Suns Choose Alando Tucker (Wisconsin) w/ 29th Pick
After trading away the 24th pick, the Suns have chosen forward Alando Tucker from the University of Wisconsin w/ the 29th pick of the 2007 NBA Draft. The former Badger won the Big 10 Player of the Year award, and is the 2nd leading scorer in Wisconsin history... so the guy isn't a slouch by any means.
He averaged a career-high 19.9 points and added 5.4 rebounds per game this past season. Makes up for his lack of size with exceptional athleticism.
These stats are about equal to Shawn Marion's, but the NBA is different from college, so that's as far as I'll go w/ that comparison. League experts are giving the Suns credit for picking up Tucker this late in the draft - many are comparing it to the Mavs selection of Josh Howard several years ago.
He's an extremely poor free-throw shooter at 63.6 percent for his career, and doesn't have much of an outside shot. Not big enough to be a forward in the NBA, and doesn't have enough of a perimeter game or the ballhandling skills to be consistently effective at guard, so teams may have trouble figuring out how he would fit. Doesn't seem to possess much range as a player other than his ability to score. His athleticism, though, should make him attractive to a team that could use help off the bench.
It's a little surprising that the Suns would draft someone who can't shoot from the outside, isn't big enough to battle in the paint, and is a poor free throw shooter. I guess they figure the athleticism will allow him to be successful in the Phoenix run n' gun system. Tucker will most certainly come off the bench and will be lucky to break into coach Mike D'Antoni's short 7-9 man rotation. He should get some good looks throughout the season, but if he can't perform, he'll end up riding the bench just like Marcus Banks and Jalen Rose this year.