BIO: Rashad Tucker was born in Waukegan, Illinois (USA) where he attended Carbondale High School. There his all-around play earned him a scholarship with Southern Illinois University.

NBL EXPERIENCE

Rashad Tucker made his NBL debut with the Perth Wildcats at 28 years of age. He scored 15 points in his first game.

After replacing head coach Alan Black with Mike Ellis, the Wildcats had struggled to retain much of the team that had reached the 2003 NBL Grand Final with only five players returning for 2003/04. Team captain Ricky Grace, James Harvey, Tony Ronaldson, Matthew Burston and Ben Thompson remained as the club’s core group after losing Brett Wheeler (Sydney) and last season’s leading scorer Rob Feaster (Victoria) after both were asked to take 30% pay cut. They were then replaced with import tandem Reed Rawlings and John Jackson. Young guns Travis Lane and Liam Rush were also signed to fill out the team’s second unit.

After losing the first two games of the season, Reed Rawlings (12.5 points and 2.5 rebounds) was released, and Tucker, who had been playing in Germany, signed soon after. Although Tucker performed well in his debut, it was when Ricky Grace went down with a injury that Tucker took control of the team and the point guard spot and setting a NBL record for single-season triple-doubles, notching up six during his first year with the Wildcats. A game against West Sydney Razorbacks saw Sam MacKinnon record 21 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists while Tucker also notched up 20 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists, resulting in the only time in NBL history that two players have recorded a triple-double in the same game.

This season also saw James Harvey (20.7 points, 3.4 rebounds, and 3.5 assists) develop into one of the league’s most potent offensive weapons, his scoring increasing by 6 points per game, becoming the team’s leading scorer. while Tucker averaged 17.7 points, 9.6 rebounds, and 6.6 assists.

In Ellis’ lone season as coach of the Wildcats, the team would record their first losing season (15 wins, 18 losses) since 1986, finishing in the seventh spot after a season destroying team’s at home (13-3) but failing to win on the road (2-15). In a year where the league’s top eight team’s would make the playoffs thanks to a early format of the play-in tournament, the Wildcat’s faced sixth-placed Cairns in a qualification game. There, former Perth guard Anthony Stewart (30 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists) led Cairns to victory (103-96) and ended the Wildcats’ season.

MELBOURNE TIGERS
2004/05
Tucker began the 2004/05 season with the Perth Wildcats however, after claims his “attitude was not right” he was released mid-season. The Melbourne Tigers signed the walking triple-double machine, and despite him coming off the bench and seeing limited minutes, the Melbourne Tigers coaches and players felt nothing could be further from the truth.

In a reduced role, Tucker averaged 5.8 points, 2.4 rebounds, and 1.3 assists alongside Melbourne Tigers legends Andrew Gaze, Lanard Copeland and Mark Bradtke. He helped guide the team to a 17-15 record and a sixth place finish in the regular season. The team would defeat Perth 108-88 in the first round of the elimination finals before losing to the Townsville Crocodiles in the second elimination final, 100-112. This game would be the last for Tigers legends Andrew Gaze and his father, Lindsey, who had decided to retire at the season’s end.

2005/06
In 2005, the Tigers were forced into rebuilding mode as legendary figures Andrew Gaze and his father Gaze retired while Tigers stalwarts Mark Bradtke and Lanard Copeland headed to Brisbane. By a stroke of luck, Chris Anstey, who after three seasons in Europe had decided he wanted to return to play in Australia, began talking to the Tigers, who were now the only NBL team in Melbourne.

With Anstey on board and David Stiff, Rashad Tucker, Dave Thomas, Darryl McDonald, Stephen Hoare and Daryl Corletto returning, the Tigers core was set and so finalised their roster by adding a bunch of young talent in Tom Greer, Braith Cox and Matt O’Hea.

The Tigers opened the season with a huge win over the Wollongong Hawks at home (102–61), then reeled off wins against Perth (twice) and Brisbane to start the season 4-0 before suffering their first loss (88–95) to the Sydney Kings.

Anstey (22.5 points, 10 rebounds, 3.8 assists, 1.1 steals, and 2.1 blocks) would lead the Tigers scoring, rebounds, blocks, and minutes played and, unsurprisingly, was named the Philips Most Valuable Player of the 2005/06 Philips Championship season. Both Corletto (11.2 points, 1.7 rebounds, and 1.1 assists) and Tucker (15.0 points, 7.4 rebounds, and 4.2 assists) were the primary benefactors of the exit of Gaze and Copeland, both seeing a major boost in their minutes and production. Tucker, who had struggled in the rotation the previous season, emerged as the team’s second option on offensive, which included Tucker erupting with a 35-point haul in a win over Perth (115-105), his former club.

The Tigers finished their season with the best record in franchise history (25-7) which included a almost unbeatable home record (15-1). Melbourne would still manage only second place however, with Sydney (15-1) also being unstoppable at home (15-1) and finishing with a better overall record (26-6).

