The Philadelphia 76ers did what they wanted to accomplish in the 2022 offseason as they have improved their depth as well as added some tougher players to the roster in order to compete in the Eastern Conference. On paper, this is a very good roster and there aren’t many excuses in the coming season.
However, the signing of PJ Tucker does come with some questions. At the moment, he looks like a perfect addition as somebody who can knock down corner triples at a high rate and can defend and bring toughness to the roster, he is aging.
Philadelphia signed the 37-year-old to a 3-year $33.2 million deal and the third year of the deal is a player option. At 40 years old, Tucker will have a player option and that is a risk on the side of the Sixers.
ESPN’s Tim Bontemps said this about the deal on “The Hoop Collective” podcast:
Whenever I talked about the Sixers on the pod, and we talked about them really after the trade until they lost to Miami, what do we keep saying? They have no athleticism. They can’t guard anybody on the perimeter. They struggle to rebound, right? Like all these areas, they didn’t have much toughness, all these areas they’ve addressed in a pretty significant way with the signings this offseason. Now, at the same time, Milwaukee made a bet two years ago, that PJ Tucker couldn’t repeat what he did then. Miami would’ve liked to bring PJ Tucker back. He also had a better year than even I think the Heat could have reasonably expected him to have last season. It’s a pretty huge bet by the Sixers to have PJ Tucker on a 3-year deal with a player option the third year at 40 years old, I have a feeling he’s probably going to pick that up. If he doesn’t, then they’re gonna be thrilled because they’ll be playing out of his mind by then.
The Sixers also added another former Houston Rocket in Danuel House Jr. along with Tucker. The two of them are expected to make Philadelphia better, but are they truly going to help the Sixers get out of the East?
Bontemps added:
I’m very curious what PJ Tucker looks like. If he’s anywhere close to what he was last year in particular with Miami, they got a lot better with him at De’Anthony Mellon and we’ll see about Danuel House. If he plays like he did in Houston, or in Utah, I should say last year, he was really good the second half of the year for the Jazz. That’s another big pickup too, but there’s some risk with both of those guys, so I think they’re better. I think the better question is, are they good enough to truly get out of the East? I still think they’re a bit of a step below the other competition at the top of the conference.
Time will tell, but on paper, this is the best team the Sixers have fielded during the Joel Embiid era.
This post originally appeared on Sixers Wire! Follow us on Facebook!
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