The Miami Heat yesterday signed forward P.J. Tucker.
“P.J. Tucker is the perfect addition to this team,” said HEAT President Pat Riley. “He brings both shooting and most importantly, the ability to defend a lot of perimeter players. We love his versatility in order to put a defensive team on the court, where all five guys can defend, while also having enough shooting and scoring to win games.”
Tucker, who helped the Bucks to the 2021 NBA Championship, split last season between Houston and Milwaukee appearing in 52 games (33 starts) and averaged 3.7 points, 3.9 rebounds, 1.2 assists, 1.17 steals and 26.1 minutes. In 23 postseason games (19 starts) while helping lead Milwaukee to their first NBA Championship in 50 years, he averaged 4.3 points, 4.8 rebounds and 1.1 assists in 29.6 minutes. Tucker ranked among postseason hustle leaders in charges drawn (third), loose balls recovered (fourth), contested two-pointers (eighth), contested shots (ninth), box outs (tied-12th), contested three-pointers (15th) and deflections (tied-16th).
The 10-year NBA veteran has appeared in 706 career games (511 starts) for Toronto, Phoenix, Houston and Milwaukee and averaged 7.1 points, 5.7 rebounds, 1.4 assists, 1.17 steals and 29.1 minutes while shooting 41.9 percent from the field, 35.9 percent from three-point range and 74.8 percent from the foul line. He has scored in double figures on 204 occasions, including 14 games with at least 20 points. He has also posted double-figure boards 82 times and registered 40 double-doubles while receiving multiple votes for the NBA All-Defensive Team in six of his 10 seasons. Additionally, he has appeared in 73 career postseason games (60 starts) and averaged 7.1 points, 6.1 rebounds, 1.3 assists and 28.9 minutes while scoring in double figures 22 times and recording 14 games with at least 10 rebounds, including nine double-doubles.
