Tim Hardaway
Teams
Golden State Warriors - 1989-96
Miami Heat - 1996-01
Dallas Mavericks - 2001-02
Denver Nuggets - 2002
Indiana Pacers - 2003
Playoffs
Appearances - 9 (1991,1992,1996,1997,1998,1999,2000,2001,2003)
Conference Finals - 1 (1997)
NBA Finals - 0
Championships - 0
Awards and Honors
All-NBA First Team - 1 (1997)
All-NBA Second Team - 3 (1991,1992,1998,1999)
All-NBA Third Team - 1 (1993,1999)
*(actual in bold, deserved in italics)
All-Time Ranks
Assists Per Game - #12
Total Assists - #18
Three-Pointers Made - #36
Steals Per Game - #55
Total Steals - #57
League Leads
Total Assists (#3-1991,1992, #5-1993,1996,1997)
Assists Per Game (#2-1993, #3-1992,1995, #5-1991)
Three-Pointers Made (#2-1999, #3-2001, #5-1997,1998)
Total Steals (#4-1991)
Steals Per Game (#4-1991)
Tim Hardaway was a good college basketball player, averaging 22 points per game as a senior at UTEP, and was famous for his crossover dribble that was nicknamed the "UTEP Two-Step." He was drafted by the Golden State Warriors at #14 overall, and immediately stepped into a starting role.
As a rookie, he scored 14.7 points per game, to go along with 8.7 assists and 2.1 steals, and was named to the All-Rookie First Team. In his second season, he was already among the best players in the league, with averages of 22.9 points, 9.7 assists, and 2.6 steals per game, but he wasn't voted to any of the All-NBA teams, despite being very deserving. The Warriors upset the Spurs in the first round of the playoffs, but fell to Magic Johnson and the Lakers in the second round, even with Hardaway putting up 26.8 points and 12.8 assists per game in the series.
He finally started to get some recognition the next season, when he averaged a career-high 23.4 points per game, and also dished out 10 assists per game, earning a nod on the All-NBA Second Team. Even with his personal success, the team lost in the first round of the playoffs, and wouldn't earn another postseason berth during his tenure with the team.
After setting a career-high with 10.6 assists per game in 1992-93, he suffered a knee injury that forced him to miss the entire next season. He would return fully healthy in 1994-95, and was able to put up similar numbers to those from before his injury, but they missed the playoffs. After coming off the bench for most of the following season, he was traded late in the season to the Miami Heat, where he was able to be a starter again, and he showed that he still had something left in the tank.
His first full season in Miami was one of his best. He averaged 20.3 points and 8.6 assists and was named to the All-NBA First Team for the only time in his career, all while leading the Heat to 61 wins and the deepest playoff run of his career. Unfortunately, it ended a step short of the Finals, as they weren't able to knock off the Bulls in the Conference Finals.
His numbers started to drop slowly over the next few years, though he was still playing at an All-Star level. The Heat would lose to the Knicks in the playoffs 3 straight years, twice in the first round and once in the second round. He had a slight uptick in his numbers in 2000-01, after Alonzo Mourning was forced to sit due to his kidney issues, but the Heat decided to trade him away after the season.
He played briefly for Dallas, Denver and Indiana over the next 2 years, mostly coming off the bench, before retiring from the league for good. Even though he missed an entire season to a knee injury, he was actually relatively healthy throughout his career, both before and after the major injury.
Hardaway was one of the rare players to suffer a major injury, then return to anywhere near his previous level of play. Early in his career, he was always among the league leaders in assists while scoring over 20 points per game, and later in his career he became a very good three-point shooter when his scoring and assist numbers dipped slightly. He is among the top 20 in both total assists and assists per game, but that missed season during his prime along with the lack of deep playoff runs kept him from being ranked any higher on this list of the best players of all time.
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