4th And South Exclusive Interview with Tim Hardaway Sr.

We’re back with another episode of Fourth and South, joined by a true legend of the game: five-time NBA All-Star, 1997 All-NBA First Team, three-time All-NBA Second Team, 1993 All-NBA Third Team, 1990 All-Rookie First Team, 1997 NBA assist leader, Olympic gold medalist, and Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Famer.

A key figure from the iconic Run TMC era, the “Killer Crossover” himself out of UTEP: Tim Hardaway Sr.

From the physical intensity of 90’s basketball to parenting, mental toughness, and watching his son carry on the family legacy, Hardaway shared unfiltered insight into the mindset that defined his career.

The Killer Crossover & Today’s Game

We opened the conversation by asking Hardaway how he feels watching today’s players still use the move that made him famous.

How do you feel when you see players today still using your crossover?

Love it. Coaches are still teaching it. Players are still using it and it’s effective. James Harden, I see him use it all the time.

In the national championship game, I saw Elliot Cadeau use it against Connecticut and got to the basket and made a play. So I see coaches still using this, still implementing in these guards’ games.

It just depends on what you feel comfortable with. As a guard, it’s all about what you feel comfortable with on the basketball court dribbling the basketball.

And these guys feel comfortable doing my move, which is great. And I always say, I wish I could really catch it and write it down and show people. But by that time I’d be like, man forget that.

But no, it’s great. It’s fun to watch people do your move.

Being Undersized in a Physical Era

From there, we shifted into how much tougher and more physical the game was in the 1990s, and how Hardaway’s mentality allowed him to thrive despite being undersized.

How were you able to attack the rim the way you did in such a physical era, especially as a smaller guard?

Not afraid. That mentality came from how I grew up.

I knew I was short. It wasn’t like I thought I was going to grow to be 6’7 or 6’10. I knew I had to play against taller guys all my life, so I had to learn how to shoot over them and make plays against size.

But that also came from practice. We all had to work on our game by ourselves. So when kids tell me they can’t go out there and practice alone, that insults my intelligence. That insults me as a basketball player and as an athlete.

You’ve got to go out there and work by yourself. Even if you’re just dribbling the ball up and down the street or in your driveway, you’ve got to go through moves, but do it at game speed. That’s how you get better.

I tell kids all the time – imagine somebody you don’t like is guarding you. Imagine somebody went at you. Then go out there and work on your in-and-out moves, your between-the-legs, your spin moves – but do it at game speed.

That’s how I got better. I was in my basement by myself working on my game. We had an unfinished basement with two beams down there and I’d just be sweating, working, doing my thing.

That’s why I was able to go out there and dribble the way I did and eventually develop the crossover.

Raising Tim Hardaway Jr.

One of the most powerful moments in the conversation came when the topic turned to parenting – specifically, how Hardaway learned not to force his own upbringing and mentality onto his son.

How did you learn not to put the way you were raised onto your son?

It was hard. It was really hard.

I was hard on my son at first. I was tearing up the house talking basketball all the time, always on him, always pushing.

Then one day, it was a beautiful Sunday. We were all home, the playoffs were on, and I asked him to come watch the game with me. He said no, respectfully, but I saw his face. His face told me more than his words did. His face said, “I’m not messing with you today.”

That hurt me. It really tore me down.

My wife and my daughters had been telling me already, “Leave him alone. Encourage him. Stop talking about basketball all the time.”

So when I saw that look on his face, that’s when it hit me. I said, you know what, I’m going to leave him alone. I don’t want to divide the household. I don’t want him saying, “Because of you, I don’t love this game anymore.”

So I shut up. And it was hard to do.

But once I stepped back and just watched him play, I realized something: he was doing everything I had asked him to do. He was trying hard. He was competing. He was doing everything he could for his team.

So after games, I kept it simple. “Good game.” If they won, “That was a great win.” And that was it.

That’s when our relationship started growing. That’s when he started coming to me with questions. That’s when he wanted to know more.

I tell parents all the time – sometimes we want it more than they do. But kids don’t always see things as early as we see them. You have to let them grow at their own pace.

It’s not for you. It’s for them.

And if you embarrass them in the stands, yelling at referees, yelling at coaches, acting a fool, that hurts them more than people realize.

Sometimes the best thing you can do is just be quiet and let your son or daughter grow.

Watching His Son Live the Dream

From there, Hardaway opened up about the pride he feels watching his son succeed at the highest level.

What does it feel like watching your son live the same dream you once lived?

When I’m sitting at home watching my son play and my wife or daughters walk past and ask why I’m smiling, I tell them, “Because I’m enjoying my son play the game of basketball.”

That’s me. I’m living a second life through him.

When he went to the Final Four and then to the championship game, I was playing in that game. People laugh when I say that, but I mean it. I was sweating. My wife was asking me why my hands were sweaty, and I’m like, because I’m playing.

