[BR] It’s a Good Time to be PJ Tucker

joshuaao · Oct 17, 2018

https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2801074-its-a-good-time-to-be-pj-tucker

It's September at McNeese State University, and the sights of construction are all around the Health and Human Performance Education Complex. A crew hauls an oversized ladder, dust swirls inside the cement-floored tunnels and plastic drapes over a swath of seats. On the basketball court, another project is taking shape as the Houston Rockets gather for one of the first practices of this new season.

PJ Tucker joins a group of players stretching that includes James Hardenand Chris Paul. A day earlier, Tucker had ripped into a younger player for not giving enough energy. The lack of effort offends Tucker to his core. He is all screens and rolls, dives and elbows and, increasingly these days, three-point shots. The scolding is a small moment now, just one of many in training camp. It can bloom in importance during the spring, when championship aspirations are at stake and one recounts the moments that establish a foundation.

"Honestly, I don't know where we'd be without him," Rockets general manager Daryl Morey gushes. "He and Clint [Capela] really anchor our defense. More than any player outside of James and Chris, he sets that tone."

On the court, Tucker alters his approach from game to game, matchup to matchup. His willingness to guard everyone from LeBron to Bogdan Bogdanovic and ability to keep defenses moving with his three-point shooting give Paul and Harden space to dance. Off the court, he and Harden are each another's shadows. He's been buddies with Carmelo Anthony since they were teenagers. His friendship with Paul predates puberty.

"We've got a bond," Harden says. "It's only been a year. I feel like I've been knowing him for a long time. Even before, when he was in Phoenix, I used to kill him. I used to hate him. I used to talk mad trash to him. But this past year has been great for both of us."

Tucker, wearing a Nike T-shirt, eases into a chair at a long table inside his room at the team's hotel. His fashion sense, which is gaining more attention, is muted after a training-camp practice. Enough red and white sneakers to fit a starting five rest on the table. He's at ease now, able to consider the context of a career shaped by the labels he's been given over the years—the good and the bad, the ones that you want and the ones you need to discard for the sake of a career. He has been tagged with both, while mostly remaining the same rugged, determined player. In Houston, he's been given one that isn't easy to quantify, but is easy to see: the glue guy.

"You can't give me a better description," Tucker says. "It's like All-Star. It's like saying something like that to me. Because I can do everything. ... There's nobody I can't guard. There's nothing. There's no ceiling."

Now in his eighth season, Tucker is that most coveted of assets, a multipositional player, able to switch on defense and stretch the floor on offense. It's a role that has evolved over time in the league, and perhaps best manifested in Draymond Green, whom Tucker hopes to unseat from his championship perch this season.

"Nowadays, Draymond's an All-Star," Tucker says. "Think about that. He's an All-Star. He would never be an All-Star in the early 2000s. Never. Never, and that's no knock to him. It's props, actually. It's amazing to me, and I know the game evolves, but that's a really short amount of time for something like that to change so much."

Tucker knows this better than most, because he remembers when his type of game was overlooked by NBA decision-makers.

Tucker has always looked more like a football player than an NBA star.

"Am I here to recruit a basketball player or an offensive tackle?" former Texas coach Rick Barnes wondered aloud the first time he recruited Tucker.

Considering his upbringing, it was a fair question. Tucker's father, nicknamed Pops (PJ comes from Pops Junior), was an Army veteran who demanded from the sidelines that PJ attack the game aggressively, that every rebound be his for the forceful taking.

Tucker and Paul made a pact as teenagers to attend college together, but that collapsed when Wake Forest had concerns that Tucker would not qualify academically. So he landed at Texas, where Barnes found a confidence in Tucker that few other players shared. But Barnes predicted that Tucker would need to develop his jumper to advance another level. Tucker replied that he could score inside at will.

"Which he pretty much could," says Barnes, now Tennessee's coach. "He was like a wolf. He wanted to eat. He wanted the ball, and he had those big, big mitts. And if you threw it to him, you thought when he caught it and he slapped it to his other hand, it was going to pop the ball."

He shared the court with LaMarcus Aldridge, who was more of a traditional post presence. Yet, when Barnes felt Texas really needed to get the ball inside, he often fed Tucker. The plan worked. After his junior season, Tucker was a second-team All-American and the Big 12 Player of the Year. When a prospective freshman named Kevin Durant visited the Austin campus, however, Tucker felt his time at Texas had run its course.

Tucker played host to the teenage Durant, who wanted to scrimmage against the Longhorns. Typically, though, varsity athletes didn't play against recruits. Durant was insistent.

What does this guy need to go to school for? Tucker thought.

"We had all the guys come and even some of the [alums] that were in Europe came back and played, and he killed everybody," Tucker says. "It was like he was in college and we were in high school. ... I'm dead-ass serious, and we had dogs on our team back then."

Barnes wanted Tucker to stay for another season and develop his jumper. Tucker debated returning, but with Durant leading a talented incoming class, he figured it was time to go pro.

Drafted 35th overall by the Raptors in 2006, Tucker found playing time scarce on a team that flexed a respectable roster and finished at 47-35. Forget about games. Even gaining practice reps was a struggle.

He stopped caring as much. During the down moments, he occasionally thought, You know what? Maybe this isn't for me.

"You can be in the league and still feel like you're not in the league," Tucker says. "That was the point I was at when I left Toronto."

