NBA 2021 Finals – How Milwaukee Bucks forward PJ Tucker found his place in the league

PJ Tucker was not interested in eating goulash.

It was during the 2008-09 season, and Tucker was somewhere in Ukraine, playing for BC Donetsk of the Ukrainian SuperLeague. Tucker, when introduced to the Central European staple, decided he preferred to have something else during the team meal.

“In Europe, for team dinners, everyone eats the same thing,” said Chris Owens, Tucker’s teammate with BC Donetsk and other University of Texas product. “There are no special orders. There could be [the choice of] chicken or steak, but you don’t get a personalized meal. “

Tucker figured there must be a McDonald’s nearby, but none close enough was open. Owens said Tucker resorted to whatever he could find for dinner, a few Snickers bars.

“The next day,” Owens said with a laugh, “we were on the bus and he said,“ Dude, I’d give $ 100 for a Chick-fil-A sandwich. “”

When he wasn’t looking for alternatives to team meals, he was looking for high-end fashion.

“He always went to the Gucci store when we went to [Kiev, Ukraine’s capital city]”Owens said.” He was still in the Louis Vuitton store.

“He would go to any fashion store that was around the corner, [but] he did not shop. He would study it. If there were [fashionable] clothes he was going [go see] them.”

Tucker’s taste for clothes and sneakers – the flashier, the better – couldn’t be further from the working-class ethics he embodies on the pitch. Tucker has established himself as one of the NBA’s ultimate contenders and glue guys during his stints with the Phoenix Suns, Toronto Raptors, Houston Rockets and now Milwaukee Bucks, who acquired him before the trade deadline of March 25.

Tucker’s professional career has spanned 11 teams on three continents – each milestone with a story to tell about the 36-year-old forward playing on the NBA’s biggest stage for the first time.

But for every story of Tucker’s elite-level fashion sense or fond memories of locker room antics, there’s twice as much on an almost legendary competition streak that saw an undersized striker forge. a decade-long NBA race.

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The connector

After being drafted in the second round by the Raptors in 2006, Tucker spent a season in the NBA – he played 83 minutes in total for Toronto – before going overseas. He then spent the next four years rebounding in different leagues in Europe, playing in Israel, Ukraine, Greece and Italy with varying degrees of success.

After a disappointing 2010-11 season that saw him split time between Greece and Italy, he fell on the radar of Brose Bamberg, a German Bundesliga team.

Tucker’s ability to factor in small-ball lineups – something that translated into his NBA career – first made him stand out from the then head coach in Bamberg, Chris Fleming, and the team’s recruiting staff.

But once he brought in Tucker, Fleming said what impressed him the most was how Tucker put the locker room together.

“We had a team with an old Serbian who didn’t speak English particularly well,” said Fleming, who is now an assistant coach with the Chicago Bulls, “and PJ bonded with him and had a great friendship with him.

“The American players, the young German players, he had the ability to reach everyone.”

It’s a trait that dates back to Tucker’s days in Texas. During Tucker’s first year in 2003, some players chose to attend the annual Texas-Oklahoma soccer game at the Texas State Fairgrounds in Dallas.

Not only did they show up, but they also decided to make their presence felt at the Red River Rivalry game.

“We decided to wear ‘F — you, I’m from Texas’ shirts to the Texas-OU game,” said Royal Ivey, a Brooklyn Nets assistant who played with Tucker in Texas.

“It wasn’t a smart idea.”

“That’s what he does wherever he goes. He leaves his fingerprints or his sneaker prints – kind of fingerprints – on this organization.”

Royal Ivey, on PJ Tucker

This was before the smartphone era, so no one took a picture of the gamers wandering around in their colorful clothes. But that didn’t stop word from returning to longtime Texas athletic director DeLoss Dodds, who asked them to write an email to apologize to fans for their actions.

“[Tucker] convinced me to wear the shirt. I was like, ‘Dude, what am I doing? I listened to it! ‘”Said Ivey.” But it has that effect, man. Everyone is drawn to him because of his personality. “

It was also a big part of what won over the Bucks when they acquired him from Houston on the March trade deadline to try to help Milwaukee finally break through and qualify for the NBA Finals. this season.

And that’s the same reason why so many players and coaches from his past are rooting so hard that he surpasses the top and wins a championship this year with the Bucks, who are down 2-1 against the Suns. before Game 4 of the NBA Finals (Wednesday, 9 p.m. ET on ABC).

