Fantasy Basketball: Buy Or Sell, Phoenix Suns Edition
By Scott Chasen
Sell: P.J. Tucker
If you grab P.J. Tucker in a late round, it wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world. He’ll probably be coming off the bench by the end of the year, but early on he could be okay. However, even if he does remain the starter for 82 games, he won’t be that valuable for your team.
Last year, Tucker averaged just 9.1 points and 6.4 rebounds per game, despite playing over 30 minutes per night, and his percentages weren’t great either. Tucker shot just 34.5 percent from three, which ranked 31st out of all qualified NBA small forwards, and he ranked 31st in field goal percentage out of all small forwards who appeared in at least 35 games.
Despite playing in 78 contests, Tucker was just 26th in total points for his position last year, although he was top-five in rebounds. Really, the only redeeming quality here is that Marcus Morris is no longer with the team, so there will be some more minutes available, but it’s hard to imagine Tucker playing that much more than 30 minutes per game anyway.
And again, as a late, late pick he wouldn’t be absolutely terrible, but a now-30-year-old P.J. Tucker has very limited upside, and he may even go a little too high in drafts considering T.J. Warren isn’t exactly a household name yet (although people around the NBA are starting to take note).
T.J. Warren’s shot chart in his last 3 games (made 75.9% of his shots inside the arc). He’s going to be good. pic.twitter.com/Sql5IZRK2D
— Michael Gallagher (@MikeSGallagher) April 3, 2015
T.J. Warren goes from good finish to rookie season into a very good summer league: 4 games, 56.9% FG, 20.3 PPG. Suns have to be encouraged.
— Scott Howard-Cooper (@SHowardCooper) July 16, 2015
Next: Undecided: Chandler/Len