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The NBA All-Defensive Teams were announced Tuesday, and Houston Rockets defensive ace PJ Tucker was notably absent from the First and Second Teams.
The Houston Rockets are playing the best defense they’ve played since they nearly reached the NBA Finals a couple of years ago, and one of the main reasons for that is PJ Tucker’s game. Along with Robert Covington and James Harden, Tucker has been one of the cornerstones of the team’s highest-rated defense in the playoffs.
The criteria for winning NBA awards seem to be constantly changing, as they sometimes seem more like popularity contests or based solely on statistics than who is most deserving. In the case of this year’s All-Defensive Team picks, the former appears to be true.
You can see the 10 picks made by the NBA media in Alykhan Bihani’s tweet below:
As you can see, three Milwaukee Bucks were selected for the two teams. While they had stellar defense in the regular season, their playoff effort thus far has had them seconds away from a second-round sweep at the hands of the Miami Heat.
Of course, the voting is determined by the regular season game, so the fact that they are close to falling short in the playoffs once again cannot be faulted. But is Eric Bledsoe honestly a better defender than PJ Tucker?
According to a later tweet For Bijani, Tucker received only 29 votes in total, all for the Second Team. That’s half of Bledsoe’s total of 59 votes, the fewest by anyone who was selected. Some of the Rockets faithful had a few things to say about the snub:
What Tucker does for the Houston Rockets
It’s hard to sum up in words how much PJ Tucker does on the court every night. Often you are giving up six or seven inches in size and yet you are being asked to do everything a traditional center does.
PJ has had resounding success protecting some of the best big men in the NBA by taking them off the block and not giving an inch when they try to place him. If players voted for this award, you’d have to think that Tucker would get more love than he has received from the media throughout his career.
As the series continues with the Lakers, look to Tucker to continue to show why his defense has always been so underrated. Perhaps one day, he will get his due.
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