Tucker brings plenty to table
His addition boosts Bucks’ title mindset
The NBA trade deadline is Friday afternoon, but Milwaukee Bucks general manager Jon Horst wasn’t going to wait to improve his team if he didn’t have to.
So, Horst added defensive wizard P.J. Tucker at the end of last week to not only bolster the team’s flexibility on the court but give himself some greater financial wiggle room to continue to add if needed.
But aside from the on-court impact the team hopes Tucker can bring, there was an intangible ripple effect: Doubling down on the 2020-’21 championship chase.
“Yeah,” Jrue Holiday said when asked if the trade set a tone. “We feel like, honestly, we have a really good chance of winning and winning it all. It is about the bigger picture and us going into the playoffs and us staying healthy, but I think defensively is where it’s going to be and we got better defensively.” He wasn’t alone in that thought. Pat Connaughton: “Of course.” Brook Lopez: “We absolutely realize; we all realize that’s our goal. Having a player like P.J. absolutely can turn the tide when it comes to that.”
And Tucker himself isn’t shying away from the idea that he could be an important part of that effort.
“For sure,” he said. “When you look at
situations where you’re trying to check around the league and get traded and try to see the best fits, just my toughness, me bringing that edge, me being versatile, being able to guard different positions.
"But when you can switch – when you go like Khris (Middleton) and Giannis (Antetokounmpo) and even Pat – where you can switch and guys can guard multiple positions, you take people out their offenses. You can’t run offense and you can kind of X-out all around the court and that changes the game. But being able to switch it up is a big deal so I think that’s what I bring in that versatility.”
Though the trade deadline is looming at 2 p.m. Central Time on Friday, the veteran buyout market may prove to be more robust – after all, some veterans may see the Bucks as their best option for contributing to a title contender. So, Horst may not yet be done in molding the roster.
“It’s hard to articulate how great or what a great job Jon Horst and (assistant general manager) Milt Newton and the their front office, ownership with Marc (Lasry) and Wes (Edens) and Jamie (Dinan) and these guys really stamp off and give Jon the space and the opportunity to just execute his job as the GM and the leader of this basketball group at a high, high level,” Bucks head coach Mike Budenholzer said. “Every offseason he gets things done. in season he gets things done.
"He is just kind of relentless in his pursuit of making this team and this organization the best it can be. I’m just beyond fortunate to have a partner like Jon. This is just another example of what a great GM he is and how hard he works.
“Now we gotta go out and make it happen on the court.”
That of course, is the most important thing.
The offseason acquisitions of Holiday, Bryn Forbes and Bobby Portis strengthened the offense and the perimeter shooting. The in-season addition of Tucker can also add spacing and a corner three-point threat, along with his top-level defense across multiple positions.
The task now is for a team that admittedly took some time to find itself be able to work in Tucker in the midst of its most successful stretch of play thus far (Tucker sprained an ankle Monday night but was able to practice Tuesday).
“We’re here to get better each and every day. I think obviously we know what our goals are and what our end goals are but at the same time those goals don’t just happen,” Connaughton said. “They don’t just pop up, right? So there’s work that has to be done and getting P.J. is a great piece to what we need but it’s also something that now we’ve got to lock in and make sure we get him up to speed with everything we’re doing.
"We’ve got to make sure that everyone’s on the same page.
“It was the same thing at the beginning of the year when we were coming into the season and everyone just kind of thought it was going to clock and that’s not the way it works in the NBA, especially in a season like this where there is not as much time to practice, there wasn’t much of a preseason, the season itself isn’t quite as long.
“It’s about making sure we’re locked in and we’re focused and we’re in a position similarly to where we were the first year I was here where there was a chip on our shoulder and we now that we’re together in this and it’s about keeping it in our own grasp, if you will.”