PJ Tucker

PJ Tucker
Player information
Full name	Anthony Leon Tucker Jr.
birthday	5th May 1985 (age 35)
place of birth	Raleigh , North Carolina , United States
size	196 cm
Weight	111 kg
position	Power Forward / Center
High school	Enloe, North Carolina
college	Texas
NBA draft	2006 , 35th pick, Toronto Raptors
Club information
society	Houston Rockets
league	NBA
Jersey number	17th
Clubs as active
2006-2007	Toronto Raptors
000002007	→ Colorado 14ers
2007-2008	Hapoel Holon
2008-2010	BK Donetsk
000002010	Bnei Hasharon
2010-2011	Aris Thessaloniki
000002011	Sutor Basket Montegranaro
000002011	Piratas de Quebradillas
2011–2012	Brose Baskets
2012-2017	Phoenix Suns
000002017	Toronto Raptors
Since 02017	Houston Rockets

Anthony Leon "PJ" Tucker Jr. (born May 5, 1985 in Raleigh , North Carolina ) is an American basketball player who is currently under contract with the Houston Rockets in the NBA . Despite his height of 1.96 meters, it is since the beginning of the season 2019/20 often on the position of the center used.

Anthony Tucker was called "Pop Junior" by his father of the same name, a nickname he kept in the abbreviated form "PJ". For the first five years he grew up in Frankfurt am Main , where his father was stationed as a soldier.

Career

After a year in Kentucky , he returned with the family to Raleigh , where Tucker stayed until graduating from high school . He then attended the University of Texas at Austin for three years and played for their basketball team, the Texas Longhorns . With this team, which included LaMarcus Aldridge , Tucker moved into the round of the last eight, the Elite Eight , at the 2006 NCAA Basketball Tournament .

He was then selected in the NBA draft at the beginning of the second round by the Toronto Raptors . In the NBA , however, he was only used in a total of 17 games. Instead, Tucker played increasingly towards the end of the season in the NBA Development League for the Colorado 14ers .

This was followed by a move to Europe to the club Hapoel Holon , with whom he surprisingly beat Maccabi Tel Aviv in the final of the Israeli championship . Tucker was also voted Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the Ligat ha'Al .

He then worked for the Ukrainian club BK Donezk until the beginning of 2010 , with whom he gained his first European cup experience in the EuroChallenge . Tucker returned to Israel for a few months and played there for Bnei Hasharon before signing a contract with the Greek Eurocup representative Aris Thessaloniki . After being briefly active in Italy for Sutor Basket Montegranaro and in Puerto Rico for the Piratas de Quebradillas, Tucker moved to the Brose Baskets in Bamberg for the 2011/12 season , for which he was first used in the Euroleague . With Bamberg he won the double of the cup and the German championship, and he was also named MVP in the championship finals series.

For the 2012/13 season , Tucker left the Brose Baskets again and moved to Russia. He received a contract with BK Spartak Saint Petersburg .

In August 2012, he used a release clause and signed a two-year contract with the Phoenix Suns without having played a game for Saint Petersburg.

Tucker played for the Suns until February 2017, when they transferred him to the Toronto Raptors in exchange with Jared Sullinger and a second-round pick , where Tucker was already active from 2006 to 2007. He played the 2016/17 season with the Raptors to the end.

On June 6, 2017, Tucker signed a 4-year contract with the Houston Rockets .

Achievements & Awards

• German champion with the Brose Baskets Bamberg: 2011/12 season
• German cup winner with the Brose Baskets Bamberg: 2012
• BBL Finals MVP : 2012

Web links

Commons : PJ Tucker  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• PJ Tucker - player profile on basketball-reference.com
• PJ Tucker - player profile on NBA.com
• easyCredit BBL - Anthony Leon Tucker - player profile on the easyCredit Basketball-Bundesliga website
• TUCKER, ANTHONY - player profile on Euroleague.net
• PJ Tucker - player profile on basketball-reference.com

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Presentation of the awards (Hebrew)
2. ↑ PJ Tucker returns to NBA, Phoenix Suns after long wait , The Arizona Republic of July 23, 2012 (English)
3. ^ Raptors Acquire Tucker From The Suns. Retrieved April 26, 2020 (English). 
4. ^ Rockets Sign Free Agent PJ Tucker. Retrieved April 26, 2020 (English).