That’s how it feels. When your son is out there, you’re out there too.

And when he’s on? Man, my chest is out, my head is up, I’m on cloud nine. It’s a feeling I can’t even describe. Y’all just have to feel that for yourselves one day.

That’s my son. I’m proud of him every single time I watch him hoop.

What advice do you give your son now, not as a basketball player, but as a father?

Always believe in yourself. Always have confidence in yourself.

Everybody gets down. Everybody has bad days. But the next time you shoot the ball, the next time you play defense, the next time you step on that court – believe something positive is going to happen.

Never let anybody take your confidence away from you.

And always believe in the work you put in.

One time he called me frustrated about his shot not falling and not being able to get his rhythm back. I told him, “Tim, you’re not going to shoot 1,000% for the year.”

I was 0-for-17 in a game once. I still played. I still kept going.

That’s what I tell him: keep shooting with confidence. Some shots go in, some don’t. That’s basketball. But the next one, you’ve got to believe it’s going in.

That confidence can never leave you.

Coach Pittman and the Foundation of His Game

When the interview turned to mentorship, Hardaway spoke about the coach who helped shape him from a young age.

How did Coach Pittman help develop your mindset and your game?

It started in sixth grade.

I tried out for the sixth grade team. He told me to come back and try out for the seventh grade team the next day. Then after that, he told me to come back and try out for the eighth grade team.

Afterward, he told me I could have made the eighth grade team, but I was just too short.

From then on, he laid the foundation for me. After school, it was running around the gym, calisthenics, Mikan drills, fundamentals, bounce passes, layups the right way, all of it.

He taught me how to be a team player. He taught me what it takes to be in shape, to be healthy, to know the fundamentals, and to understand how to play the game the right way.

A lot of guys in grammar school didn’t know I was already playing pickup basketball against grown men in sixth and seventh grade. That matters. That helps shape your toughness.

That foundation stayed with me.

What was it like when Coach Pittman first showed you Isiah Thomas and told you that you played like him?

Man, that was incredible.

I was in class and Coach Pittman came and got me. Told me to grab my coat because we were going somewhere.

He took me to a high school playoff game and told me to watch number 11 in white: Isiah Thomas.

I’m sitting there watching him control the game, pass people open, lead his team, attack the basket, and just play with confidence.

Then I asked Coach Pittman why he wanted me to watch him. He said, “Because you play like him.”

I was stunned.

Back then, we didn’t have film on ourselves. You couldn’t watch your own game. So for him to tell me that I played like Isiah Thomas meant everything to me.

From that point on, I patterned my game after Isiah. I watched him as much as I could, followed his stats, studied how he dribbled, how he finished, how he shot off the glass. I tried to model my game after him in every way I could.

The “Get Your Lick Back” Mentality

The conversation also got into the mindset of competition, toughness, and remembering every little thing on the court.

Where did that “get your lick back” mentality come from?

Man, I used to get my lick back for real.

I remember one time a dude hit me so hard it made a tear come out. Then he called me a punk and said I was too little to come back out there.

I remember thinking, okay. I know what to do next time.

I built myself up and I got guys back. Maybe not that day. Maybe not the next week. Maybe it was a year later. But I remembered.

That’s how I was. I remembered everything.

Same with my cousins. They used to beat me up, tickle me, rough me up when I was younger. But when we got on the court? Oh, I was giving elbows, hard fouls, little extra stuff. And later on I told them, “Yeah, I was getting y’all back for all that stuff when we were younger.”

That’s the game within the game.

Rivalries Meant Something Back Then

When the topic turned to rivalries, Hardaway made it clear just how personal those battles used to be.

How different were rivalries in your era compared to now?

It was different because it was real.

Back then, if we were rivals, I’m not shaking your hand before the game. I’m not smiling with you. I’m not helping you up. We can love each other off the court, sure, but in between those lines, it’s personal.

I remember being around Charlie Ward after a playoff series. We were on a Nike trip in China and we still weren’t speaking. People noticed it.

Finally I told him, “Look, we don’t have to like each other, but for the sake of the kids and the people here, let’s at least be respectful.”

So we did that while we were there. But once we got back home? It went right back to it. That’s how real it was.

That’s just how we played. And a lot of that came from Pat Riley. That mentality was part of the culture.

What made Pat Riley such a powerful coach and leader?

Pat Riley always had you ready to play.

One time after a game, he was so fired up that he stuck his head into some ice-cold water – the same kind they use for your feet – and it shocked him so bad they had to come check on him.

That’s how intense he was.

But the thing about Pat was this: even if you were already self-motivated, he could still give a speech that had you ready to run through a wall.

He was always prepared. He had his team prepared. He was always focused, and he had his team focused.

And I loved that. A lot of guys couldn’t handle practice the way he ran it, but I loved practicing. I loved going in there and getting prepared.

Sometimes it was overboard. Sometimes you needed it. But that’s who he was.

