Milwaukee Bucks: 2 players that can fill P.J. Tucker’s role next season
How Semi Ojeleye can be a P.J. Tucker replacement for the Milwaukee Bucks
If there’s anyone who is the most clear-cut Tucker replacement, it’s Semi Ojeleye.
Like Tucker, Ojeleye is a defense-first forward that has similar builds and strength. At 6-foot-6 and 240 pounds, you couldn’t find a closer replication to Tucker unless you cloned him. He’s incredibly strong, and his workout routines are legendary, and Bucks fans can remember him guarding Antetokounmpo — another incredibly strong man.
I want to preface this by saying that Tucker is a better defender than Ojeleye, but there is reason to believe that the 26-year-old could do some things that the 36-year-old could not at this stage of his career.
As an isolation defender, Ojeleye held opponents to a very solid 0.87 points per possession while Tucker was at 1.00 in his time with the Bucks in the regular season, per NBA.com/stats. Tucker did see that number drop to an impressive 0.66 in the playoffs, and that’s where we could see a gap between them.
Ojeleye does have work to do guarding pick and roll ball handlers, but he has held opponents under a point per possession the last two seasons. That’s an area where we saw Tucker often used in the playoffs to help with the Bucks’ switching defense.
Offensively, Ojeleye is an inconsistent shooter, but his overall percentages were about the same as Tucker’s. Ojeleye has shot just over 37 percent the last two seasons, while Tucker was at 35 percent in the same time. Tucker also cut his attempts in half this past year (including in the playoffs), which drastically hindered his value. Ojeleye also shot the three at a decent clip from above the break, something Tucker essentially never did.
Milwaukee Bucks: 3 players that can fill “the Bryn Forbes role” next year. dark. Next
It’s never easy to replace a player who was so crucial to what the Bucks did in their championship run like P.J. Tucker. But there’s reason to believe they have players in place who can do a little bit of what he brought to the team and can help ease the blow of losing him.