P. J. Tucker

Anthony Leon " P. J. " Tucker Jr. ( born May 5, 1985 in Raleigh, North Carolina ) is an American professional basketball player. Since the 2012/13 season he played with the Phoenix Suns in the NBA. At a height of 1.96 m, it is nominally mostly on the position of the Small Forwards for use, but its game system is more similar to a power forwards.

Anthony Tucker was called by his eponymous father " Pop Junior", a nickname he in the abbreviated form " P. J. " retained. He grew the first five years in Frankfurt am Main, where his father was stationed as a soldier. After a year in Kentucky his family eventually returned to Raleigh, where Tucker junior remained until the completion of high school. He then spent three years, the University of Texas at Austin and played for their basketball team, the Texas Longhorns. With this team, who was among other things, LaMarcus Aldridge, Tucker retired in 2006 at the NCAA Tournament in the last eight, the Elite Eight, a. He was then selected early in the second round by the Toronto Raptors in the NBA Draft.

However, in the NBA he was a total of only 17 games for use. Instead, Tucker played end of the season propagated in the NBA Development League for the Colorado 14ers. It was followed by a move to Europe for Hapoel Holon, with whom he surprisingly beat Maccabi Tel Aviv in the final of the Israeli championship. In addition, Tucker was elected Most Valuable Player of the Ligat ha Al. Subsequently, he was active for the Ukrainian club BK Donetsk until early 2010, with whom he gained his first European Cup experience in the Euro Challenge. For several months, Tucker returned to Israel, where he played for Bnei haScharon before he signed a contract with the Greek Eurocup representatives Aris Thessaloniki. After he had been briefly in Italy for Sutor Basket Montegranaro and in Puerto Rico for the Piratas de Quebradillas active, Tucker joined the 2011/12 season to the Brose Baskets Bamberg, for which he came in the Euro League action for the first time. He won the double in Bamberg Cup and German Cup, he also was named MVP of the championship final series.

For the season 2012/2013 Tucker left the Brose Baskets again and moved to Russia. He received a contract with BK Spartak Saint Petersburg. Without having attended a game for Spartak St. Petersburg, he took advantage of an exit clause and signed a two -year contract with the Phoenix Suns.