Tim Hardaway Jr. Making a Name for Himself
7/25/2011 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
July 25, 2011
By Amy Whitesall
Plenty of people tried to tell five-time NBA All-Star Tim Hardaway Sr. he should travel to Latvia to watch his son play in the FIBA U19 World Championships.
From June 30-July 10, University of Michigan sophomore Tim Hardaway Jr. went head to head with the best young basketball players in the world as a member of the USA U19 team. His dad understands more than most what that's like, having won Olympic gold with Team USA in 2000.
But it's tough to make a name for yourself when someone else already has such a powerful hold on the name you happen to share. So Dad stayed home. Followed the tournament through email updates. Smiled to himself when he realized his son was wearing No. 8 -- the same number he'd worn in the Olympic Games.
"As a father, you want your son to become his own man, and it's starting to happen," he said. "You can rely on your parents for a whole bunch of stuff, but eventually you've got to learn on your own."
So holding his own among the world's best players his age group was more than just a great basketball experience for the younger Hardaway.
"I think it's been very significant in him establishing his own identity," said Michigan coach John Beilein. "He's very proud of his Hardaway name, very proud of his mom and dad. But there's no family following you to this one, no current teammates, no current coaches, no high school coaches. This is him on his own, and I think he made the most of it."
Hardaway, who earned a USA Basketball tryout after a standout freshman season at Michigan, emerged as the U.S. team's sixth man, coming off the bench to average 20.2 minutes a game.
The World Championships are as charged an atmosphere as any in basketball -- imagine shaking off jet lag in an arena where the fans are up shouting, chanting and singing songs, 20 minutes before tipoff, where they clap during their own players' free throws and voice their displeasure with a chorus from the vuvuzelas.
"If you're a basketball fan, there's nothing like it," said USA and George Mason University head coach Paul Hewitt. "I've never heard 10,000 people be more loud and enthusiastic in my life."
Hardaway struggled to find his shooting touch most of the tournament. But his game grew in other ways as he adjusted to the bruising European style of play on both ends of the court.
"They didn't call that many fouls, and a lot of the screens they set over there are moving, with the elbows out," he said. "So you learn to fight over screens and avoid being screened."
He embraced his role as a defender, noticed how hard his U.S. teammates worked, and fed off the sheer defensive determination of guys like Villanova guard James Bell.
"Just seeing their work ethic and how hard they go in practice, you get a sense of how they practice back on their campus," he said.
In an early-round game against eventual silver-medalist Serbia, Hardaway took a pass on the wing, came off a ball screen and hit the game-winner in traffic in the final minute.
"The game was very, very physical over there, and he made some strides," said Hewitt, who came away deeply impressed with Hardaway's work ethic. "I think going to the basket and finishing with contact is something he probably will be better at next year."
Hardaway was the guy, says USA teammate and Creighton forward Doug McDermott, who kept steering the team's focus toward the gold medal.
"Even if things weren't going his way, you knew he was going to keep working," said McDermott. "He was a great leader to our team ... out of all the guys in the locker room after the loss to Russia in the medal round, I think he took it the hardest. It just shows what kind of competitor he is."
Hardaway and McDermott were the first players at practice every day during training camp -- the coaches arrived an hour before practice, and sometimes the two shooters were there waiting for them.
"We took it very seriously," Hardaway said. "We really wanted to make sure we could make the open shots when the ball was passed to us."
Do your work early, his dad always says. Preparation is half the battle.
"I'm really proud of his maturity," Hardaway Sr. said. "It came about real quick, and that's something you've got to be happy about as a father and a coach."
Hardaway's determination paid off in USA's last game of the tournament, when the shots finally started to fall and he led the team with 21 points in a 78-77 victory over Australia.
"I was feeling pretty good," he said "I wished we could have stayed a couple more games."
But this was no European vacation.
The USA Basketball journey started with tryouts at 6,035 feet in Colorado Springs, followed by a week of two-a-day practices at that elevation. (The one piece of advice Hardaway's dad did give him was to show up at camp in top condition.) Then you fly across the ocean and play nine basketball games in 11 days against competition that's as tough as any college team you'll face.
It was, Hardaway says, an honor and a privilege to represent his country -- and a great opportunity to grow as a player. But it was also nice to get home to Miami, hang out with his family, and have a home-cooked meal.
"The three weeks you give up (to try out, train and compete), you really go to work," Beilein said. "It's difficult to do, there's some sacrifice and dedication involved, and Tim was more than willing to do that. Other people might think they'd rather just stay home and work out than deal with the travel; Tim embraced this from the moment he heard about it."
