Weaknesses:
At the age of 29, Tucker is probably as good right now as he’ll ever be. His strengths and weaknesses have been well-documented at this point, but his flaws were more noticeable this season than they were during last year’s feel-good campaign.
Tucker shot the ball extremely well from three-point range last season, making 38.7 percent of his attempts and becoming a corner three sniper in the process. This season, Tucker took nearly one more three-pointer per game, but he wasn’t able to keep up that same level of efficiency with all those extra attempts.
Tucker shot just 34.5 percent from downtown and on corner threes, once his specialty area, he shot 36.7 percent. Of his 87 made threes this season, 58 of them came from the corners, but he just didn’t knock them down like he did in 2013-14, when he converted 41 percent of his corner threes.
With Tucker’s long range shot not falling, his offense was virtually non-existent at times. Any Suns fan will be able to tell you how many times they’ve shaken their heads at a P.J. Tucker one-man fast break ending in calamity, especially when there was a wide open man running right beside him.
Tucker’s offense is pretty limited, and though there’d be nights where he knocked down a few big shots in the fourth to keep the Suns in the game, he only cracked 20 points twice in his 78 games. His best points came on hustle points from offensive rebounds, but he didn’t create as many second chance opportunities as he did last season.
In fact, the Suns were better off when Tucker wasn’t shooting. In Phoenix’s 42 losses with him on the floor, Tucker averaged 8.4 field goal attempts. In their 36 wins with Tucker in the lineup, that number dropped to 6.8.
For all of Tucker’s heart and determination on the court, he didn’t always make smart decisions. His hustle play set a nice example at times, but his competitive fire also fed into some bad fouls, costly turnovers or dumb technical fouls.
What a terrible technical for PJ Tucker. Then Dragic catches another. Suns give away 2 pts, put themselves down 87-82 with 1:57 to go
— I Always Keep A Can Of Tuna On Me (@SnottieDrippen) January 10, 2015
Tucker toned down his technicals this year (eight) compared to 2013-14 (12), but the example he set last year might have contributed to Markieff Morris and the rest of this undisciplined bunch racking up so many Ts this year.
Finally, we have to mention that despite his reputation for being a gritty defender and rebounder, an inordinate amount of buckets were drilled in his mug this season. The biggest part of the problem isn’t even Tucker’s fault; on such a small team, Tucker was often playing out of position guarding bigger, stronger power forwards (or even centers).
On shots from less than 10 feet, Tucker gave up 60.1 percent shooting, nearly six percent better than what those opponents would normally shoot from that range, per NBA.com. For all his strength and heart, he simply couldn’t stop the bigger bruisers of the Western Conference around the basket.
Next: Strengths