PJ Tucker: 'Now is the worst time in terms of basketball' / News - Basketnews.com

Tucker said it's the worst time in basketball because few players think about doing the work that's not reflected on a stat sheet. He said young players should expect to be disappointed when coming to the NBA.

Credit: Mitchell Leff/Getty Images North America/Getty Images via AFP - Scanpix Credit Mitchell Leff/Getty Images North America/Getty Images via AFP - Scanpix

PJ Tucker has been in the NBA for 12 years. Without achieving great personal numbers, he's consistently stayed in the league. The time is now much different, he says.

P.J. Tucker

MIN:15.55PTS:1.56 (36.96%)REB:2.74As:0.52ST:0.52BL:0.26TO:0.3GM:27ProfileNBA2023/2024

Talking with Marc J. Spears from Andscape, Tucker revealed players these days don't think about how to fit into a team compared to the players before.

"Especially now with social media and so much insight on the game and [certain] guys, now is the worst time in terms of basketball because [players] don't really understand what goes into the team and what pushes its gears and the little things that go on that people don't see," Tucker said. "That ain't in no stat sheets. So that's why now, more than ever, it gets talked about how guys have games where they don't score a bucket, but they had the highest plus-minus in the game. People don't have no idea all the things going through it. Team guys are able to have a major effect on the game and on the team winning."

After spending a year in the NBA, Tucker went on to play internationally for 5 seasons before returning to the strongest basketball league in the world. Tucker admits - the mindset quickly changes when you get to the NBA.

"Being a first- and second-team All-American in college, you're thinking, 'I'm about to go to NBA, do the same thing, and it's going to be just as easy.' The s**t just don't work that way, man. It's impossible. It ain't enough jobs, and there ain't enough balls. It's just the numbers. Humility hits you real fast from having to deal with that and really having to understand what it takes as just a good player to be able to last," Tucker said. "Good players only play four or five years."

"Man, I'm telling you, I can talk about it for days because I don't think it gets talked about enough really how hard it's to beat the odds," the player explained. "To be able to get your ten years, and for me coming up on 20 years of professional basketball, the odds just keep getting thinner and thinner to be able to hit them all."

Tucker's story is not the norm. The average career length in the NBA is under five years. With lasting for ten or more, the player and his immediate family get lifetime insurance.

If he talked with the current generation in the rookie camp, Tucker has one simple piece of advice.

"For 90% of y'all, it's not going to be what y'all think it is. And I know that sounds crazy, but for 90% of y'all what y'all thinking in y'all minds right now and what you think you are getting into, it ain't going to be that. So, prepare yourself right now to be disappointed," Tucker said.

"But in that disappointment, that is where you are going to find what is going to carry you through your career, whether you make it or not. That disappointment is what makes you make that left turn or that right turn. The turn you make at that fork is going to determine the rest of your career," the veteran concluded.

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