He played 17 games with the Raptors, averaging 1.8 points in 83 total minutes while rotating through D-League stints. The Raptors waived Tucker when they needed a spot for a shooter.

Tucker was labeled a 'tweener, not big enough to make a living in the paint, not quick enough to attack from the perimeter.

"There was nothing worse you could be than a tweener," says Tucker, who is listed as 6'6" and 245 pounds. "There was nothing worse you could be, and there were so many good guys that were so good that were tweeners, and they couldn't make it. ... And when you got that label, it was going to stick. It's like getting branded."

Tucker told his agent, Andre Buck, that he just wanted to play. Period. "Find me the best deal in Europe," he said.

He had no idea how difficult it would eventually be, but the doubt left him. He told himself that he would go overseas, win championships and become the best basketball player he could. The NBA, be damned.

"I [focused] on what I was doing there ... rather than trying to play to get back into the league," Tucker says. "It's kind of weird because you think it would go hand in hand. But it doesn't, because when you're trying to play to get back into the league, it's I'm trying to get buckets. I'm trying to average this or do this and do that," Tucker says. "But that's not really what's going to get you back in the league necessarily."

....
Click to expand...

Andre0087 · Oct 17, 2018

Wolves gotta eat yo...

heypartner · Oct 17, 2018

Was this Chriss or Caboclo?

A day earlier, Tucker had ripped into a younger player for not giving enough energy. The lack of effort offends Tucker to the thiccness of his core.

Deuce · Oct 17, 2018

T H I C C

Not as thicc

Deuce · Oct 17, 2018

heypartner said: ↑

Was this Chriss or Caboclo?

A day earlier, Tucker had ripped into a younger player for not giving enough energy. The lack of effort offends Tucker to the thiccness of his core.
Click to expand...

Man, I wish the real article would have dropped in that thiccness. Would have been hilarious

heypartner · Oct 17, 2018

Deuce said: ↑

T H I C C

Not as thicc
Click to expand...

T H I C C

True Rocket · Oct 17, 2018

heypartner said: ↑

Was this Chriss or Caboclo?

A day earlier, Tucker had ripped into a younger player for not giving enough energy. The lack of effort offends Tucker to the thiccness of his core.
Click to expand...

It was Zhou.

mockster · Oct 17, 2018

heypartner said: ↑

Was this Chriss or Caboclo?

A day earlier, Tucker had ripped into a younger player for not giving enough energy. The lack of effort offends Tucker to the thiccness of his core.
Click to expand...

He’s the butler of our team

Rudyball · Oct 17, 2018

The article makes you love his effort more than before

valorita · Oct 17, 2018

Morey’s least likely to trade rankings.

1. Harden
2. Paul
3. Tucker
4. Everyone else

YOLO · Oct 17, 2018

apparently he needs to be thrown in as a piece for butler though

YOLO · Oct 17, 2018

@Giant9erRocket

Giant9erRocket said: ↑

Have you even watched PJ Tucker play? Do you love his 7.7 points he brings to the table?

How is he contributing now? By being sidelined, overpaid and overweight with a hamstring issue? If you ever played sports this injury is likely to linger throughout the entire season and just doesn't go away. He's a career back up player and wasn't drafted in the 1st round coming out of college for a reason yet you expect him to be the next Scottie Pippen on our team. You probably haven't even seen him play once for Toronto/Phoenix.

It's obvious you and everyone in here is hyping this guy to be an elite defender able to defend "MULTIPLE" positions. I call BS and have yet to witness oh wait I have seen his defense... the night James Harden went over 40 on him.

Hilarious thing is you believe he's a decent 3 point shooter yet he doesn't even average 1 three pointer MADE per game. He made a grand total of 72 last season. Where is this 3 and D you speak of? Please tell me more ::insert Willy Wonka pic here::
Click to expand...

Hakeemtheking · Oct 17, 2018

What a great read. Thank you!

Now you know why Morey won't even trade Tucker for Beyonce. @AnthonyDavis

theimpossibles1 · Oct 17, 2018

Damn it feels good to be a PJ... I mean one that you don't really know... Ridin' round town in his drop-top Benz, hittin switches in his black '6-4.

amaru · Oct 17, 2018

Thicc!!!

On a related note, how sweet would it be to have a prime Chuckwagon in today’s NBA?

SWTsig · Oct 17, 2018

he didn't look to happy sitting first base side when his boys were all in the diamond club last night at the stros game though

Williamson · Oct 17, 2018

amaru said: ↑

Thicc!!!

On a related note, how sweet would it be to have a prime Chuckwagon in today’s NBA?
Click to expand...

Definitely wouldn't spread the floor but could guard multiple positions.

amaru · Oct 17, 2018

jmwilliamson said: ↑

Definitely wouldn't spread the floor but could guard multiple positions.
Click to expand...

I could see him giving Donkey fits lol

MrButtocks · Oct 17, 2018

amaru said: ↑

Thicc!!!

On a related note, how sweet would it be to have a prime Chuckwagon in today’s NBA?
Click to expand...

Chuck had no range though and one of his greatest assets, post defense, would be underutilized in today's game. I think he'd be equally valuable in any era.

amaru · Oct 17, 2018

MrButtocks said: ↑

Chuck had no range though and one of his greatest assets, post defense, would be underutilized in today's game. I think he'd be equally valuable in any era.
Click to expand...

Good point

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