Tim Hardaway Jr. finally had a summer when he didn’t have to worry about anything.
His broken foot from two years back is completely healed and there was no long rehab stints this offseason.
Nothing but work in the gym and the weight room.
Not that there wasn’t drama, but it was the kind he could live with, and smile about.
He had to switch his uniform number from 11 to 10.
“We all knew that Kyrie (Irving) wanted 11,” Hardaway said. “So it was a no-brainer to give him that number.
“No. 11 was a great number for me. But I’m back at home now. Ten feels a lot better on me, anyway. My pops wore it. It’s been a family number since my dad started playing. I feel like I’m back in my own skin.”
And just as importantly, he’s back in a Mavericks’ uniform, which he admitted wasn’t exactly a given when the season ended too quickly last spring.
Hardaway is as human as the next guy and he heard the same rumors everybody else heard. As it turned out, they were nothing more than idle speculation.
“I didn’t know if I was going to be here, if I’m going to be honest with you,” the 6-5 swingman said. “I took that time to definitely lock in, control what I could control, work my tail off, stay healthy and come back better than ever.”
Then, he added: “I feel securely here now.”
And he feels like, at 31 and going into his 11th NBA season (sixth with the Mavericks), he’s feeling younger than his years would suggest.
“A healthy offseason where you can just focus on basketball rather than rehab (was big),” he said. “Stayed in the gym constantly, the weight room constantly, try my best to get better.
“I think I’m more athletic now. I jump a lot higher now. I didn’t really get a lot of dunks earlier in my career. But now, being able to run the lane fast, get out on the break, I feel more explosive. I don’t have to second-guess jumping off my foot or anything like that.”
And that means Hardaway can focus on what he does best, which is shooting the ball. He has shot 38 percent from beyond the arc in 273 games with the Mavericks. He’s also been pushed this fall by the arrival of Seth Curry and Grant Williams, two guys who also pride themselves on being knock-down three-point shooters.
“Oh yeah, we already had (an) epic shooting game,” Hardaway said of Curry. “I beat him once already. I’m up 1-0. And Grant Williams talks a lot of trash so just look at his body language after practice once in a while when we have these shooting games and you’ll see whether he won or lost.”
As has been the case for most of his time in Dallas, Hardaway will enter the season without a predetermined role. He has started 171 games here and come off the bench in 102.
Coach Jason Kidd mentioned Hardaway as a sixth man of the year frontrunner this season. Hardaway said he’s not paying much attention to any preseason chatter.
At this stage in his career, Hardaway knows how to roll with the punches.
“You guys heard it first from him,” Hardaway said when asked about being sixth-man material. “I’m a hybrid, I guess, at this point in my career.
“Whether I start or come off the bench, I’m not going to be the one to have an ego or anything like that. It doesn’t get you anywhere. I’m just here to win ballgames, just like the rest of the guys out there on this team. And any other thought is kind of a waste of energy.”
Better to spend that energy on doing everything necessary to make sure a repeat of last season doesn’t happen. The Mavericks are fully expecting to prove that last year’s lottery appearance was an aberration.
“For me, I’ve been through good and bad throughout the course of my career,” Hardaway said. “Last season, how it ended, definitely was a hiccup. But having been in that situation before, I knew we were a great team. I knew what we could do. I think it was more of a move-on, time to work, no sulking, no looking back, just look forward and get better.”
That starts, of course, with stars Luka Doncic and Irving, who re-signed at the start of free agency, which triggered the move to change jersey numbers for he and Hardaway.
“We’re definitely happy to have him back,” Hardaway said of Irving. “Having a full offseason . . . I’m definitely looking forward to seeing how those two, Luka and Kai, mesh. It’s our job to make it easier for them out there on the floor.”
BRIEFLY: The Mavericks will be departing Sunday for the 12-day trip to Abu Dhabi and Madrid. They play two games against Minnesota in the United Arab Emirates on Thursday and Saturday, then play Luka’s former team, Real Madrid, in Spain on Oct. 10 . . . After two-a-days on Wednesday and Thursday, the Mavericks broke for media day on Friday and had a single practice Saturday . . . Coach Jason Kidd said training camp is one of the fun times of the year for one reason in particular. “Confidence is high,” he said. “In this building, the energy is high, everybody’s excited. Everybody’s a winner right now. Nobody’s talking about the minutes that they’re not playing or the shots they’re not getting. So everybody’s in a good mood.”
Twitter: @ESefko
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