The Indiana Pacers decided to let Myles Turner walk in free agency this summer, but if Jay Huff continues to play as well as he did on Saturday night, then their regrets in letting him walk could begin to wane more and more. They landed Huff in a trade with the Memphis Grizzlies this summer, only shipping out two second-round picks in the deal.
Turner has played fairly well for the Milwaukee Bucks this season, and Huff has struggled to find his footing in his new home. However, he played very well in the Pacers’ game on Saturday night, giving them a great boost in a 103-101 win over the Chicago Bulls.
Indiana will undoubtedly be hoping that he keeps it up moving forward.
When the Pacers signed Huff, they were hoping to land a solid rotation piece. Unfortunately, he hasn’t played particularly well throughout the early portion of the season, and Indiana has struggled mightily (not that those two truths are directly correlated).
Still, Huff’s inability to carve out a consistent role in Rick Carlisle’s rotation has been tough. However, his showing on Saturday night should hopefully be a perfect indication of what he can bring to the table heading into the future.
Huff earned his third start of the season against the Bulls, and it worked out in the Pacers’ favor (thanks in part to a game-winner by Pascal Siakam to close things out).
The big man played 25:16 in the contest, finishing the game with 14 points, eight rebounds, two assists, and four blocks while shooting an impressive 5-of-9 from the field and 4-of-8 from beyond the three-point arc.
But those stats don’t tell the complete story of Huff’s performance, because the timeliness of three of his blocks stretches far beyond the box score.
Of the four blocks Huff recorded on the night, three of them came in the fourth quarter, and all in the final 1:28 of action. In what was a two-point game, those blocks were game-altering.
Obviously, Huff has a long, long way to go before he ever gets close to what Turner brought to the table in Indiana. And he will never match the impact Turner had on the city, having been a Pacer for a decade.
However, Indiana clearly didn’t want to give Turner the contract that he received from the Bucks. Meanwhile, Huff is on a very small deal (for now).
If Huff can eventually have these types of performances on a regular basis, which would be a very high standard for him to hold up to, maybe he could get close to Turner’s impact.