Old-school NBA players are often asked how they’d do in the modern NBA.
The most common answer given is that they’d average more points because the rules have changed so much since the previous eras and buckets are easier to get today.
But when Udonis Haslem asked Tim Hardaway (senior) on The OGs how he would do against this generation, he gave an unexpected, nuanced answer.
Hardaway said that though his game would be nice, it wouldn’t resemble how he played in the 90s because the environment he would have grown up in would have been different.
“You gotta understand -I would’ve grew up differently. You see, how I grew up, it made me become who I am. And if I were to grew up in this era, I don’t know if this era would’ve made me [take my matchups personally]. I don’t know if I would’ve had the same skills because we would’ve been brought up differently. I would’ve had a different mentality. And a lot of people don’t realize that. These guys today grew up differently; the world is different. We didn’t have social media.”
The Hall of Famer went on to say that he had to fight a lot when he was younger, either to solve issues or to get away from gangs, and these situations influenced his game.
Final Thoughts
Hardaway was one of the craftiest players on the hardwood.
He was frequently breaking ankles with his crossover before breaking ankles was even a thing.
He took things personally and wanted to hurt his defender’s feelings every time he had the ball in his hands.
So yeah, I agree with him. His game would be different today because he would’ve lived a different life.
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