Alando Tucker signed to rookie contract

[fordronken]

http://www.nba.com/suns/news/tucker_070707.html

 

[ARZCardinals]

This area of rookie contracts is where the NBA whoops the NFL.

there's no negotiations...the deal is already done.

 

[Nasser22]

I heard. Got a text message from Suns.com...I can't get them to stop! It's not like this wasn't expected, but still nice to hear.

 

[Nasser22]

This area of rookie contracts is where the NBA whoops the NFL.

there's no negotiations...the deal is already done.

Yep, I wish that was the same in the NFL. It would've helped the Cardinals out.

 

[Joe Mama]

Yep, I wish that was the same in the NFL. It would've helped the Cardinals out.

The way rookies are paid in the NFL is simply ridiculous. Thank you Glenn Robinson.

Joe Mama

 

[Cheesebeef]

The way rookies are paid in the NFL is simply ridiculous. Thank you Glenn Robinson.

Joe Mama

amen - in retrospect, how crazy is it that the Big Dog got 100 million coming out of college? The NFL is king in pro-sports, but this is the one area that the NBA trumps it.

 

[Mainstreet]

Has anyone seen this young man play.... does he have the ability to reach the level of a Josh Howard or even I dare say Michael Finley? I've also noted the Greg Buckner comparison which is not bad. Certainly I know he's not there now but I'm trying to figure out what his upside is or his ability to play in the NBA now. It puzzles me and also worries me the Suns have not hyped this young man more. Are the Suns so unsure of his talent?

 

[elindholm]

Again, they can't be too sold on his potential, or else they would have played it safe and nabbed him at 24.

 

[Mainstreet]

Again, they can't be too sold on his potential, or else they would have played it safe and nabbed him at 24.

I think the Suns already had the mindset of moving out of #24 if select players were not on the board. Still this draft had the potential of producing a quality player at #29. I mean last year's shallow draft produced Sergio near the same position. This year's draft should have been better.

 

[mribnik]

OT but Marco has like 29 points on 11-14 shooting in a Vegas summer league game right now. You can watch the game on nba.com

Edit: 31 points on 12-15 shooting. he's on fire.
Edit2: Of course, it IS a summer league game. Jackson Vroman is leading the hornets in scoring right now.

 

[elindholm]

I think the Suns already had the mindset of moving out of #24 if select players were not on the board. Still this draft had the potential of producing a quality player at #29. I mean last year's shallow draft produced Sergio near the same position.

That fails the smell test. If you really want a player, you take him when you can. If your thinking is, "He's an okay pick at 29, but not worth it at 24," then you don't really want him.

 

[Mainstreet]

That fails the smell test. If you really want a player, you take him when you can. If your thinking is, "He's an okay pick at 29, but not worth it at 24," then you don't really want him.

I think we are basically agreeing here. IMO the Suns should have been able to get good selections at #24 and #29. I think again the Suns had zeroed in too much on getting a lottery pick type player and more or less threw in the towel (like last year) when they couldn't get there. It seems the Suns only want the fillet mignon.

 

[boisesuns]

I've seen a few of his college games this year and he seemed like a decent player. Pretty agressive in getting to the basket, but could work on his jump shot. He still has the ability to score.

I think if he can get some time, he might be a solid guy of the bench. He's going to have to really prove himself to Diantoni, becuase he seems to not like any roster spots past 7.

 

[azirish]

I've seen a few of his college games this year and he seemed like a decent player. Pretty agressive in getting to the basket, but could work on his jump shot. He still has the ability to score.

I think if he can get some time, he might be a solid guy of the bench. He's going to have to really prove himself to Diantoni, becuase he seems to not like any roster spots past 7.

It seems clear the Suns had targeted Tucker as their fall back position and were sure he would not get taken between the #24 and #29. KTAR was reporting he would be their choice several picks before 29.

#25 Utah - Almond - The Jazz needed shooters and Almond was an obvious choice.

#26 Houston - Brooks - A reach, but this is not a team that needed defense.

#27 Detroit - Affalo - Another reach. I cannot figure why they picked Affalo over Tucker. I guess the Suns knew something about the Piston's attitudue.

