The major business of the Philadelphia 76ers offseason is not yet finalized. We are still waiting on James Harden’s contract to be made official, along with other potential moves that still must come in under the hard cap.
Over the next few days, we will dive deeper into a couple of the key signings that have been made official. As a reminder, we looked at De’Anthony Melton before free agency began.
Today, we’ll focus on the new Sixers defensive stopper and the apple of Joel Embiid’s eye, P.J. Tucker.
Taking on toughest defensive assignments
In the news release announcing the signing, president of basketball operations Daryl Morey summarized what the Sixers expect from Tucker. The veteran forward signed a three-year deal for the non-taxpayer mid-level exception, which starts with a salary of $10.5 million.
“P.J. Tucker is one of the most respected and relentless competitors in our game and is the type of competitor our fans will love and embrace,” Morey said. “We’re excited to add his leadership, toughness, defensive versatility and championship pedigree to our roster.”
The qualities of relentlessness, leadership and toughness matter, especially in Tucker’s case. But those intangibles will only be evident during the season when he acclimates to a new roster. There is only one thing Morey mentioned that we can reasonably discuss while waiting for the ink to dry on Tucker’s contract: defensive versatility.
The Sixers’ top four players last season had the requisite firepower. But part of what held them back is that their skill sets overlapped. There was plenty of scoring and playmaking but not enough perimeter defense. Tobias Harris took on the role of defending the opposing team’s top scorer and did so admirably.
But it wasn’t enough. The lack of perimeter stoppers isn’t the only reason the Sixers lost to Miami in the second round of the NBA playoffs, but it was an obvious spot to upgrade. Jimmy Butler’s averages over the last four games of the Miami series: 32 points (55 percent shooting from the field, 33 percent from 3 and 82 percent from the free-throw line), 7.5 rebounds, 4.5 assists and one ruthless parting shot of questionable factuality. When you win, the narrative is all yours.
In comes Tucker, who will presumably take on the role of defending the opposing team’s best perimeter player. That is what he did in Miami and Milwaukee the past two seasons.
Take the BBall Index’s defensive matchup difficulty metric, which is an estimate of how tough a defender’s assignments are by utilizing tracking data. Last season, Tucker ranked 17th among all NBA players in defensive matchup difficulty. Outside of 2017-18, when the Rockets also featured stout wing defenders in Trevor Ariza and Luc Richard Mbah a Moute (and they had a switching scheme, which made the matchups more random), Tucker has generally rated highly in this metric. The numbers match with the eye test: He takes on tough assignments.
P.J. Tucker Defensive Matchup Difficulty
Year
|
Ranking within NBA
|
---|---|
2021-22 |
16th |
2020-21 |
68th |
2019-20 |
58th |
2018-19 |
18th |
2017-18 |
201st |
2016-17 |
45th |
When Milwaukee won the title in 2020-21, Tucker ranked sixth in average postseason matchup difficulty. He faced a murderer’s row for four straight series. And Matisse Thybulle ranked first in that very same metric last regular season. If Thybulle is still on the team next season, Tucker should help by handling some difficult wings. In theory, that should allow Thybulle to cause more havoc as a roamer.
Tucker’s teams made deep runs the past two postseasons. Here are his primary defensive assignments during that time: Butler (the Sixers are taking a page out of Miami’s playbook in poaching Tucker after losing to him), James Harden, Kevin Durant, Devin Booker and Jayson Tatum. Tucker will not be fazed.
In watching Tucker’s playoff footage from the past two…
Read More: How P.J. Tucker might fit on Sixers