Awesome Article on Tim Hardaway Jr.

Submitted by Mr. Yost on

Here is an AWESOME article on THJ titled: Father hasn't always known best 

"Absent of his father's criticism Tim Jr. began to see how he was leading his team and how heavily Palmetto coach Chris Brown relied on him. Brown had seen Tim Jr.'s maturity from day one.

Before, with the steep criticism, he thought he couldn't do anything well. But eventually, Tim Jr. began to see how his growth in the game was a process. How he had taken baby steps in every aspect of his game and how that had allowed him to take larger steps as a whole.

"He needed to fail and succeed on his own, without that added pressure, to reach his own potential," Brown said.

Brown saw the change in the Tim Jr. after the Coral Reef game. He saw a player who was more at ease, a player willing to take chances on the floor. In Brown's mind, it was Tim Jr.'s mindset that had always separated him from his peers. Between his junior and senior seasons, his body filled out and his game finally came together."

More at http://espn.go.com/colleges/michigan/basketball/story/_/id/7326235/tim-hardaway-jr-father-butted-heads-sorting-relationship

Erik_in_Dayton

December 7th, 2011 at 1:26 PM ^

I went to school with a kid who was a really good basketball player whose father would scream constantly at the refs during games.  Every student (and parent) knew immediately who he was the second he opened his mouth.  You would just end up feeling really badly for the kid while watching the games...The father also apparently would make the kid get up at some ungodly hour in the morning every day to make him shoot baskets in the driveway for several hours. 

He turned his son into an all-conference player (in a very small-school conference) but seemingly lost him as a son.  It was ugly to watch, and it made me glad for my former-hippy mom who just wanted me to have a good time. 

JeepinBen

December 7th, 2011 at 1:38 PM ^

I was lucky. Growing up I was a decent athlete, as were my parents, but I picked a sport neither of them had any experience with. My dad grew up a pretty good baseball player - was getting scouted before he blew out a knee in high school. I played baseball but didn't love it. He never had time to be a full-time coach but would help out. I eventually quit baseball and focused solely on hockey. Since my dad has told me that the day I quit baseball was really hard for him, but he knew I wasn't happy (incedently, for that team the 2 coaches' sons were the 2 pitchers, despite the fact that I had better stats than both when they let me pitch). So he learned as much about hockey as he could and was supportive the whole way. I think that playing a sport where your dad (or mom) is a total expert would be so hard. I'm glad Tim Sr and Jr. got to a better place with their relationship.

kehnonymous

December 7th, 2011 at 2:30 PM ^

Tim Hardaway, Sr. was also more infamously known for a 2007 controversy in which he made some highly inflammatory remarks on how he'd react to having a gay teammate.  In the wake of that backlash, he educated himself on the issues and made amends for his remarks - and in a very quiet and sincere way; it wasn't just a publicity stunt.  (http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/21019511/)

In that and in how he dealt with his son's basketball career, he was in the wrong.  It is to his immense credit that in both cases he owned up to his mistakes and very sincerely made amends.  That takes a lot of character and it's not something everyone would've done.