Should 76ers Consider Bringing PJ Tucker Off the Bench?

Despite the Philadelphia 76ers starting to heat up over the previous weeks, P.J. Tucker has remained cold from the field.

On Sunday, the Philadelphia 76ers took down the Western Conference-leading Utah Jazz, 105-98, after Joel Embiid provided an offensive master class, scoring a career-high 59 points on 19-28 shooting from the field.

This impressive stat line doesn't show that The Process nearly recorded his first triple-double of the season, only needing two more assists to complete the feat, after grabbing 11 rebounds throughout the game.

While looking at the other score lines such as Tyrese Maxey's 18 points on 33 percent shooting and Tobias Harris' eight points would tell the tale of the game, a hard-fought team effort.

One scoreline that may slip past is P.J. Tucker's zero point, one assist, and one rebound performance across his 29 minutes on the court against the Jazz. 

This is the latest in a trend of poor outings for the Sixers veteran, a trend which beckons the question, should Tucker continue to be named in the starting lineup?

When looking at what Tucker brings to the court, the first thing that would come to mind is his work from the corner, which is where the 37-year-old's bread and butter are made.

Throughout the first few weeks of the season, 51 percent of Tucker's total shots have been from the corner, where he is shooting with 46 percent accuracy. These numbers are consistent with how Tucker played during his previous two seasons with the Miami Heat and 2021 NBA Champion Milwaukee Bucks respectively.

These numbers are great only when they're being attempted. This season, Tucker is only attempting three shots per game while averaging 28 minutes per game, which has equated to five points per game from the former champion.

Outside of his shooting, Tucker doesn't generate that much for the Sixers on the court, grabbing four rebounds per game, which sees him ranked fourth on the team behind Embiid, James Harden, and fellow forward Tobias Harris.

With offense being hard to come by at times for Philadelphia, who currently has the third-worst points per game in the league, could Doc Rivers look at someone more shooting-driven like Georges Niang over the next few games?

Niang offers many parallels to Tucker. They're both roughly the same height with the former-Iowa State player having an extra two inches, and are known for their three-point shooting.

From his 18 minutes per game so far this season, Niang is averaging eight points per game, on 45 percent from deep, which places him in the top 89th percentile in the league.

Perhaps the biggest example of Niang's offensive production was his performance against the Phoenix Suns, where he sank seven threes en route to a 21-point night, which helped Philadelphia win 100-88.

A direct comparison of offensive production between the two forwards would be that Tucker has only recorded one game of double-digit point production, while Niang has recorded five while playing ten fewer minutes on the court.

Perhaps the only area which Niang would generally have to improve upon would be his defensive presence and ability to grab rebounds, as he averages two rebounds per game.

Declan Harris contributes to All76ers, a Sports Illustrated channel. You can follow him on Twitter: @DecIanH.

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