“Bud was like, ‘You’re not gonna play the first 25 …
Before his career-best 40. 7 percent shooting from 3-point range this season, and before he led the NBA with 205 3-pointers off the bench, and before he tied an NBA record with five games of at least seven 3-pointers off the bench, there was Atlanta. “Rock bottom?
” Hardaway repeated before a long pause. “It was Atlanta. One-thousand percent.
” It was his third NBA season, in the summer of 2015 after he had been traded to the Hawks from New York, which moved on after taking him with the 24th pick in 2013. After averaging a little more than 23 minutes a game in New York, Hardaway thought he was headed for a bigger role with the Hawks. Instead, he found himself sitting in Budenholzer’s office, getting a lecture.
“Bud was like, ‘You’re not gonna play the first 25 games. I don’t care if people are injured or not. Like, you won’t see the floor.
We’re trying to make you into the player we want you to become,'” Hardaway remembered . New York Times This article originally appeared on Hoops Hype: “Bud was like, ‘You’re not gonna play the first 25 …