P.J. Tucker: 2014-15 Phoenix Suns Player Grades

Strengths:

Tucker’s weaknesses are really just his limitations as a player. He doesn’t have a great jump shot or great handles, yet somehow, he’s worked his way into a starting spot on an NBA team after floating around for years overseas. That probably says something about a position of need for the Suns, but it’s also a testament to Tucker’s tremendous work ethic.

Despite being outmatched on a nightly basis, Tucker’s determination helped even things out. Even with him being abused in the post, when he was defending on the perimeter where he belongs, he held opponents to 36.6 percent shooting on shots from further than 15 feet.

Tucker has said he loves playing down low, but the truth is the Suns were a much better defensive team with him defending on the wing. And make no mistake, Tucker is actually an excellent perimeter defender. In the right defensive system with other players committed to defense around him, he’d have the chance to be elite.

On the offensive end, Tucker was mostly average as a shooter. He’s not a great perimeter shooter, but when he was aggressive and used his strength to attack the basket, he was just slightly above league average finishing at the rim, a major improvement from the 48.7 percent he shot at the basket in 2013-14.

Tucker wasn’t as good about drawing fouls as he should have been (averaging only 1.8 free throw attempts per game), but since the Suns don’t (and shouldn’t) run their offense through him, that’s not as big a deal as it seems.

If it’s starting to feel like Tucker doesn’t have any set strengths, it’s worth mentioning that he was by far one of the better defenders on the Suns’ roster. But the truth is, Tucker probably isn’t a starting caliber player in this league, which is why he so often looked overmatched.

Off the bench, Tucker could be a great asset. He has more heart than anyone on this team, he always plays hard, he was one of the few players on this team who ever came up with clutch rebounds when the Suns needed them and as far as hustle guys go, it doesn’t get much better than this.

“Yeah P.J. doesn’t get a lot of stuff, a lot of opportunities, but late in the games, he really gets tuned in and that’s where teams really focus on maybe our other guys and P.J. can get some kickouts,” said head coach Jeff Hornacek after the Suns’ game against the Washington Wizards on Jan. 28.

In the fourth quarter in particular, Tucker almost always stepped up his game. He recorded about one-third of his points and rebounds in the final period this season, and his shooting percentages jumped to 53.3 percent from the floor and 37.9 percent from three-point range.

Moving forward, the Suns will probably need more than the 9.1 points and 6.4 rebounds per game that they were getting out of the small forward position. But Tucker usually played to the best of his potential, so it’s hard to fault him too much for that.

Next: Lowlights