Speaker 1: This podcast is part of the seventy Sixers podcast network.
Speaker 1: Search seventy Sixers Insiders wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome
Speaker 1: back to the seventy Sixers Insiders Podcast. I'm Lauren Rosen
Speaker 1: here with Matt Murphy, ready to talk about one of
Speaker 1: the most well respected veterans in the NBA bar none.
Speaker 1: You can say that with a high level of certainty
Speaker 1: when you talk about PJ. Tucker. Today's guests on the
Speaker 1: seventy Sixers Insiders Podcast. I'm really looking forward to this
Speaker 1: conversation that you had with PJ. Fortunate to get some
Speaker 1: time with him because ever since he was acquired, everyone
Speaker 1: had been talking about PJ Tucker in the playoffs in
Speaker 1: a Sixers uniform, and it's almost that time, and it's happening.
Speaker 1: He's played a ton of regular season games. He's been
Speaker 1: a key part of the ups and downs of a
Speaker 1: long MBA regulars season, and throughout the year the guys
Speaker 1: have talked about how important his veteran presence has been
Speaker 1: in the locker room, and then we'll soon get to
Speaker 1: see it in a playoff series with all these adjustments,
Speaker 1: and he's like another coach on the floor. Some have
Speaker 1: called him the captain of the defense. You know how
Speaker 1: important is defense is come playoff time and a lot
Speaker 1: of eyes will be on PJ Tucker and how he
Speaker 1: is able to propel the Sixers. You mentioned being an
Speaker 1: extra coach sort of, and that reminds me of training
Speaker 1: camp when the coaching staff was kind enough to let
Speaker 1: us sit in on some of those early practices as
Speaker 1: a team. And something that jumped off the page from
Speaker 1: the first couple minutes of this Sixers team working together
Speaker 1: was Pj's comfortability in inserting himself, letting the guys know
Speaker 1: what he was seeing, communicating loudly ay, And that takes confidence,
Speaker 1: That takes a level of pride in yourself and your
Speaker 1: knowledge to insert yourself in that way with a brand
Speaker 1: new team. But on the flip side, the way that
Speaker 1: every everybody listened when PJ spoke even in those first
Speaker 1: few minutes, and we all know what it's like when
Speaker 1: you're new at a job, right and you sort of,
Speaker 1: at least for me, I bide my time, I dip
Speaker 1: my toe in even in a new season with the
Speaker 1: same people like I sort of like to find my
Speaker 1: rhythm more quietly and then I'll start being more vocal
Speaker 1: as the year goes along, not PJ Tucker. PJ Tucker
Speaker 1: can insert himself right away and command the respect that
Speaker 1: he's earned in this league right away from a group
Speaker 1: of players that, by the way, are quite good and
Speaker 1: have had some success in their own right. So really
Speaker 1: cool to see the way that PJ spoke and the
Speaker 1: guys responded from the jump, and then we've watched that
Speaker 1: evolve all season long. And also of course cool to
Speaker 1: get to know him a little better in a conversation
Speaker 1: like this one. He recently crossed eight hundred and fifty
Speaker 1: MBA games for his career, which is a ton of experience,
Speaker 1: and he simply wants the guys to talk and communicate
Speaker 1: on both ends of the floor, and he knows how
Speaker 1: important that is, and he talked with you in this
Speaker 1: interview and anything before we get into it. Really jump. Oh,
Speaker 1: it was just such a pleasure. And PJ doesn't do
Speaker 1: these conversations that off and he himself and rarely participating
Speaker 1: in podcasts, but eight fifty NBA games and far fewer
Speaker 1: podcasts podcasts, so he claims. So here's one of them.
Speaker 1: Six to five from North Carolina. PJ Tucker. Okay, fair enough.
Speaker 1: Thank you, good job six five Groum, North Carolina. YEA,
Speaker 1: that's okay, PJ. We know you're a great basketball player.
Speaker 1: What else are you great at? I am great collecting sneakers?
Speaker 1: What makes one great at the like, like, we know
Speaker 1: you have an amazing collection, but like the process of
Speaker 1: acquiring them? What makes someone great at that? Um this
Speaker 1: years and years of having pretty decent tasted picking shoes enough.
Speaker 1: You can have a lot of shoes and be a
Speaker 1: lot of bad shoes and they're not good. Do you
Speaker 1: think it's subjective at all? Partially, but for the most
Speaker 1: part it's not, so you consider your taste to be
Speaker 1: the gold standard objectively. No, I think that there are
Speaker 1: a bunch of people that are really good at knowing
Speaker 1: what good shoes are what good shoes aren't. I think
Speaker 1: it's the combination of like actually being a basketball player
Speaker 1: in my entire life and knowing what are good basketball
Speaker 1: shoes from that and from knowing good shoes from a
Speaker 1: steppoint of personal style and being able to wear them
Speaker 1: on and off court. And you know, it's a different evenues.
