Tucker: Tough talk with Raptors 'best thing that ever happened to me'
P.J. Tucker's first go-around in the NBA was so brief that most fans would have missed it.
After being selected 35th overall by the Toronto Raptors in 2006, the Texas product logged just 83 total minutes with the club before being waived ahead of the regular season's end.
Despite getting significantly more run with the then-D-League's Colorado 14ers in 2006-07, Tucker attributes a meeting with Raptors brass for completely changing his career's trajectory.
"I got to the end of that year, and I got called in for a meeting ... playoffs about to start, Sam Mitchell just won Coach of the Year, we're doing pretty good," Tucker said on J.J. Redick's "Old Man and the Three" podcast. "And they call me in for a meeting, and I walk up, and everybody's sitting in there. The GM, president, (Bryan) Colangelo, they're all sitting in there. It's like, 'What's up.' Coach is in there.
"They've got the TV, right? And they show before the game, during the game, and after the game - just showing me on the bench. Pregame - they taped it all. It was terrible. To this day, it makes me sick to my stomach thinking about it."
Tucker realized at that moment that his attitude was getting in the way of his professional aspirations.
"That (meeting) was the best thing that ever happened to me ever in my life," Tucker said.
It took Tucker another five seasons of playing overseas in places like Israel, Ukraine, and Germany before returning to the NBA. He's now plied his trade in the league for the past decade as one of the best preeminent grinders.
Fresh off his maiden title with the Milwaukee Bucks this summer - and now seeking another championship as a member of the Miami Heat - Tucker is trying to be the sort of role model he lacked during his forgettable first stint in the league.
"I didn't have vets on the team, guys on there grabbing me like how we do with younger guys now. If I'd have had somebody, maybe I wouldn't have," Tucker said about his poor attitude as a rookie. "But I didn't know because nobody told me."