Tim Hardaway crosses over to coaching

The crossover! 

This is one of the most effective weapons in the game today — Kyrie Irving doing it, James Harden executing it, and Chris Paul showcasing it. 

But no one was more effective at it than Tim Hardaway. He introduced the move to the game of basketball. 

“Mine is still the best! Everybody has been trying to duplicate it but no one has come close,” he tells me, as a matter of fact.

Hardaway was in town to grace the NBA 3x Tournament presented by AXA Philippines and AXA was kind enough to give us a few minutes with the five-time All-Star who’s game helped revolutionize the sport.

Philippine STAR: Looking at the NBA landscape, would you say the game has changed?

Tim Hardaway: You know what, it has changed from decade to decade. With Run TMC back in the ’90s, Don Nelson had this idea and this was before his time. A lot of people didn’t like it. You know a lot of people weren’t for it. You know when he went to New York, Patrick (Ewing) didn’t want to bring down the ball — to be a point forward, a point center. He wanted the ball down low. He wanted the ball in his space where he can do some damage. And now, the defense is different, too. Before, you could push, hand check and play each other, now you can’t touch nobody. Some fouls, they call it a flagrant. But they’re just common fouls to me. The game revolves around passing and cutting. If you don’t pass and cut, move the ball and move yourself, you’re not going to win. So it’s definitely different now then in the ’90s and early 2000.

IF you played today, would you drop 50 points every single night? 

(Laughs) Well, how I approached the game back then and how we were brought up back then. Of course, I think everybody in that era of the ’90s would average 50 now, but if we were brought up in this era, who knows how our games would be?

What do you think was the defining moment in your career?

There was a lot! One is when I was playing on a summer league game and at that particular time, I knew that I could make it to NBA. Another was when I had to come back from the ACL injury and be the same way, with the same intensity. Also, just making another two or three All-Star Games and then being an Olympic champion. I don’t have one defining moment — it’s around four of them.

You are now coaching, would you say that transition was easy for you? 

I wouldn’t say it was easy for me. But I won’t say it was difficult. Today’s players they’ve grown up totally different. They grew up on social media, they grew up playing video games all the time. It’s just a different mindset, different mentality, what they think is good and what you think is good. It’s just totally different, but as a coach you have to adapt. And if you can’t adapt, you shouldn’t be coaching because the guys won’t listen to you, you could be frustrated.

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