Speaker 1: You can kind of go down and like pick good shoes,
Speaker 1: but for the most part is pretty basic fair enough.
Speaker 1: When you retire, what do you want people to say,
Speaker 1: teammates of the past, what do you want them to
Speaker 1: say it was like to play with you? I want
Speaker 1: them to say that I was the hardest working, most
Speaker 1: unselfish player they ever play with. When you think about
Speaker 1: your public persona, I feel like players today are like
Speaker 1: very aware of what the public sees out of them
Speaker 1: and what your persona is. What's something that the public
Speaker 1: gets right about you? And what's something that the public
Speaker 1: gets wrong about you? Hmmm, that's a good question. I
Speaker 1: think more times than that they almost get everything wrong
Speaker 1: about me. And I think everybody knows how hard I play,
Speaker 1: so that is an easy one kind of to get right.
Speaker 1: But I think more times either than that, they don't
Speaker 1: really know. I really truly believe that. Is there something
Speaker 1: that stands out to you as like, Oh, people think
Speaker 1: I'm this, but I'm really that. Um. I think I've
Speaker 1: done almost too good of a job of creating my
Speaker 1: lane of how I present my play and what I
Speaker 1: do on a night in night out basis, rather than
Speaker 1: people really seeing the way I change the way I
Speaker 1: play on a night in night out basis based on
Speaker 1: who we play and what we need to be able
Speaker 1: to win. Okay, here's one for you. What's the most
Speaker 1: regular thing about you? Oh that's a good win. First
Speaker 1: of all, I'm super regular, so like in a lot
Speaker 1: of ways, I'm really regular and I enjoyed it about myself. Um,
Speaker 1: but I almost do everything myself. Like I like, we'll
Speaker 1: go to Target, and I'll go to you know, we'll
Speaker 1: go to the bank every once in a while, even
Speaker 1: though I don't like to, um, but like I do
Speaker 1: like super like every huh you go through the drive through? Yeah,
Speaker 1: I drive through drive throughs. I like, like, I literally
Speaker 1: like we'll almost do like every every regular day thing
Speaker 1: every once in a while. Like I like that you
Speaker 1: can have your dream dinner table. Who's at it and
Speaker 1: what's on it? Oh, that is a good one. I
Speaker 1: will say, I'm having a dinner. Who's at it? Okay? First,
Speaker 1: let's just let's do that first. Who's at it? Okay?
Speaker 1: Kobe for real, Drake, Travis Meek, James Arty, and David Beckham.
Speaker 1: You think James would put you at his table? He better.
Speaker 1: We'll let you know what you guys eating, because that's
Speaker 1: a that's like a big table. That's a big table. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's a few others maybe, but that's like the core
Speaker 1: of the table. Oh, Virgil, I'm bugging Virgil. That's an
Speaker 1: amazing virtual was at the table for show. What are
Speaker 1: you guys eating? Um? I love sushi, So even though
Speaker 1: I know James probably is it. Um it's a really
Speaker 1: high level sushi place, probably like something really good, but
Speaker 1: sushi for sure. What's the best gift you've ever gotten
Speaker 1: someone I've ever given? Oh, my wife's entire closet probably,
Speaker 1: Like is there like a stand you're a fashion guy, Like,
Speaker 1: is there a standout piece that you remember getting her
Speaker 1: that was like really special? Um? Her second wedding ring?
Speaker 1: M Yeah, because I did we like I designed it
Speaker 1: and like went through this whole thing. Yeah, it was
Speaker 1: a big deal because the first one was really modest
Speaker 1: because it was young, like it was twenty three, twenty four,
Speaker 1: so it wasn't like, you know, it was nice, but
Speaker 1: it went great. So the second one, ten years later,
Speaker 1: it was you know a big deal in designing it,
Speaker 1: in the whole process, and like she like almost crying
Speaker 1: when I give it to her after we hadn't even
Speaker 1: married for a long time. So that was pretty cool.
Speaker 1: That's got to be up there for sure. What's the
Speaker 1: best gift you've ever got for yourself? I treat myself
Speaker 1: every day. Oh that's tough. I don't know. M M.
Speaker 1: I can't even think of a pair of shoes or
Speaker 1: something like. I don't probably you know what. Yes, my
Speaker 1: the first Ferraria I ever ordered, the super fast GTS. Yes,
Speaker 1: that one. I'll say that just because I love that
Speaker 1: car so much and designing it and everything all custom, right, No,
Speaker 1: not all of them. You can go, you can get
Speaker 1: some something that somebody else created. No, but like if
Speaker 1: you get a new one, you design it to design it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: there's not a lot of Ferrari sitting somewhere for you.
