P.J. Tucker is just what Sixers need: 'He's not afraid to tell guys the truth'

CAMDEN, N.J. — Before practice, Philadelphia 76ers head coach Doc Rivers told his staff that he was going to put the players through a scrimmage. Three days had passed since they had swept the Brooklyn Nets in the first round of the 2023 playoffs and the next round wouldn’t start for another five. Rivers was worried about the impact of the layoff. 

"But no matter what," he told his coaches, "no matter how frustrated you get, do not blow your whistle." 

Rivers knew the action would get ugly — that, because of the prolonged break, there’d be bricked shots and fumbled passes and missed rotations. But he also believed that, if someone were to scold the group, it couldn’t be a coach. 

The scrimmage started and "it was a complete turnover-fest," Rivers said in a recent interview. Players jogged up and down the court, with little haste. The defense was nonexistent. The group looked nothing like a title contender. 

Finally, a loud, growling, snarling voice interrupted the action.

"What the f--- is this s---?" P.J. Tucker shouted. "This is the f---ing playoffs, motherf---ers!" 

"He just went off and the whole practice changed," Rivers said. "And that’s what had to happen. I couldn’t do it. The coaches couldn't do it. It had to come from a player." 

And Rivers knew who that player would be. 

Tucker, a 38-year-old onetime journeyman who worked his way into a valuable role player later in his career, does not score a lot of points (he averaged just 3.5 per game during the regular season). He rarely shoots the ball (he averaged just three per game during the regular season, the fourth-lowest single-season mark in NBA history among players receiving more than 25 minutes per game). He’s never made an All-Star team. He’s never received an All-NBA or MVP vote. 

Yet over the past five years, he’s become a player coveted by contenders, including Philadelphia who prioritized landing him last offseason. He’s a tenacious defender. He’s a relentless rebounder. He reads the game like a coach. But ask Sixers coaches, players or front office members what Tucker brings to the team, and they mention something else. Something that's needed with the team heading into a pivotal Game 5 on Tuesday.

"He's not afraid to tell guys the truth," Sixers forward Georges Niang said. "I think you need someone on your roster that does that." 

*** *** *** 

Less than 12 minutes into his first playoff game with the Sixers, Tucker was furious. Watching the team’s second unit take on the Nets from the bench, he didn’t like what he was seeing from backup center Paul Reed in his minutes relieving Joel Embiid. Sure, he’d dropped in a couple of attempts around the rim, but his energy was low. During a break in the action, Tucker had urged Reed to up his effort. Reed got defensive, then returned to the court. He failed to grab a single rebound during his seven-minute stint.

Halftime arrived. The Sixers strolled through the tunnel connecting the court to their home locker room. 

"By the time I walked in, P.J. was already cussing him out," Sixers guard Tyrese Maxey said. 

The message, laced with four-letter words, was simple. 

"It was basically like, ‘Hey Paul, we're dependent on you for however many minutes that Joel's not out there,’" Niang recalled. "‘And I know I told you once, and you said something back to me, but I'm not going to tell you again.’"

"After P.J. goes in like that," Maxey added, "all you can do is say, ‘All right then.’" 

"That s--- matters," Tucker said in an interview. "I’ve played in too many games and seen it happen too many ways. A bad couple of minutes can turn the tide on the season."

Tucker, 38, had spent the season laying the foundation for these exact moments. "That’s why we brought him here," Rivers said. There have been numerous Sixers wins this season where, afterward, Rivers and his staff have remarked how "last year we wouldn't have won that game." Rivers has made clear that he believes Tucker’s presence this season is the difference. 

"There’s a guy named P.J. Tucker on our team now," he said Sunday after the Sixers held on for a 116-115 overtime win over the Boston Celtics, evening the series at 2-2.

But in his first year with the team, Tucker knew he couldn’t just come out swinging. He had to lead by example. That meant being the loudest person in the gym during training camp. And occasionally sharing insight from his 2021 championship run with the Milwaukee Bucks, and lessons from his playoff wins and losses with the Houston Rockets and with the Miami Heat last year. And taking the locker next to Joel Embiid so that the two could bond off the court. And showing the 22-year-old Maxey the most effective way to receive dribble handoffs. And calling out his own mistakes in film sessions, showing that he doesn’t view himself as infallible or above the group. 

"He always holds himself accountable first, and that makes it very easy," Rivers said. "So the other guys know when he goes at them, he's coming from a pure place. And that's why it works."

As the season progressed, Rivers leaned on Tucker more. Maybe a player was upset about their playing time or not giving enough effort on the defensive end. In those instances, Rivers will pull Tucker aside. 

"‘Talk to James [Harden].’ ‘Talk to Tobias [Harris].’ ‘Talk to Tyrese.’ That’s part of my job," Tucker said. "Coaches always want to do that. That’s part of my job. 

"That’s why I don’t get paid enough. People don’t understand that I’m a social worker and an NBA role player."

But it wasn’t until after the All-Star break that Tucker, in the words of Niang, "went to another level." That’s because, in Tucker’s view, there’s an art to the job. 

"You can’t just be on guys’ backs all the time," he said. "Nobody wants to hear that stuff every day."

Niang said that starting around March, "You could sort of see him getting into this mode that it’s the f---ing playoffs and there’s no time for joking or f---ing around."

"And the best part about it," Niang added, "is he can tell somebody the truth and if you feel some type of way about it, try something."

Maxey and Reed became two of Tucker's more frequent targets. He liked the way Maxey defended during a couple of late-season games. "And after," Maxey recalled, "He pulled me aside and said there’s no reason for me to be a bad defender. He said, ‘You have all the tools, you’re a competitor, there shouldn’t be a problem.’ He tells me that all the time."

