During the 2015 NBA Draft, the Atlanta Hawks selected Jerian Grant with their first round pick. Grant was one of the best players in college a year ago, so that pick was exciting to Hawks fans for the future. Later that night, though, the Hawks traded Grant to the Knicks for Tim Hardaway Jr. as they wanted players who were established and could help right away since the team is in win-now mode. Hardaway Jr. did not get much run early in the season, but he seems to be earning a spot in the rotation now, according to Chris Vivlamore of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
At the time of the trade it made a lot of sense for the Hawks because they wanted a player who could contribute immediately and not have to go through growing pains. Looking back at it now, Grant has been contributing for the Knicks all season while Hardaway has just recently started to have an impact for the Hawks, but Hawks head coach Mike Budenholzer has been impressed by Hardaway's hard work.
"I think he really put in time in the weight room. He missed a little bit of the summer with his injured wrist. His athleticism, his pop, which is one of the things that intrigued us about him, has returned. Then, he's just working defensively. He just really understands how important it is to be good defensively and you see it when he's playing. He's communicating. He's talking. He's working. On the offensive end, he's just letting it come to him," said Budenholzer.
Hardaway has only appeared in 12 games for the Hawks so far this season including the last eight in a row. Before this recent run Hardaway had played in more games in the D-League than he had in the NBA, but Budenholzer says his hard work to improve his defense has gotten him back up to the bigs and in the rotation.
When he was with the Knicks Hardaway was more of a three-point specialist who had tantalizing athleticism, which is why the Hawks traded for him, but Budenholzer was unwilling to play him until his defense improved. In his first two seasons Hardaway was awful on defense, and although he hasn't been great on that end this season, he has certainly improved and is now being given a chance to show what he can do.
Over the last eight games Hardaway has averaged 6.3 points in 15.5 minutes per game while shooting 33 percent from three. Hardaway may not be having the type of impact so far that Hawks fans would have hoped for, but they saw something in him that made them want to acquire him, and his hard work seems like it will continue to be paid off with consistent minutes moving forward.
