Houston Rockets: 3 goals for P.J. Tucker in 2019-20
3. Haul down more rebounds
Despite establishing himself as arguably the best all-around defender on the Houston Rockets roster over the last two seasons, P.J. Tucker would still show that there is room for growth when it comes to putting the closing stamp on possessions last season.
In conjunction with several of his teammates, as the Rockets’ failure to consistently crash the defensive glass would prove to be costly throughout various stretches during their most recent campaign.
Houston — who finished among the top ten in defensive rebounding just two seasons ago — managed to collectively haul a near-league low 42.1 boards per game as a team last season.
On top of allowing an average of 13.7 second chance points to opponents in the process, as the Rockets were the only team in basketball to win over 50-plus games in spite of finishing among the bottom 10 teams in rebounding.
"“The biggest thing is [our defensive rebounding],” Rockets head coach Mike D’Antoni recently said in a sit-down interview with team play-by-play Craig Ackerman on the RocketsCast Live podcast when asked about upcoming areas of focus for Houston entering training camp. “That hurt us.” “It kept us from winning a couple of extra games and trying to get in a little bit better position. So that is the number one focus for us.”"
Although the insertion of triple-double maven Russell Westbrook will likely provide Tucker and the Rockets with a major lift in the following department, finding a way to help his team win the battle on the boards could be just what No. 17 needs to do to help Houston prevail in close contests.
Including help dispel one of the Rockets most glaring weaknesses as a unit to date, as one can easily rest knowing that the man who has took it upon himself to do the dirty work will likely be called upon to do so once again at a critical time.
Tucker — who averaged 5.8 rebounds per game last year during the regular season — proved to be an indispensable force around the glass during Houston’s recent postseason run, averaging a playoff-best 7.4 rebounds per game through 11 contests.