“His laugh is one of those that if I’m in a room and I hear his laughter, I know who it is,” said Rick Barnes, Tucker’s Texas head coach. “Guys love to be around him.”

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The opponent

Tucker faced Kevin Durant for virtually every second he was on the field in Milwaukee’s seven-game East Finals marathon against the Nets.

Throughout the series, Tucker has spoken of the joy he felt trying to take out one of the league’s all-time top scorers.

“It’s the playoffs, man,” Tucker said of that series. “I don’t know what people think. We dream about it all our lives. You dream of being in the playoffs and keeping the best player in the world. Like, I’m going to die there.

“I’m living my dream. I’m going to stop at nothing. I fight for every inch. I don’t understand all those little things. Kevin and I fight every year. I’ve kept it every year in the playoffs.”

But there is perhaps no better example of Tucker’s dynamism than what he did in Game 7 of the 2018 Western Conference Finals against the Golden State Warriors. Tucker – playing hours after having root canals on three teeth he cracked in the Rockets’ loss in Game 6 – spent 45 minutes, guarding Durant most of the time, and finished with 14 points, 12 rebounds and 4 steals.

“We missed those 27 3s in a row, but he made up about 15 with his relentlessness,” said then Rockets coach Mike D’Antoni, exaggerating a bit of the eight offensive rebounds Tucker had. successful that night.

“He was doing everything to keep us in the game until we hit a few shots – which we never did – but he was single-handedly keeping us in the game.

“All that is invaluable in trying to build a championship team. He was the best.”

That competitive streak stood out for the man who saw Tucker at the opposite end of the NBA pyramid, former Suns general manager Ryan McDonough.

Tucker eventually returned to the NBA in the 2012-13 season after winning the German league title with Bamberg the previous year, as well as being named All-Star and MVP of the championship round.

But after playing 79 games – and starting 45 – for the Suns that season, McDonough asked the then 28-year-old Tucker to make the Phoenix Summer League squad.

In a setting normally reserved for rookies and young players, Tucker received what was essentially a glorified try, as his contract for the following season was not guaranteed. Tucker joined the team without complaint.

“He played hard until the championship game,” McDonough said, “where we lost to Golden State and a young guy named Draymond Green.

“[Tucker] He was the same guy you see now in the playoffs: setting up hard screens, diving to the ground, crashing for rebounds. “

Tucker earned his spot with Phoenix and started 81 games for a 48-game winning team in the 2013-14 season, the culmination of the franchise’s decade-long playoff drought. He then signed a three-year, $ 16.5 million contract to stay with the Suns.

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The mentor

Tucker was a rare source of reliability for a Phoenix franchise that had four head coaches during his tenure of more than four seasons and embarked on a rebuilding plan midway through his tenure with the franchise. He refused to withdraw from games, regardless of the many aches and pains he suffered or the Suns’ place in the standings.

“I would ask our [trainers] about him, and PJ would hear me and say, ‘Of course I’m going to play the fucking game!’ “McDonough said. Lots of games. PJ always wanted to play because he’s the ultimate competitor.”

But Tucker’s most lasting impact on the Suns may have been mentoring the aspiring superstar who has brought them two wins since their first title: Devin Booker, who arrived ahead of Tucker’s fourth season in Phoenix as 18-year-old lottery choice.

“We all knew he was going to be really good,” Tucker said of Booker. “Like, he wasn’t just good, he was really good. Being his teammate at the time and the team’s vet, it was my job to make him better.”

As for the Bucks’ title chances in 2021, maybe Tucker did too much good work.

“I saw them fighting in the training center a few times, talking to each other,” said former Suns goalkeeper Leandro Barbosa. “[Tucker is] such a great defensive player and a physical player. He brought it to Devin Booker, and Devin Booker took it. I told him every time he went against PJ: ‘If you can succeed against him, you will succeed against anyone.’ “

It was with this same mindset that Tucker became an essential part of winning during his time in the NBA. Every time he steps onto the pitch, his opponent knows he’s going to have a long night.

He brought that conviction to the Bucks, who after Sunday’s victory are now three wins away from the ultimate prize and the ultimate validation of Tucker’s globetrotting career. But no matter how these NBA Finals play out, it won’t change the way Tucker has impacted so many people throughout his basketball journey.

“That’s what he does wherever he goes. He leaves his fingerprints or his sneaker prints – kind of fingerprints – on this organization,” Ivey said.

“He’s one of those guys you don’t want to play against, but everyone wants a PJ Tucker.”