Tucker also began pointing out the level of effort he believes is required to succeed in the playoffs. During one late-season game, Maxey failed to cover for a rotating teammate on a box out. Tucker yelled at him. 

"And the next play down," Maxey said, "He’s the one that needed help and I ran down from, like, the foul line to grab the ball." Maxey then fell onto his back. 

"And P.J. was like, ‘There you go!’" he said. "And I was like, ‘I damn near hurt my back trying to help you out,’ and he's like, ‘Good.’"

*** *** ***

Tucker doesn’t just go at young players and backups.  

"Hell yeah, I talk to Jo like that, too," he said, referring to 2023 NBA MVP Joel Embiid. 

Take Sunday’s Game 4 against the Celtics. The Sixers had already dropped Game 3 at home. One more loss in Philadelphia would put them down 3-1 in the series. With two out of the series’ final three games being played in Boston, the Sixers would have little shot. And so as they watched a 16-point lead evaporate, it not only felt like the game was slipping away, but the season, and — given Harden’s impending free agency and the rumors swirling about the River’s job security — the team’s championship window, too. 

The Sixers tried leaning on Embiid in the fourth quarter, but Celtics big man Al Horford had stonewalled him on a few attacks, even blocking his shot twice. Embiid looked shaken. He began passing up open looks. The Sixers appeared doomed. 

Then, with 1:06 left in regulation, Tucker grabbed an errant Harris jumper under the hoop and laid it back in while being fouled, giving the Sixers a one-point lead. With the Philadelphia crowd roaring, Tucker, who finished the game with just six points and four rebounds, flexed his muscles, then stormed over to Embiid and jutted his face right into Embiid’s ear. 

The Sixers held off the Celtics in regulation. In overtime, Embiid drilled a fadeaway over Horford, drew a shooting foul and, after drawing a double-team with an aggressive post up, hit Harden in the corner for the game-winning, series-saving shot. 

"He just got on me," Embiid told reporters after the win. "He said I need to be me. That was right [before] overtime. That’s when I got myself together, started thinking how I could attack them the best ... I thought in that fourth quarter I kind of got stuck a lot of times."

"I’m just glad he’s on our side," Embiid added. 

This wasn’t the first time that Tucker had confronted Embiid. Whether it’s calling out a mistake (a missed rotation on defense) or a poor read (how to counter a double-team), Tucker is not afraid to chide the Sixers star.  

"Some people, I don’t want to say they’re scared to talk to him, but they’re more cautious around Jo," Tucker said. "But he lets me lead the way I do because he knows where I’m coming from, that I want to do nothing but win."

Which is the secret, and how Tucker manages to be beloved by the very people he rips. Everything with Tucker is genuine. The things he demands are the very things he does, and it doesn’t take long for his teammates to learn that listening to Tucker can make their lives easier. 

"His ability to help teammates see the patterns of how to guard opponents is really helpful and rare," Sixers president of basketball operations Daryl Morey said.

Morey’s had a better perspective on this than most. He was the general manager of the Rockets for Tucker’s first three seasons in Houston. He’s also someone who’s been at the forefront of basketball’s analytics movement and throughout his career has made clear that he doesn’t put much value on intangibles. But watching Tucker play 40 playoff games for his Rockets, Morey learned that Tucker was different. 

"The effort he gives, people see that and it’s contagious," Morey said. "This is a guy who wasn’t born with the physical gifts of many NBA players and is literally putting every ounce of his soul on the line for things like getting a rebound and taking a charge.

"It becomes contagious and raises everyone’s level. It’s inspiring." 

Just a few weeks into their playoff journey, Tucker’s Sixers teammates are experiencing the same thing. After the Sixers’ series-clinching Game 4 victory over the Nets, which was accomplished with Embiid sidelined with a knee injury, numerous Sixers pointed to Tucker, who finished with just three points, as being key to victory. 

"From the layup line, the way he was adamant about focus, [saying] ‘We're going to win tonight, we're going to sweep,’ those types of things just show a winning attitude and the winning nature of who he is," Harris said. "That rubs off on all of the other guys on the team."

Rivers said during a third-quarter timeout, taken to stop a Nets surge, "I stopped talking because P.J. was talking so loud that I just let him take the timeout. He was phenomenal." 

Eight days later, and just five days after Tucker had brought that between-rounds practice to a halt, the Sixers were trailing the Celtics by one with just over a minute left. It was Game 1, in Boston, and the Sixers, despite Embiid remaining sidelined, had an upset within their grasp. 

But then they surrendered a pair of offensive rebounds, both a result of Reed abandoning the paint to sprint out to 3-point shooters. After the second one, Horford laid the ball in, extending Boston’s lead to three.

Rivers called timeout. Just like in Game 1 of the previous series, Tucker was furious.

"I really thought Tuck was gonna grab P. Reed, like, out of his jersey," Maxey said. "And he said, ‘If you don't get the next two rebounds, then we're gonna have a conversation.’" Rivers would later describe the conversation to reporters as "close to excessive."

Reed didn’t grab any more rebounds. But he did bury two free-throws and, with the Sixers up one and just six seconds left, collapsed onto Marcus Smart, forcing a sloppy pass, which was slapped away and recovered by Reed. Another 4.6 seconds later, the Sixers were celebrating a win. 

"It wasn’t because I don’t like Paul," Tucker said. "I love Paul Reed. Paul Reed’s my guy. But I want to win.

Yaron Weitzman is an NBA writer for FOX Sports. He is the author of "Tanking to the Top: The Philadelphia 76ers and the Most Audacious Process in the History of Professional Sports." Follow him on Twitter @YaronWeitzman.