Pacers backcourt posed for a photo on media day.
Priority number one for Rodney Stuckey during free agency in July, 2014 was to find a situation where he could rebuild his image that was unfairly corrupted by his previous situation.
Priority number two: Win, which would result in a return to the playoffs.
Check and check.
The Pacers’ tough guy wanted to deflect Sunday, he wanted to make it about the team but it’s hard not to overlook one glaring fact: Stuckey had not participated in postseason competition since his SECOND year in the league, 2009. He was a spry 22, playing on an established team in Detroit.
Finally, he’s back.
“That’s what everyone plays for,” Stuckey said of the playoffs. “That opportunity to go into the postseason and to experience that.”
The Pacers clinched their spot in the playoffs Sunday by hammering the lowly Brooklyn Nets 129-105. It was their highest-scoring game of the season and important because a playoff spot is now locked up. Stuckey had eight points, three rebounds, and two assists in 15 minutes.
“It definitely means a lot,” he said of clinching. “My time in Detroit my first two years I definitely had fun making the playoffs. My first year was phenomenal, just experiencing the things that you go through and the preparation and how much pressure is on you and how much everyone’s just watching you.”
[VIDEO: Paul George discusses the Pacers return to the playoffs]
In Stuckey’s rookie season, they advanced all the way to the Eastern Conference Finals where they lost in six games to the Boston Celtics — the eventual NBA Champion. Then, turnover happened, and it happened often.
Stuckey had six head coaches in seven seasons. His role diminished and the organization gave him a bad name. The Pacers made clear they were interested in signing him back in 2014, and then they re-signed him after that one-year deal for the veteran’s minimum expired last summer.
![Stuckey has missed 24 games this season due to his right foot. [Frank McGrath/PS&E]](https://i0.wp.com/www.vigilantsports.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Rodney-Stuckey-retruns-from-ankle-injury.jpg?resize=212%2C291)
Stuckey missed 24 games this season due to his right foot. [Frank McGrath/PS&E]
The average age of the Pacers’ 15-man roster is 26.2. Several players have not played prominant roles on playoff rosters, like Stuckey, C.J. Miles, Solomon Hill, Lavoy Allen, and rookie Myles Turner. In fact, Turner was still a teenager a couple of weeks ago.
Stuckey’s message to the young guys: “You can’t take nothing for granted because you never know if you’re going to make it back. It’s definitely going to be a learning experience for them, but also for myself, too. It’s been a while. It’s definitely going to be a different feeling.
“It’s the playoffs. You win or you go home. The challenge (is) playing that team numerous times back-to-back-to-back, and trying to make adjustments and stuff like that. It’s a chess game.”
The Pistons, under the direction of coach Stan Van Gundy, are in the playoffs for the first time since that 2008-09 season. It has been seven years. And oddly enough, it’s the Pacers and Pistons — both 43-37 — battling it out for the seventh and eighth seed. As long as the Pacers finish with the same or a better record than Stuckey’s old team, they’ll be No. 7 and (likely) play Toronto.
“We still have two regular season games that we need to get,” Stuckey was sure to point out several times. “We’re trying to get that 7-seed so the job’s not over yet.
“We want to keep winning. We want to keep building. Just because now that we are in the playoffs, we don’t want to stop. We got to keep building, and keep working.”
This season hasn’t been easy for Rodney. The 29-year-old suffered a right foot sprain and bone bruise that cost him 19 games and threatened his season. Fortunately, the medical staff wisely held him out for they feared that if he returned too quickly, season-ending surgery would be needed.
Stuckey isn’t the only Pacer ending a playoff drought. Miles last played in a postseason game in 2010 while playing with the Utah Jazz. For Jordan Hill and Ty Lawson, it’s been three years.
Oh how I've missed you … PLAYOFFS!
— C.J. Miles (@masfresco) April 11, 2016
And then, there’s an eager rookie. But can you blame him!? (The following was tweeted FOUR minutes after their victory that clinched a playoff spot.)
PLAYOFF BOUND BABY!!!!!!
— Myles Turner (@Original_Turner) April 11, 2016
Rodney Stuckey hasn’t asked for much from the organization, he’s only wanted to win. It was last season when he selflessly approached head coach Frank Vogel about coming off the bench for good because it was best for the team.
“Winning. Playoffs. That’s what I want to do. That’s what I’m all about,” Stuckey said after signing with the team in July, 2014. “It’s not fun having the whole summer to do nothing. I just want to play basketball.
“I knew that Indiana was always a great organization and they win. That’s what I’m all about, man. I want to win. That’s what’s most important.”
He got his fresh start in 2014. He got his payday in 2015. Stuckey, one of the good guys in the league, will finally get to be part of the magical NBA postseason again.