Congratulations are in order for Alando Tucker.
In a game against Charlotte Wednesday night, he scored the first basket of his professional career. It came when he put back a missed jumper, well after the Phoenix Suns had the game salted away.
A rebound and made shot in one sequence sounds typical for Doe,"" considering his strengths on the basketball court.
Problem was, the player who shot that jumper was D.J. Strawberry, the Suns' second-round pick out of Maryland. Strawberry was really an afterthought in the days after the National Basketball Association draft. More than anything, the Suns talked up their late first round find - the Badgers' all-time leading scorer, a mature player who elevated UW to No. 1 in the AP poll for the first time ever during his senior year.
A little more than a week into the NBA season, though, it seems to the outsider that the Suns are not as confident in Tucker as Phoenix officials' words after the draft bespoke.
It's only five games into the season for Phoenix, but with the 3-2 record, the team has won and lost, by margins large and small.
And for some reason, Strawberry has seen nearly five times the number of minutes that Tucker has. This is curious, for the Suns' first-rounder to be languishing on the bench while D.J. Strawberry, the 59th pick - that's one from the last - gets more time.
Your first inclination should be to ask what position each plays. Strawberry is, no question about it, a true NBA shooting guard, at 6'5' and 200 lbs. By the looks of him, he doesn't have the build to guard pro small forwards. But the Suns are availing themselves of the fact that he can play and guard point guards as well.
Tucker is a bit bigger at 6'6', and with that size and the athleticism that he showed as a Badger, it would not be misguided for those who followed him to think he can guard both shooting guards and small forwards.
Second, if you play with the Suns, you better be set to shoot the ball, and shoot it well. Neither Strawberry nor Tucker does that very well, but both find ways to score points. Noteworthy is that Tucker did hit a 3-pointer in pre-season. Note to him: That's not going to be your shot in the NBA, Doe.
By asking Suns fans about the book on Tucker, I basically learned what I already knew: He's good at so much when it comes to basketball but not great at any one facet of the game. Plus, when you play behind the guys he's playing behind, it's an understatement to say that finding playing time will be difficult.
Defense is where Tucker's draft partner has the edge. Strawberry, people who watch the team say, is able to guard players on the perimeter, a skill he cultivated playing at Maryland.
As one Phoenix fan wrote to me, explaining the discrepancy in playing time, ""It's a statement more on how much of a steal D.J. was at No. 59 than it is an indictment of Alando. Overall, I would say the team has gotten just what they expected out of Alando. He is a rookie on a contender and they usually don't play right away.""
For Tucker, the best course of action is to send him to the NBA's Developmental League, where he can hone his defense and work on his shooting, all while getting big minutes. And the Suns should do that, for Tucker's benefit and their own.
If you think Alando Tucker deserves more playing time for the Suns, e-mail Jon at bortin@wisc.edu.