Speaker 1: Go you just pick? No, No, No No, was that your first?
Speaker 1: Like that was the first one that I actually built? Yeah,
Speaker 1: so first one I actually built myself. It was a
Speaker 1: really big deal because it's the last frontage of the
Speaker 1: twelve fer ever made, So it's a big deal. Do
Speaker 1: you have a memorable fork in the road in your life?
Speaker 1: Too many? I had a lot of forks. Any that
Speaker 1: stand out is like particularly pivotal? Uh, glad you went
Speaker 1: one way? Curious about what would have happened if you
Speaker 1: had gone the other. Yeah. Um, oh, there's two major ones.
Speaker 1: I'm just gonna pick one of the two. Uh, I'll
Speaker 1: say me going to college. Um, I was going to
Speaker 1: Carolina or Texas, and uh me, going to Texas was
Speaker 1: the best thing I've ever done, one of the best
Speaker 1: things I've ever done in my life. Um, because I
Speaker 1: needed to get away from home, Like I think, staying
Speaker 1: in a triangle. I don't know if I will still
Speaker 1: be here right now if I did go to Texas,
Speaker 1: like forced me to grow up, forcing me mature really fast,
Speaker 1: forced me to learn how to take care of myself
Speaker 1: really fast because I was so I was such a
Speaker 1: mama's boy, and like you know, I needed to get
Speaker 1: away from home and it was the best thing I
Speaker 1: ever did. As we start to wrap up, you said
Speaker 1: something really interesting a second ago about how you treat
Speaker 1: yourself every day as a vet in this league. Though
Speaker 1: you've really earned that right right, What do you hope
Speaker 1: for your younger teammates? What do you hope for your
Speaker 1: younger teammates when they become a vent like you like?
Speaker 1: What type of life do you hope that a Tyrese
Speaker 1: Maxie leads one day? For example, they it's funny you
Speaker 1: say it because I always think about it now because
Speaker 1: my events when I was young, and I tell them
Speaker 1: all the time because I get on their nerves and
Speaker 1: they're like, I'm like, you're gonna come back to me.
Speaker 1: I would come to your game one day, like ten
Speaker 1: years from now, you're gonna be playing and you're gonna
Speaker 1: tell somebody's story Belva, and how I told you something
Speaker 1: that was one thousand percent true that you just was
Speaker 1: not rolling with during the time we played together. I
Speaker 1: was like, trust me, I do it all the time
Speaker 1: when I see market the guy, the guys that you
Speaker 1: know kind of raised me in the league and show
Speaker 1: me ropes and help me out. Every time I see him.
Speaker 1: Is always every single time the things they told me
Speaker 1: one d percent true and they were right, and always
Speaker 1: like to remind him and tell them when I see him.
Speaker 1: All Right, Well, ten years from now, we'll have this
Speaker 1: conversation with Tyrese, will play this for him. We'll ask
Speaker 1: whoever the ten years younger guy is. Then when he's
Speaker 1: the VET, and it'll be full circle and we'll circle
Speaker 1: and it's gonna be great. PJ. Tucker, thank you so much,
Speaker 1: a girl. Thanks of course to PJ Tucker for doing
Speaker 1: one of his rare podcast appearances with us. We know,
Speaker 1: of course about his breadth and depth of experience as
Speaker 1: an NBA player on the floor, all of the stops
Speaker 1: along his journey to the NBA perhaps one of the
Speaker 1: most winding roads of any player playing today, but also
Speaker 1: to get to know him better off the court. I
Speaker 1: love when we know that he's a big sneaker guy,
Speaker 1: that he's a big fashion guy. But I absolutely loved
Speaker 1: hearing about the way that he's been able to share
Speaker 1: those passions with his wife. I was also so excited
Speaker 1: to hear that James Harden would be one of those
Speaker 1: seated at his ultimate dinner table. That just shows the
Speaker 1: friendship and bond that those two have. They've had plenty
Speaker 1: of dinners together, of course, and then given the opportunity
Speaker 1: to sit with anyone debt or alive, PJ still wants
Speaker 1: James at the table, and I think that that's just
Speaker 1: so sweet. And his passion for sneakers recently benefited a
Speaker 1: great cause, as PJ Tucker in early in this month
Speaker 1: of April, donated seven pairs of his sneakers to be
Speaker 1: auctioned off for the Sixers Youth Foundation to benefit the
Speaker 1: youth of the Greater Delaware Valley. So doing it for
Speaker 1: a good cause. Some pretty great sneakers in that auction.
Speaker 1: And when you talk about his career, I mentioned at
Speaker 1: the top the eight hundred and fifty games, But his journey,
Speaker 1: if it's so interesting to look at like MBA dot
Speaker 1: com and see like the teams he's played for, because
Speaker 1: it started in Toronto and six h seven and then
Speaker 1: his journey took him overseas for quite a while. He
Speaker 1: didn't come back to the NBA until twenty twelve, twenty thirteen.
