Anyone watching the New York Knicks this season sees Tim Hardaway Jr. devolving into one of the worst guards in the NBA. His statistics aren’t pretty either.
The New York Knicks invested nearly $71 million into Tim Hardaway Jr. this offseason. Obviously, spending that kind of money assumes a certain level of production from the player. According to Spotrac, Hardaway Jr. is the 17th highest cap hit among shooting guards in the NBA.
It is also important to remember Steve Mills signed Hardaway Jr. to the $71 million offer sheet BEFORE he hired Scott Perry as general manager. Mills made up his mind he wanted Hardaway and didn’t want the new GM talking him out of the decision.
At the time of the signing, Zach Lowe of ESPN wrote that Atlanta was willing to give him around $48 million. Yet for some reason, Mills went $24 million over that number and married himself to Hardaway’s success or failure. Signing him wasn’t a bad idea because the Knicks needed another shooting guard. However, Mills effectively handcuffed New York’s ability to chase star free agents over the next four years.
With that being said, if Hardaway performed like a true starting shooting guard, all would be forgiven. Pairing him with Kristaps Porzingis seemed like a great mix of youth and athleticism to build the future on. Unfortunately, the Tim Hardaway J.r experiment is about to blow up the lab where it was concocted.
Statistics have a way of breaking through hype and hyperbole to paint a clear picture of what is happening. There are three stats that show exactly what Tim Hardaway Jr. is and isn’t doing, aside from the obvious 24.3 percent shooting from the field and 22.7 percent shooting from 3-point range. The first one paints a stark picture of failure and ineptitude that the New York Knicks cannot ignore.