Tim Hardaway Jr is a Hawk

[Guest]

What is Tim Hardaway Jr.’s Future with the Atlanta Hawks?

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Tim Hardaway Jr. has had a confusing tenure in Atlanta so far. Although the Hawks traded a first round pick for him during the 2015 draft, the former Knicks player has struggled to break into the rotation, and was even demoted to the D-league several times last year.

According to Mike Budenholzer, Hardaway has been working hard this summer to improve his skills and become a more important player to the Hawks. While this may be true, he shot a terrifying 1-13 in Saturday’s preseason loss to the San Antonio Spurs. Of course, one game is too small of a sample size to draw any meaningful conclusions from, but this is far from a confidence-inspiring start to say the least.

At his best Tim Hardaway Jr. could still be a meaningful contributor to the Hawks. At his worst, though, he may not even have a spot on the team after this season. With limited roster spots and talented rookies on the team, Hardaway may be facing his last chance to prove his value.

Hardaway’s clearest path to more minutes this year would be to establish himself as an offensive specialist off the bench. While this hasn’t become a reality yet, the potential is certainly there. Solidifying his three-point potential (he shot 36% during his first season) would be an obvious way to improve his skill level, especially for a team with as little shooting as Atlanta.

 

One reason to hope that Hardaway can continue to improve is the Hawks’ track record with developing young players. Hardaway has had a full year in the Budenholzer system now, and if he is going to ever improve, the time is probably now. His development in the second half of the 2015-16 season suggests that this may be already happening, although it’s far from a guarantee.

On the other hand, though, it’s entirely possible that Hardaway won’t ever be better than he was last year. He struggled on defense for much of the season, and never scored consistently enough to compensate for that. As shown by his extended stint in the D-league, he also didn’t earn Budenholzer’s trust for several months.

Hardaway will be a restricted free agent next summer, and, with Taurean Prince and DeAndre Bembry on the team, he could be facing significant competition for a roster spot by that point. While Hardaway should easily rank ahead of these two on the depth chart in October, it’s entirely possible that this situation could change by April or May.

 

The best possible version of Tim Hardaway Jr. is a solid shooter who plays close-to-average defense. If he ever develops into this, he could be an important rotation piece who helps the Hawks’ shaky scoring prospects this year. Atlanta is almost desperate for another shooter behindKyle Korver, and Hardaway would be invaluable to the team if he can bring three-point shooting off the bench. If he doesn’t continue to improve and develop, though, it’s difficult to see a future for him on the team after this season.

As with any young, unproven player, it would be foolish to expect great (or even good) things this season from Hardaway. The Hawks have built a reputation out of improving young players, though, and if he is ever going to fulfill the vision that cost Atlanta a first round pick, the time is now

http://www.peachtreehoops.com/2016/10/10/13222070/tim-hardaway-jr-future-atlanta-hawks

[Thomas]

That article makes me feel good and bad with a ton of questions for this season. Hoping this time next year we are happy if we keep THJ because of his play on the court deserving it. 

[macdaddy]

Really diggin up the old threads!

[Guest]

36 minutes ago, macdaddy said:

Really diggin up the old threads!

I didn't feel like creating a new one.

[Thomas]

On 3/29/2016 at 4:49 PM, AUhawksfan said:

I guess the biggest thing for me with Hardaway is he is wildly inconsistent on offense.  He'll go through good and bad stretches.

I figured he would come back down to earth some.  The big thing is how he weathers this storm and gets back to how he has been playing recently.

The good thing is now that he is hustling and playing defense he isn't a liability on the floor even when he's shooting bad like he was in NY.

Déjà vu, (ⁱ/ˌdeɪʒɑː ˈvuː/; French pronunciation: [de.ʒa.vy]) from French, literally "already seen", is the phenomenon of having the strong sensation that an event or experience currently being experienced has already been experienced in the past

"Deja vu" much?  Really, really hoping not. All that work in the gym and over the summer needs to pay off for him and especially for our Hawks. Pulling for him. 

[yungsta]

1 year later and I still think it was a god awful trade. I don't even think hes worthy of an extension. He sucks.

[jrok23]

Yeah I still think we coulda developed oubre 

[NBASupes]

26 minutes ago, jrok23 said:

Yeah I still think we coulda developed oubre 

Tim just doesn't look good even outside of just scoring. 

[Guest]

28 minutes ago, jrok23 said:

Yeah I still think we coulda developed oubre 

I don't.   Oubre sucks.

[jrok23]

15 minutes ago, kg01 said:

I don't.   Oubre sucks.

Oubre shoots better than this though. 

[Guest]

2 minutes ago, jrok23 said:

Oubre shoots better than this though. 

THJr is slumping, Oubre just sucks

[bleachkit]

2 hours ago, yungsta said:

1 year later and I still think it was a god awful trade. I don't even think hes worthy of an extension. He sucks.

I completely agree. I think some people on this board will defend anything Bud does. 

[BigDog90]

1 hour ago, kg01 said:

THJr is slumping, Oubre just sucks

Thankfully this is preseason.

[aali34]

Oubre lacks the BBIQ that Prince and Bembry posses.

[macdaddy]

I've been a big supporter of Hardaway but his preseason sucks and I"m definitely concerned.   When you've got these hungry young wings gunning for your spot in the rotation and you come out shoot Jacque Vaughn bad then there's a problem.   

[Thomas]

10 hours ago, bleachkit said:

I completely agree. I think some people on this board will defend anything Bud does. 

Think that  Bud is good and has improved himself as a head coach but just about everyone has commented at least once or so on here that Bud has got to improve his late game decisions so we don't blanket defend everything he does. This is more about a trade that very possibly won't pan out which may be the same thing with Oubre as well. I'm sure there were other options but this is where we're at now and will the coaches help him get through this wall whether its mental or something else. Another ugly performance no doubt.   

[Pacman21]

Lol it's 2 preseason games let's at least get some regular season action before we start writing people off

[hazer]

I've been a big supporter of THJr and felt like he'd break through this year like DMC and Blaze did. But with Bembry and Prince onboard, if his trajectory doesn't improve in the next couple of months he's gotta go. I realize it's only preseason and hope he gets it going though, if for nothing more than increasing his trade value. Drafting/trading is always a hit/miss proposition, even among the best coaches. Win some lose some, gotta move on from the misses and not dwell.

[AHF]

His only value is as a scorer.  He has done some good work making himself less of a liability on defense but he still sucks on the boards and doesn't do anything else.  If he can't shoot efficiently, he won't succeed.  2-20 is beyond brutal.  This is a small sample size and just preseason, though.  Wait until the games mean something before getting too worked up.  Nobody should be throwing out THJr because of two games just like nobody should go crazy because Delaney shot 0-7.

As a surprise to no one on this site, I hated trading 4 years of the #15 pick for 2 years of THJr but that is a sunk cost at this point so let's see if we can't work him into a valuable reserve this season.  He should get a lot of good looks and he isn't this bad of a shooter.  He tends towards inconsistency  going through spells where he shoots above his talent and spells where he shoots below it.  Let's hope he is getting the low period out of the way when the games don't count.

[Guest]

It's still early. Let's give the guys another game or two before we cut everyone lol