The 2021 NBA Finals – How Milwaukee Bucks striker BJ Tucker found his place in the league

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Tim Bontemps

Tim McMahon

Joined ESPNDallas.com in September 2009 and covers the Dallas Cowboys and the Dallas Mavericks. Appears regularly on ESPN Dallas 103.3 FM.

PJ Tucker wasn’t interested in eating goulash.

It was during the 2008-09 season, and Tucker was somewhere in Ukraine, playing for BC Donetsk of the Ukrainian Premier League. When Tucker introduced the staple in Central Europe, he decided he’d prefer to eat something else during the team meal.

“In Europe for team dinner, everyone eats the same thing,” said Chris Owens, Tucker’s BC Donetsk teammate and fellow University of Texas producer. “There are no special requests. There may be [the choice of] Chicken or steak, but you don’t get custom meals.”

Tucker thought there must be a McDonald’s nearby, but there wasn’t nearly as much open. Owens said Tucker turned to whatever he could find for dinner, a few Snickers bars.

“The next day, we were on the bus,” Owens said with a laugh, “and he said, ‘Man, I’m going to give $100 for a Chick-fil-A sandwich.

When he wasn’t looking for alternatives to team meals, he was looking for couture.

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He always goes to the Gucci store when we go to him [Kiev, Ukraine’s capital city]”He was always in the Louis Vuitton store,” Owens said.

“He would go to any fashion store that existed, [but] did not shop. will study it. If there are some [fashionable] Clothes, he was going to [go see] With them.”

Tucker’s flair for athletic apparel and footwear—the brighter, the better—could not be far from the working-class spirit he embodies on the court. Tucker established himself as one of the NBA’s ultimate contenders and stickman players during his tenures with the Phoenix Suns, Toronto Raptors, Houston Rockets and now the Milwaukee Bucks, which he acquired before the March 25 trading deadline.

Tucker’s professional career spanned 11 teams across three continents – every stop with a story to tell about the 36-year-old striker playing on the biggest stage in the NBA for the first time.

But for every tale of Tucker’s elite-level fashion sense or fond memory of locker room manners, there’s twice as many about a near-mythical competitive streak that allowed the small forward powerhouse to shape the NBA Tour for a decade.

Striker BJ Tucker finally plays in the NBA Finals. David Dow/NBAE via Getty Images Mosul

After being drafted into the second round by the Raptors in 2006, Tucker spent one season in the NBA — playing 83 total minutes for Toronto — before heading overseas. He then spent the next four years jumping around in various leagues in Europe, playing in Israel, Ukraine, Greece and Italy with varying degrees of success.

After a disappointing 2010-11 season that saw it split between Greece and Italy, he found himself on the radar of Brose Bamberg, a Bundesliga side.

Tucker’s ability to handle small ball formations – something that translated into his NBA career – initially made him stand out against then-Bamberg coach Chris Fleming and his scouting team.

ABC is your home to the 2021 NBA Finals, as the Phoenix Suns lead the Milwaukee Bucks 2-1.

Game 4: Wednesday, 9 p.m. ET Game 5: Saturday, 9 p.m. ET Game 6*: July 20, 9 p.m. ET Game 7*: July 22, 9 p.m. ET

*If necessary

But once Tucker was brought in, Fleming said what impressed him most was the way Tucker brought the locker room together.

“We had a team with an old Serb guy who didn’t speak English well,” said Fleming, who is now an assistant coach for the Chicago Bulls, and PJ reached out to him and had a great friendship.

“The American players, the young German players, he had the power to reach everyone.”

It’s a trait that dates back to Tucker’s Texas days. During Tucker’s freshman season in 2003, some players chose to attend the annual Texas-Oklahoma football game at the Texas State Fairgrounds in Dallas.

Not only did they attend, but they also decided to make their presence felt at Red River Rivalry.

“We decided to wear the ‘F—you, I’m from Texas’ jersey to the Texas-OU game,” said Royal Ivey, a Brooklyn Nets assistant who played for Tucker in Texas.

“That wasn’t a smart idea.”

“That’s what he does everywhere he goes. He leaves his fingerprints or his shoe prints – kind of fingerprints – on that organization.” Royal Ivy on PJ Tucker

This was before the days of smartphones, so no one took any pictures of the players walking around in their colorful outfits. But that didn’t stop word from getting back to longtime Texas athletic director DeLoss Dodds, who ordered them to write an email to apologize to fans for their actions.

“[Tucker] He made me wear the shirt. I was like, oh man, what do I do? I listened to it! ‘ said Ivy. “But he has that influence, man. Everyone is drawn to him because of his personality.”

It was also a big part of what the Bucks pleaded with when they snatched him from Houston on the March trade deadline to try and help Milwaukee finally reach the NBA Finals this season.