Speaker 1: So a guy that has played for a number of
Speaker 1: NBA teams, played across the world to try to make
Speaker 1: it back to the NBA and everything that he has
Speaker 1: learned in each stop is now benefiting the Sixers as
Speaker 1: they enter the playoffs. Because of that experience and because
Speaker 1: of the respect that he's garnered around the league. I
Speaker 1: feel like Pja arrived in Philadelphia with sort of a
Speaker 1: big reputation, like a weighty reputation. And you know when
Speaker 1: PJA comes into a room, he sort of commands some
Speaker 1: of the air that's in the space. It goes towards him,
Speaker 1: and seeing him and getting to know him throughout this season,
Speaker 1: seeing how the reputation matches up with the person has
Speaker 1: been really cool. He's such an interesting guy. He's willing
Speaker 1: to give back, like you mentioned with the sneaker auction,
Speaker 1: but he's also willing to give wisdom to the younger
Speaker 1: players to bond with the different personalities in the locker room.
Speaker 1: Watching he and James reunite together here has been really special.
Speaker 1: And then just from a tactical perspective, Matt I wanted
Speaker 1: to go back to a media availability that George Niang
Speaker 1: had a couple weeks ago talking about the way that
Speaker 1: this team, particularly once they were all healthy and had
Speaker 1: a really strong run, I want to say mid March,
Speaker 1: mid to end of March, and they had a lot
Speaker 1: of comebacks. They came back against Milwaukee, they started figuring
Speaker 1: out ways to win, and that became such a theme
Speaker 1: in this sort of later quadrant of the season. And
Speaker 1: George was asked what he thinks the biggest difference between
Speaker 1: last season and this season would be in terms of
Speaker 1: whether or not the team folds or struggles in the
Speaker 1: fourth quarter versus this season when they've been able to
Speaker 1: figure things out in a big way in the fourth quarter,
Speaker 1: and George said simply that the difference has been PJ Tucker,
Speaker 1: whether or not he's on the floor, in the huddles,
Speaker 1: on the floor, whether he's creating second chances for this
Speaker 1: team with offensive rebounds, with loose balls, or he's just
Speaker 1: being a source of wisdom and imparting what he's seeing
Speaker 1: to the guys that are on the floor. George's description
Speaker 1: of how much PJ has meant to the actual ending
Speaker 1: of the game and whether or not the team came
Speaker 1: out on top really cool to hear and really heartening
Speaker 1: to think about as this team heads into the playoffs
Speaker 1: with PJ into that's great stuff, especially because in some
Speaker 1: of those moments it's George Niang maybe going in for
Speaker 1: PJ Tucker or vice versa, and the stuff that Tucker
Speaker 1: can share in those moments is pivotal. And what I
Speaker 1: was thinking of goes back even further and how recent
Speaker 1: episode of this podcast was with Daniel House Junior and
Speaker 1: how he knows where to be. His teammates know that
Speaker 1: he knows where to be on the floor. That's another
Speaker 1: level with someone like PJ. Tucker, also a former teammate
Speaker 1: of James Harden and James has mentioned that throughout the
Speaker 1: season about how he never has to worry about PJ.
Speaker 1: Tucker because he knows how to play the game, and
Speaker 1: why wouldn't he at this point in his career. But
Speaker 1: I think about the defensive end, and I take it
Speaker 1: back further in the season too, when the Sixers played
Speaker 1: the Nuggets at home and they beat the Nuggets, and
Speaker 1: how important PJ. Tucker's defense on Nicole Yokich was in
Speaker 1: that game. So a guy that, depending on the matchup,
Speaker 1: can be a very very important and key defender in
Speaker 1: high leverage moments and has given this specific team and
Speaker 1: group of guys a lot of problems in the playoffs.
Speaker 1: So there was a photo that I saw recently from
Speaker 1: obviously the Sixers and he'd played in the playoffs. It
Speaker 1: was like PJ Tucker holding the ball and a bunch
Speaker 1: of current Sixers kind of like hanging off of his
Speaker 1: arms when he was their opponent in the postseason, and
Speaker 1: I thought, how much has changed since then. It'll be
Speaker 1: nice to have him on our side as the playoffs begin. Thanks,
Speaker 1: as always so much to Matt Murphy, to PJ. Tucker,
Speaker 1: Thanks to you for listening to the seventy Sixers Insiders Podcast.
Speaker 1: We will be back as soon as we possibly can be.
Speaker 1: As you know, the playoff coverage is going to be deep,
Speaker 1: so let us know what you want to hear. You
Speaker 1: can reach out any time. We appreciate you guys, and
Speaker 1: we will see you next time. Both from both the