With Melbourne and Sydney earning automatic entry to the semi finals, they awaited the winners of the play-in tournament, which resulted in Melbourne facing Perth and Sydney facing Cairns. Both team’s eliminated their competition in two straight games to set-up a Grand Final series between the two rivals who had been the clear front runners all season.

Anstey then led the Tigers to the franchise’s third title, winning three straight games against the defending triple-champion Sydney Kings to sweep them 3-0. Anstey’s play also saw him snare the Larry Sengstock Medal as MVP of the Philips Grand Final Series after he delivered arguably the most dominant performance of NBL Finals history, recording 24 points, 12 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 blocks In game one, 30 points 7 rebounds, and 4 assists in game two and 16 points, 9 rebounds, and 5 assists in Game 3.

2006/07
The Melbourne Tigers season began under mild controversy when the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority (ASADA) announced Melbourne’s Rashad Tucker and Perth’s David Bailey had returned positive tests from in-competition samples. Both were fined $5000, and Bailey was axed by the Wildcat’s shortly after. The Tigers instead chose to stand him the US guard, with Melbourne Tigers majority owner Seamus McPeake stating, ‘We’ve given him a severe warning, and we have notified him of a breach of contract, but I think he’s had his punishment. A second offence is a automatic two-year suspension, so if he wants to continue his career, he can’t offend again’.

McPeake also noted the circumstances were different to those of Bailey, who he said was out of contract and believed to be seeking a pay increase from the Wildcats.

With Tucker onboard, the team also saw its core group of Chris Anstey, Dave Thomas, Stephen Hoare, Darryl McDonald, Darryl Corletto, David Stiff and Tommy Greer all return. The only roster changes saw Nathan Crosswell, Alex Dench and Liam Norton replace exiting bench players Neil Mottram, Braith Cox and Gerard Leonard.

The Tigers started the season strong behind a 5-1 record and looked every bit ready to repeat as champions. Their only hurdle, it seemed, was the re-vamped Brisbane Bullets after finishing in sixth place the prior season, adding CJ Bruton, Ebi Ere, Dusty Rychart and Dillon Boucher. The Tigers and the Bullets were clear favourites from the season’s start to finish, and it didn’t surprise any to see the two clubs finish first (Brisbane – 28 wins, 5 losses) and second (Melbourne – 25 wins, 8 losses). Anstey led the team in almost every statistic once again, averaging 19.4 points (1st), 9.3 rebounds (1st), 2.8 assists (5th), 1.4 steals (3rd) and led the league with 1.8 blocks per game. The Tigers saw six players averaging in double figures, Thomas (16.7 points and 6.7 rebounds), Tucker (14.2 points and 8.0 rebounds), Hoare (12.5 points and 6.7 rebounds), McDonald (10.6 points and 5.2 assists) and Corletto (10.4 points), a nightmare for opposition team’s who knew that all of the six could carry the Tigers in scoring on any night.

Thanks to finishing in the top two both Brisbane and Melbourne were given a first and second-round bye in the playoffs. They then faced the winners of the Quarterfinals, Sydney and Cairns respectively. The Bullets eliminated the Kings in two games, and Melbourne mirrored their result, defeating the Taipans in back-to-back games.

Once into the Grand Final series, Brisbane drew first blood behind a 98-95 victory in Brisbane. The efforts of Anstey (21 points and 9 rebounds) and Thomas (19 points) proved not enough to outclass Brisbane’s Stephen Black (24 points, 5 rebounds, and 5 assists) and Sam MacKinnon (18 points, 12 rebounds, and 8 assists). For game two, the series headed to Melbourne and behind a 31 point and 8 rebound game from Anstey, the Tigers claimed a 105-91 victory to even the series. game three was played in front of 7,539 Brisbane fans, who all went home happy, getting the 113-93 win. Stephen Black’s 22 points led the team in scoring, Sam MacKinnon added 19 points, 7 rebounds, 9 assists and 3 steals, and the Bullets frontline held last season’s MVP Chris Anstey to only 9 points. Game Four was played in Melbourne, and at half-time, with the Tigers leading 52-51, it looked like it would come down to the wire. However, a 15-27 third quarter from the Bullets made sure it wasn’t to be and with the scoreboard reading 103-94 at the final buzzer, Brisbane, who many now consider the greatest NBL team of all-time were the 2007 NBL Champions.

Tigers players Darryl McDonald (17 points and 4 assists) and Rashad Tucker (17 points and 12 rebounds) stood up to lead the team in scoring as CJ Bruton (22 points and 7 assists), and Dustry Rychart (21 points) led the way for the victors. Sam MacKinnon was named Finals MVP, making history as the first player ever to win a NBL championship, season MVP, Grand Final MVP and Best Defensive Player all in the same year.

Rashad Tucker played six seasons in the NBL, playing for both the Perth Wildcats and the Cairns Taipans. He averaged 13.8 points, 7.4 rebounds, and 3.9 assists in 139 NBL games.

Dan Boyce (817 Posts)

Dan Boyce is a die-hard Sydney Kings fan who grew up in Melbourne during the roaring 90's of Australian Basketball and spent far too much time collecting Futera NBL Basketball cards.