Which is the same reason many players and coaches from his past are rooting for him to go over the top and win this year’s championship with the Bucks, who are down 2-1 against the Suns heading into Game Four of the NBA Finals (Wednesday, 9 p.m. ET on ABC ).

“His laugh is one of those that if I’m in a room and hear his laugh, I know who it is,” said Rick Barnes, Tucker’s coach in Texas. “Men love to be around him.”

PJ Tucker went toe-to-toe – and head to head – with Nets star Kevin Durant in the East Finals. Getty Images Contender

Tucker went toe-to-toe with Kevin Durant for nearly every second he was on the field during the Milwaukee Marathon in the seven-game East Finals against the net.

Throughout the series, Tucker spoke about the joy he took from trying to lock down one of the league’s all-time top scorers.

“It’s the playoffs, man,” Tucker said during that series. “I don’t know what people think. We dream about this our whole lives. You dream of being in the playoffs and guarding the best player in the world. Like, I’m going to die there.”

“I’m living my dream. I don’t hold back for nothing. I fight for every inch. I don’t understand all these little things. Kevin and I fight every year. I guard him every year in the playoffs.”

But there may be no better example of Tucker’s leadership than he did in Game 7 of the 2018 Western Conference Finals against the Golden State Warriors. Tucker – Played hours after having root canals on three teeth he broke during the Rockets’ Game 6 loss – went 45 minutes, guarded Durant most of the time, and finished with 14 points, 12 rebounds and 4 steals.

“We missed those 27 3 in a row, but he took about 15 of them ruthlessly,” said then-Rockets coach Mike D’Antoni, slightly exaggerating the eight rebounds Tucker pulled that night.

“He was just doing everything to keep us in the game until we took some shots – which we never did – but he was the one who kept us in the game.

“All those things that are invaluable for trying to build a championship team. He was the best.”

Tucker’s competitive streak stood out against former Suns General Manager Ryan McDonough.

Tucker finally returned to the NBA in the 2012-13 season after winning the Bundesliga title with Bamberg the previous year as well as collecting the All-Star title and winning the Player of the Tournament award.

But after playing in 79 games — and starting 45 of those — with The Suns that season, McDonough asked the 28-year-old Tucker to be part of the Phoenix Summer League team.

Compete for $30,000 throughout the postseason in the NBA! Make your own choices

In an environment usually reserved for beginners and young players, Tucker had a great experience basically, since his deal for the next season wasn’t guaranteed. Tucker joined the team without complaint.

McDonough said, “He played really hard until the championship game, where we lost to Golden State and a guy named Draymond Green.

“[Tucker] He was the same guy you see in the playoffs now: putting on hard screens, diving to the ground, smashing for bounces. “

Tucker earned a spot on his roster with Phoenix and started 81 games with a 48-win team during the 2013-14 season, the climax of the series’ decade-long drought. He then signed a three-year, $16.5 million deal to stay with The Sun.

PJ Tucker helped develop Suns star Devin Booker into an outstanding goalscorer. Now he guards him in the NBA Finals. AP Photo / Matt York

Tucker was a rare source of reliability for the Phoenix franchise that had four head coaches during his four seasons and committed to a rebuilding plan midway through his tenure with the franchise. He refused to stop matches, regardless of the many aches and pains he faced or the Suns’ place in the standings.

“I was asking [trainers] around him, and PJ would overhear me and say, “Of course I’m going to play!” McDonough said. set of games. PJ still wants to play because he is the ultimate contender.”

But Tucker’s longer-lasting influence on the Suns may have been guiding the budding star with two wins from his first title: Devin Booker, who arrived before Tucker’s fourth season in Phoenix as an 18-year-old lottery pick.

“We all knew it was going to be really good,” Tucker said of Booker. “Like, he wasn’t just good, he was really good. Being his teammate at the time and being the team vet, it was my job to improve.”

In terms of Bucks title chances in 2021, Tucker may have done a very good job.

“I’ve seen them fight battles in the training facility many times, talking to each other,” former Suns goalkeeper Leandro Barbosa said. “[Tucker is] This is a great defensive player and a physical player. He took it to Devin Booker, and Devin Booker took it. I told him every time against BJ: “If you succeed against him, you will work against anyone.”

The same mindset is how Tucker made himself an essential part of winning during his time in the NBA. When he steps on the field, his opponent knows they’re having a long night.

He brought that belief to the Bucks, who, after Sunday’s win, now have three final prize wins and the ultimate verification of Tucker’s trotting career around the world. But no matter how much of an impact these NBA Finals might have, it won’t change the way Tucker influenced many during his basketball journey.

“That’s what he does everywhere he goes,” Ivey said. “He leaves his fingerprints or his shoe prints – sort of – on that organization.”

“He’s one of those people you don’t want to play against, but everyone wants PJ Tucker.”

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