PHILADELPHIA — Before becoming the head coach of the Sacramento Kings, Mike Brown was an assistant under Steve Kerr with the Golden State Warriors for six seasons. During his time there, the Warriors won titles in 2017, 2018 and 2022 and frequently battled the Houston Rockets.
Therefore, Brown is very familiar with Philadelphia 76ers veteran forward PJ Tucker. Before joining the Sixers, Tucker was a big part of those Rockets teams, and Houston was one win away from reaching the finals in 2018 when Tucker was an integral part of that team.
“First thing when you say PJ Tucker, first thing I think of is ‘Woo, tough!’ tough as nails,” said Brown. “I think the second thing is sneakers. He has a great sneaker collection. I think the third thing is he’s a big, big, big time corner 3-point shooter. He’s not Bruce Bowen, but he’s similar to Bruce that he can guard a lot of different matchups.”
Bowen, of course, was a huge part of the San Antonio Spurs and their dynastic run in the 2000s. Like Tucker, Bowen was an elite defender and elite corner 3-point shooter and he did a lot of little things on the floor to help a team win.
“He might be able to guard more than Bruce because he’s thicker and stronger so he might be able to guard more bigger fellas than Bruce,” Brown added of Tucker. “Bruce might be able to guard more quicker guards and point guards than PJ, but their versatility defensively is huge. They both found a way to be in your opponent’s scouting report by mastering the corner 3-point shot. You gotta run those guys off the line like you would Steph (Curry) all over the place, hypothetically.”
Obviously, Tucker isn’t the shooter Curry is, but he is deadly from the corners. He hit two corner 3s in Philadelphia’s win over the Kings on Tuesday. Combine his production, his experience of winning a championship in 2021 with the Milwaukee Bucks and his time with the Rockets and the Miami Heat, and it is clear he is a valuable piece to a contender like the Sixers.
“Then, you can’t take away his pedigree,” Brown finished. “He’s played in some big games, played against a lot of really good players, he’s done it a high level, and when you have that type of veteran on your team, man, that means a lot. They have a lot of those guys, but he’s definitely at the forefront of understanding this league and getting the respect that you need to be able to have in order to have success in this league.”
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