Miami Heat: Hopefully, They Can Keep P.J. Tucker In The Fold Beyond This Year
On the offensive side of the ball, Tucker gets a high grade too. It’s just not as high as his defensive grade.
Offensive Grade: B+
When he was brought to Miami, it was to provide perimeter defense to help out the weaker ones, to be a general spark on defense, and to just hit those corner threes. Tucker did exactly that.
Casual fans will see the average of 7 points per game, but what he brought for spacing was huge. Trevor Ariza did not have a good year with Miami when it came to shooting the ball and in all honesty, just not a good year in general.
His poor shooting destroyed the spacing for Miami, which was one of many factors in why they were swept. This year, P.J. came in shooting the three-ball better than he ever has.
He shot 41 percent from three on nearly three attempts per game, which may not seem like big numbers, but he was an absolute threat from that corner.
Teams did not want to leave that man by himself, which resulted in more spacing for Jimmy Butler to attack, Tyler Herro to get going, and even for Bam Adebayo to move around more freely when he felt like going to the basket.
He even led the league in three-point percentage for almost half the season. You knew what you were getting and even with the offensive drop-off in the playoffs from three, he was still finding ways to be engaged by taking the floaters that were given to him.
He was also a surprisingly good playmaker. Again, his shooting did fall off a little bit as the playoffs went on, but when he’s playing both sides as he does, it’s expected.
His three-point percentage in the playoff run started off around 53 percent against Atlanta, before it dropped to 43 against Philly, and ultimately reached 40 against Boston. These are still good numbers though, it just seemed rough due to how open these attempts actually were.
He’s the perfect role player, but at the end of the day, he’s still just that. He couldn’t and shouldn’t be expected to save the Heat on offense.
Spacing the floor and taking the shots that are given, that’s all you can ask from a guy like P.J. Going into this offseason, P.J. has a player option and could opt out if he wanted to but after the season Miami had and seeing his chemistry with everyone, it sure feels like he’s a Heat Lifer.
Hopefully, he’ll take that $7 million and come back because Miami needs him badly. Really, P.J. Tucker had an amazing season with all the injuries he fought through.
With the highs and lows Miami faced and some of the offensive load that he was given, he handled it like the true champion he is. This offseason though, Miami has to find another power forward so P.J. can get that extra rest.
They’re going to need him if they want to make another deep run next year. He’s 37 and is only going to get older, so you want to preserve everything that he gives you.
Father Time is always around the corner but one thing is for certain, if he wants to get P.J., then he’s going to have to try a lot harder.