76ers explain Tucker decision that Heat refused. And Heat scrimmage set, Wade leaves TV
The Heat and 76ers faced the same question this past offseason and came up with completely different answers.
The Heat bypassed giving forward P.J. Tucker the three-year, $33.2 million that he sought because doing so would have left Miami hard-capped and eliminated the Heat’s ability to surpass a $156.3 million payroll if a trade for a disgruntled star became available.
The 76ers gave Tucker that contract, undeterred by being hard-capped. Teams using the full midlevel exception become hard-capped at $6 million above the NBA’s luxury tax line.
In a podcast with Philadelphia TV sportscaster John Clark, 76ers president of basketball operations Daryl Morey explained how Tucker’s performance in the Heat’s second-round elimination of the 76ers helped shape that decision.
“There are certain players who work well with James [Harden], so it’s natural to maybe look for that fit,” Morey said. “Similar with Joel [Embiid]. Just finished playing a series [against] P.J. Tucker. P.J. was able to really impact that series in a lot of ways with his toughness, with his high-level defense, with his energy on the floor, with his offensive rebounding. And Joel correctly said, ‘Hey, we could use a guy like that.’
“But at no point did Joel Embiid say, ‘We have to have P.J. Tucker.’ He happened to be available. If he hadn’t been a free agent, then we would’ve had to move in a different direction. It might’ve been a completely different direction from a P.J. Tucker; it might’ve been a different profile. Again, I think if you go in like, ‘We have to get X,’ that’s where you overpay. That’s where you create constraints for your ability to improve the team later.”
Tucker will be 40 when his contract expires. But that doesn’t worry the 76ers, and it didn’t worry the Heat, who offered a three-year, $27 million deal that would not have left Miami hard-capped. The Heat made that offer using a non-Bird salary cap exception starting at $8.2 million and running three seasons with built-in raises.
Miami’s payroll stands at just below the $151.3 million tax line.
“P.J. Tucker, if you look at players similar to him, [he] should’ve been out of the league four years ago,” Morey said. “Almost no one who plays the type of game he plays is still playing at 37. So we’re already in this space of nobody knows. We’re obviously trying to win now. I’m not as worried about 40. I think I would never bet against P.J. Tucker. Anyone who’s ever bet against him has been wrong, and he keeps winning. So I don’t know what he’s going to be at 40. P.J., he knows he’s going to be great at 40; I know he believes it. I think everyone else doesn’t know, but we feel good.
“Even if maybe his body betrays him a little bit going forward, I still know he’s going to bring energy and he’s going to be an unbelievable guy to have on a roster. All of that said, he’s already in this place where nobody knows the next steps. Normally, you can look at players who play like him at 32, how will they look at 34? You can look at those things. There’s 100, 200 players like that. There’s literally a data set of one person who looks like P.J. Tucker that’s still helping teams win championships at age 36, 37.
“Almost all of them are these former multi-time All-Stars — to make it to that age. And frankly, P.J. Tucker is an All-Star at his role. Maybe in 50 years guys like him are All-Stars because people recognize the contribution they make.”
With Tucker leaving, the Heat is expected to use Caleb Martin or small forward Jimmy Butler at power forward. Wing Max Strus would be another undersized option.
SCRIMMAGE SET
The Heat will hold its annual Red, White and Pink intrasquad scrimmage — benefiting cancer research — at 6:30 p.m. on Oct. 3 at FTX Arena.
Tickets cost $1 and become available to season ticket holders at noon Thursday and to the general public at noon Friday. Parking is $5.
The Heat opens the preseason the next night, on Tuesday Oct. 4, against Minnesota at FTX Arena.
▪ Heat forward Jimmy Butler turned 33 on Wednesday.
▪ Former Heat great Dwyane Wade left his NBA analyst job for TNT, by choice, to focus on other business interests. Wade had served as a TNT studio analyst during the past two seasons, working the network’s package of games on Tuesdays from January through April.
Wade, who is a part owner of the Utah Jazz, is eligible for induction into the Basketball Hall of Fame’s 2023 class.
This story was originally published September 14, 2022 at 2:06 PM.
