference schedule. Following the Big Ten Conference season, Hardaway was an honorable mention All-Big Ten selection by both the coaches and the media. Hardaway was also one of two unanimous All-Freshman team selections by the coaches. He was one of 21 players selected to the 2011 Collegeinsider.com Freshmen All-America selection.
In the semi-finals of the 2011 Big Ten tournament against Ohio State, he set the Michigan freshman single-season three-point shots made record of 74. For the season, Hardaway led the team in three-point shots made per game and free throw percentage. He finished the season with 16 consecutive double digit scoring efforts.
Following the season he was invited to the June 17–24, 2011 17-man tryouts for the 12-man FIBA Under-19 World Championship team by USA Basketball. The twelve selected players competed as Team USA in the 2011 FIBA U19 World Championships in Latvia from June 30 to July 10, 2011. He was selected to the team.
Sophomore season (2011–2012)
As a sophomore, he was a preseason top 50 watchlist selection for the John R. Wooden Award and the Naismith College Player of the Year. In the three-game November 21–23 2011 Maui Invitational Tournament, Hardaway scored 60 points against the No. 8 Memphis Tigers, No. 6 Duke Blue Devils, and 2011–12 Pac-12 season favorite UCLA Bruins, which helped the team finish in third place and earned him a place on the All-Tournament team. For his performance at the Maui Classic, he earned the Big Ten Player of the Week. In addition, he was named Big Ten Player of the Week by College Sports Madness. In the subsequent game, he picked up two fouls against Virginia in the first 5:33 and sat the final 14:27 of the first half. He finished the November 29 contest with just 5 points, snapping a 22-game double-digit scoring streak. On December 29, he opened the 2011–12 Big Ten Conference men's basketball season with 26 points against Penn State, despite making only 1 of 7 three-point shots. On January 8, 2012, he had his second career double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds against 19th-ranked Wisconsin. By early February, he was in a deep shooting slump. He posted his second double-double of the season and third of his career on March 1 against Illinois with 25 points and a career-high 11 rebounds. As a sophomore, he earned the 2011–12 All-Big Ten 3rd team recognition by the coaches and media. The team earned a share of the 2011–12 Big Ten Conference regular season championship.Junior season (2012–2013)
listed him as the 35th-best player in its preseason top 100. He was a preseason John R. Wooden Award top 50 selection. During the season, Trey Burke and Hardaway were constantly referred to as the best backcourt in college basketball. The praise came from a variety of leading media outlets such as FOX Sports, ESPN color commentator Dick Vitale, ESPN journalists such as Miles Simon, Bleacher Report columnist Zach Dirlam, as well as much local press.Hardaway began the season with a double-double by scoring 25 points and adding 10 rebounds. His fourth career double-double earned him his second Big Ten Player of the Week award. Hardaway earned the NIT Season Tip-Off MVP with 39 points total in the November 21 semi-final and November 23 final against Pittsburgh and Kansas State, respectively. On December 20, he posted a career-high 7 assists against Eastern Michigan. Hardaway suffered an ankle injury that caused him to miss the December 29 game against Central Michigan and that broke his 81 consecutive games played streak that went back to the beginning of his Michigan career. In the subsequent game on January 3, he returned to the lineup for the 2012–13 Big Ten Conference men's basketball season-opener against Northwestern with 21 points and four assists in a 94–66 victory. Two games later on January 9, he tied a career high with 11 rebounds and added 15 points for his fifth career double-double. On January 17, Michigan defeated Minnesota at Williams Arena, marking the first time Michigan defeated a top-10 team on the road since a December 6, 1996, victory by the 1996–97 team over Duke. Hardaway earned a second Big Ten Player of the Week Award following a 21-points performance on 7-for-8 shooting with 5 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals and 2 blocks. On January 28, Michigan was ranked number one in the AP Poll with 51 of the 65 first-place votes. It marked the first time Michigan ranked atop the AP Poll since the 1992–93 Fab Five team did so on December 5, 1992. On February 5, Hardaway tallied a career-high 6 three-point shots, including three on consecutive possessions to give Michigan its first lead of the second half in an overtime victory against Ohio State.
Prior to the 2013 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament, Jeff Goodman of CBSSports.com named Michigan with Hardaway first among tournament teams in terms of having the most future NBA talent on its roster. As a number four seed, Michigan defeated its first NCAA tournament opponent, South Dakota State, 71–56. Hardaway established a new NCAA tournament career-high with 21 points. The 27th victory of the season gave the team its most wins in 20 years and matched head coach John Beilein's career high. In the regional finals on March 31 against Florida, freshman Nik Stauskas made all 6 of his three-point shot attempts, pushing his single-season total to 79 and surpassing Hardaway's single-season freshman school record. Following the regional championship postgame prayer and with Mrs. Beilein's consent, Hardaway and Mitch McGary gave coach John Beilein a gatorade shower. In the April 6 national semi-final against Syracuse, Hardaway contributed a team-high 13 points, 6 rebounds and 5 assists. Two nights later, Michigan lost in the championship game to Louisville by an 82–76 margin as Hardaway contributed 12 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists.
On April 17, Hardaway declared for the NBA draft. Hardaway signed with sports agent Mark Bartelstein, the father of a former Michigan teammate, who represents 37 NBA players. Hardaway was one of 60 players invited to the NBA Draft Combine.