#28 San Antonio - Splitter - Did anybody doubt they'd take another Euro? I'm guessing the Blazers insisted on #24 because they figured the Spurs would have taken Fernandez at this slot.

 

[Mainstreet]

I didn't know where to throw this tidbit but I saw Mark West on a sports cast from Casino Arizona today. When asked about KT's salary and the LT, he confirmed that Phoenix was now the 2nd highest paying LT payer in the NBA. However, he also said the Suns would never let fiscal responsibility override their bid for a Championship. This didn't really tell me anything new except that the Suns were willing to bite the bullet if need be to win a Championship... which I guess is a lot. Anyway, good to hear.

 

[elindholm]

Denver is a very close third and is fairly likely to overtake the Suns. But yes, the Suns will be paying substantial luxury tax this season, unless they dump Thomas before the cutoff date. We knew this was coming a year ago, and it was one of the reasons that the extent of last summer's spending was so surprising (to some, including me).

 

[YouJustGotSUNSD]

Watching some of these summer games makes me wonder why I havent tried out for the NBA yet. I played this horribly in high school!

 

[Mainstreet]

Watching some of these summer games makes me wonder why I havent tried out for the NBA yet. I played this horribly in high school!

I still remember a 5'10" PG in High School that could handle the press no matter how many defensive players were put on him, could flat out shoot the lights out and was a good distributor. I often wondered what prevented him from being a bigger star in college and making it into the NBA. Certainly height comes to mind but he could do so many other things well. I sometimes think the finest of lines separates a player from making it into the NBA. Sort of like how tough a journey it was for Raja Bell to make it. I wonder how many other quality players give up their quest somewhere along the way.

 

[Louis]

Has anyone seen this young man play.... does he have the ability to reach the level of a Josh Howard or even I dare say Michael Finley? I've also noted the Greg Buckner comparison which is not bad. Certainly I know he's not there now but I'm trying to figure out what his upside is or his ability to play in the NBA now. It puzzles me and also worries me the Suns have not hyped this young man more. Are the Suns so unsure of his talent?

Here is an interesting Josh Howard comparions from JMarkJohns at the goazcats.com board...

I'm not optimistic. While I think he could be a quality role player off the bench for the Suns for a few seasons, and maybe a little more than quality at his best, this piece copied from RealGM at least keeps Suns fans hopeful for just a bit more...

I know it's way too early to start making these type of claims. However, here's some similarities for fun:

-Tucker is 6-6, 210. Howard was 6-6, 207
-Both were taken at pick 29 in round 1.
-Both played all 4 years for a major conference and won conference player of the year their final season.
-Both were consensus first-team All-Americans their senior season
-Tucker averaged 19.9 PPG, 2.0 APG and shot 47% from the field, Howard was at 19.5 PPG, 2.1 APG and 47.7% from the field.

Here's a comparison of both players' college scouting report. These are exact comments, just re-ordered to make a comparison easier:

Howard in 2003

Strengths:
1. A rangy wing with good height. Plays big for his size.
2. Has quick hands, and is a solid all around defender, and also a very good man-defender who could become a great defender if he works at it.
3. Has a variety of moves including a baby hook shot, good fakes, and under-the-basket scoop shots.
4. Howard is a great finisher, especially in traffic.
5. He really attacks the glass and his long arms make him a formidable rebounder.
6. Looks quite coachable.
7. Team player with great competiveness and leadership qualities.
8. Vision and passing ability are another asset.
9. Has great intangibles.

Weaknesses:
1. His scoring ability is good but his outside shooting can improve.
2. He will need to develop better range to be a consistent scorer at the next level.
3. Has good handle, but can get careless and must get better at protecting the ball.
4. Howard's athleticism is not overwhelming and his first step isn't as quick as many NBA wing players
5. He has the experience that many players don't, but may have a limited upside.


