Boston Celtics: 2 current players Grant Williams should mold his game after

P.J. Tucker

Up until the early 2000s, the idea of a starting center in the NBA being shorter than 6-10 was seen as an absolute farce. With the Bill Russell’s, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s, Shaquille O’Neal’s, Patrick Ewing’s, and, yes, even the Dwight Howard’s of the world dominating the league, it was a widely perceived notion that the bigger you were, the better off you’d be.

Now, fast forward to 2020 and you’ll see that the small-ball era of basketball has taken the sport by storm, and a prime example of this is Houston Rocket’s starting-5, P.J. Tucker.

Playing in his 14th season in the league, and his third in Houston, Tucker found himself tasked with an interesting request from head coach Mike D’Antoni — to become the starting center for the ball club.

Even in a positionless era such as this, the idea of the 6-5 Tucker rolling out into the starting pivot spot was a highly questioned decision right from the get-go. However, despite the noticeable challenges, the journeyman proved that, with sheer effort, hustle, and determination, the feat can be accomplished, and well at that.

Through 72 games played in 2019-20, Tucker put up averages of 6.9 points, 6.6 rebounds, 1.6 assists, and 1.1 steals per game on 42 percent shooting from the field and 36 percent shooting from deep.

His excellence ran right along into the postseason for the Rockets as, due to his efforts going up against the 7-0 Steven Adams in round-one and the two-headed monster of JaVale McGee (7-0), and Anthony Davis (6-11) in LA’s frontcourt during the Semifinals, Houston boasted the third-highest defensive rating in the league (106.8) behind only the Boston Celtics and Toronto Raptors.

The parallels between Tucker and C’s rookie Grant Williams are uncanny.

Both are scrappy players who are relatively on the smaller side for the power forward/ center position — Williams is listed at 6-6 — and possess similar hustle, floor spacing, and defensive-minded skills that, frankly, have gotten them to where they are right now.

If there ever were a current player the 21-year-old would wish to mold his game after, it should be P.J. Tucker.