Tucker is a good iso defender and did a fine job against Giannis but it's completely different now.
Giannis couldn't back him down much from the post because he was weak, Tucker is thick and strong, but I believe Lebron can still will his way inside from the post agianst Tucker and has huge length advantage over him.
Tucker isn't much of a good PnR defender as he is an ISO defender (I don't have stats to back it up, just the eye test).. having the ball in Lebron's hands in the Pick and Pop with Frye is going to be a huge key yet again in this series and I expect Frye to be a big factor in this series.
Tucker has been very poor on offense in the playoffs and shot the ball poorly. Having Lebron on him would allow LBJ to help Kyrie on penetrations.
I don't think Tucker is that big of a difference but we'll soon find out.
@jking948 do you have Tuckers PnR defense stats?
Your eye test is more or less correct. Tucker is not good at defending the PnR ball handler, is excellent as a ball handler "big" defender, and has only played as the roll defender on seven possessions since being traded to Toronto.
The one thing is that he is good at going over or into screens, but is awful going under screens. I bet Toronto really tries to have him do one of the first two, and avoid the latter. That'll be hard when LeBron runs the PnR with Tristan and/or Frye, Kyrie, and during the "45 PnR" because if you give LeBron any space then he'll kill you. I'd imagine the Deron/LBJ PnR, LBJ/RJ PnR, and LBJ/Love PnR won't be as useful this series as last series.
PnR ball handler defense:
-Regular season:
--Gives up .902 points per possession, ranks in only the 34th percentile.
--Is actually good going over the pick or going into the pick, ranks 90th and 77th percentiles respectively.
--Is one of the worst defenders in the NBA having to go under, giving up 1.167 points per possession, ranking in the bottom 22nd percentile.
-Playoffs:
--Gives up 1 point per possession, ranks in the bottom 34th percentile.
--Gives up .833 points per possession going over picks, .571 going into picks, the 87th and 100th (best) percentile respectively.
--Gives up 1 point per possession going under, ranks in the bottom 35th percentile.
PnR ball handler defense as the big defender (i.e., off a switch):
-Regular season:
--Gives up .607 points per possession, ranks in 93rd percentile.
-Playoffs:
--Gives up .308 points per possession, ranks as the best in the playoffs.
So, overall, Tucker is very attackable on the pick-and-roll. You're not going to want him to be the switch defender. I.e., LeBron should not set screens, and if Tucker isn't guarding him, LBJ should not call for a screen from the player Tucker is defending. You will want to use pick-and-pop players as much as possible so, if Tucker goes over or into the screen, the Raptors will have to give up a semi-contested-to-open three or a barely clogged driving lane to LeBron.
There is one scenario that I really see the Cavs exploiting, though. Tucker is a
terrible spot-up defender, giving up 1.136 points per possession, ranking in the bottom 20th percentile in the NBA. I could see the Cavs using a PnR switch to get Tucker on a guy like Kyrie, have Kyrie pass back to LeBron, and then run a designed play that gets Kyrie a spot-up shot. We could do this with Deron and Love, too.