Tucker

Strengths:
1. Possesses an NBA ready body that is strong enough to absorb contact in the lane and finish
2. Physically he has all the tools needed to be a quality defender: quickness, good hands, long arms and intelligence
3. Crafty scorer who uses a number of fakes and his leaping ability to create scoring opportunities for himself
4. Excellent finisher who is blessed with cat like body control to get off even the most difficult shots in traffic
5. Solid rebounder due to his athleticism, long arms and body strength
6. Coachable player with a great work ethic to improve
7. Tough minded player who enjoys physical play and will not back down from a challenge
8. Unselfish player with the willingness to set-up open teammates
9. 9/10 on intangibles

Weaknesses:
1. While blessed with athleticism, he may struggle to shoot consistently enough to play shooting guard
2. Solid three point shooter when his feet are set but struggles to hit with regularity
3. Ball handling, while improved, still isn’t great
4. Despite being a great athlete, Tucker rarely explodes off the dribble due to his average first step
5. While his game has progressed considerably over the past 5 years, one has to wonder how much more he can improve

 

[cly2tw]

Denver is a very close third and is fairly likely to overtake the Suns. But yes, the Suns will be paying substantial luxury tax this season, unless they dump Thomas before the cutoff date. We knew this was coming a year ago, and it was one of the reasons that the extent of last summer's spending was so surprising (to some, including me).

I think they got fooled by the fluke performance of the 05/06 team. Even without Amare and KT back, they got into WCF and lost to Dallas partially due to Bell's injury. Well, apparently that team overachieved, the other teams had one more year to figure out how to stop the SYSTEM, and Duncan was healthy. And their personell moves, though gutsy regarding LT, were disasters. They still haven't figured out that they have to play a more flexible, less SYSTEM-dependent game to counter the new game plans of the opponents.

 

[Toothbrush]

Got a text message from Suns.com...I can't get them to stop!

Is this the one from Verizon? I thought about signing up but I was afraid of that happening.

 

[Errntknght]

I think the typical person lacks the dedication that is required to excel at a sport - and of course they need some physical tools as well. I tried out for various sports that I enjoyed on a casual basis but after a few weeks of long hard practices I was sick of them - I don't think I played tennis for five years after I gave the team a try my junior year of high school.

Track and field was better because when you got tired of one thing you could switch to another... and I tried them all. I suppose if I'd been good at any of them the coach might have insisted I stick with it, but as it was he didn't give a hoot. My only success came in the intra-team decathlon at the end of the year.

Frankly, I can't even imagine the dedication athletes have to have to succeed at the college level - among the kids I grew up with the most dedicated of them crapped out in college or junior college, and I wasn't close to them.

 

[F-Dog]

Edit2: Of course, it IS a summer league game. Jackson Vroman is leading the hornets in scoring right now.

Suns could probably use Jackson Vroman this year.



You know who Tucker's bio reminds me of? Hassan Adams.

 

[azirish]

Suns could probably use Jackson Vroman this year.

You know who Tucker's bio reminds me of? Hassan Adams.

Actually, his profile is also similar to that of Iggy, ie an athletic defensive specialist without a good jump shot.

For a while we are going to have to take a "wait and see" about Tucker because his situation was vastly different than anybody from U of A. Wisconsin is almost the anti-Wildcats in terms of a deliberate, slow break team without much team athleticism and very few offensive threats. Tucker was one of only two guys who averaged in double digets for the Badgers. Tucker had a lot of offensive responsibility and was forced to try to make things happen and took contested shots.

In theory he should be far more effective on an up tempo team that moves the ball. Unlike a Wisconsin, his outside shots will be wide open much of the time and he will be able to set his feet. Add in his defense, his ability to finish and get to the line and he could be very useful.

In theory...

We don't know if he's really suited to the Suns style. He's very athletic, etc., but 28 other teams passed on him so it is hardly a sure thing he's going to be a quality player. But if he can play, he could be a major factor because the Suns will probably limit Hill's minutes and "back to back" games to ensure he's healthy during the playoffs. The Suns need Tucker to step up.

 

[Mainstreet]

We don't know if he's really suited to the Suns style. He's very athletic, etc., but 28 other teams passed on him so it is hardly a sure thing he's going to be a quality player. But if he can play, he could be a major factor because the Suns will probably limit Hill's minutes and "back to back" games to ensure he's healthy during the playoffs. The Suns need Tucker to step up.

The other 28 teams passing on him does not bother me. Good players fall in the draft every year. It's the Suns laid back attitude towards him that worries me the most. I do not even hear anything about Strawberry. Could it be that the Suns do not have confidence in the draft anymore, except for a select few players?

I know the Suns are in a win a Championship now mode but still...