Modern Guard Comparisons

Hardaway was also asked which players in today’s game reflect pieces of his own style.

Who do you see in today’s NBA that reminds you of your style of play?

Jalen Brunson, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Steph Curry, Devin Vassell, and Jamal Murray.

Those are guys I look at and see pieces of that.

Now, there aren’t a lot of them. But those guys stand out to me.

Brunson, especially – I like the way he controls the game. Shai too. Murray is real nice. Before the injuries and now coming back, you can see that same caliber again.

Those are some of the guards I really enjoy watching.

On LeBron James Defying Father Time

The interview also touched on LeBron’s longevity and what Hardaway sees when he watches him now.

How much longer do you think LeBron can keep doing this?

What he has done is phenomenal.

He just keeps defying people. He keeps defying father time. And a big part of it is that he’s healthy.

At that age, guys just aren’t jumping like that anymore. They don’t have that kind of athleticism anymore. But he still does.

So for me, I just say enjoy it. Let him decide each day what he wants to do based on how his body feels.

But I do know this – he’s not going to just quit. He’s going to let people know when it’s his last year, and when he does, he deserves that farewell tour in every city.

We don’t want to see him go out hurt. We want him to go out the right way, when he’s still himself.

That’s what a player like that deserves.

What do you remember about seeing young LeBron for the first time?

I saw him at Hoops after he had just gotten his cast off. I didn’t really recognize him at first.

We were playing and there was a three-on-two break. We knew he liked to pass, so me and another guy both leaned to stop the pass.

And he just took off.

From basically the free throw line.

He missed the dunk, but after the play we were all just standing there like, “Did you see that?”

It looked like a cartoon. That’s how crazy it was.

His jump shot wasn’t there yet, but his playmaking ability was already special. You could tell he understood how to play the game and that he was ready for the next level.

Nobody knows somebody is going to become what LeBron became. You can speculate, but you never really know.

But everybody who believed in him turned out to be right.

The Legacy of Run TMC

Later, Hardaway reflected on what made Run TMC so dangerous and why that group never got the full runway it deserved.

What made Run TMC special, and how good could that group have been?

Run TMC was unique.

We had the IQ. We knew how to play. We knew how to set our defenders up. We practiced together, talked through situations, and knew each other’s cues.

We could get up and down the court in transition, but we could also make plays in the half court.

With Chris Mullin, you had one of the deadliest shooters ever. Mitch Richmond could score any way you wanted. And me, I could orchestrate everything while still scoring and making plays myself.

We were dangerous.

If we had more time – and if we had kept the nucleus together – I really think we could’ve done something special.

But you don’t trade your nucleus after two and a half, three years. You don’t do that. Give it five or six years and see what it becomes.

Once Mitch got traded, that hurt us. We were never able to recover from that.

People were scared of us before that. After Mitch was gone, teams felt like they could neutralize the other two.

That changed everything.

Where would you rank Run TMC among the greatest Big Threes ever?

If you’re talking about championships, then Duncan, Parker, and Ginobili have to be at the top.

Magic, Kareem, and Worthy are right there too. Jordan, Pippen, and Rodman.

Then Shaq, Kobe, and their group. Then LeBron, Wade, and Bosh. Then the Warriors group with Steph, Klay, and Draymond.

But when it comes to us – Run TMC – I’m putting us in that top five conversation.

The difference is a lot of those groups won championships, and we didn’t get enough time together.

But talent for talent? Style for style? The pressure we put on teams? People didn’t want to deal with us.

That’s how I see it.

Hardaway’s Advice to Young Athletes

The interview closed on a deeper note, with Hardaway offering advice for young people facing pressure, criticism, and mental health struggles.

What message would you give to young athletes trying to stay level-headed and block out outside noise?

Outside noise is exactly what it is – outside noise.

I used to take what people said about me and use it as motivation. Too short. Can’t shoot over anybody. Can’t defend. Can’t finish. Can’t do this, can’t do that.

I used all of it as fuel.

I also pray every day. I thank God every day. I thank Him for waking me up, for my family, for our health.

And I tell young people this all the time: talk to somebody.

Back in our day, especially in our communities, we didn’t talk about mental health. We didn’t know how. People were hurting, but nobody said anything.

Now you can talk. So talk.

You are not by yourself. There are people who will protect you, help you, and listen to you. You just have to know who you can trust.

And never let anybody take your confidence away from you. Never let anybody tell you what you can’t do. Never let anybody drag you into the mud and take away your spirit.

Always protect yourself. Mentally, emotionally, spiritually – protect yourself.

And remember, it’s okay if sports isn’t your path.

It’s okay to be studious. It’s okay to own a company. It’s okay to be a manager, a pilot, a lawyer, whatever you want to be.

But whatever it is, it’s going to take hard work.

And if you put the work in, you’ll reap the rewards.

Patience is a virtue.