June 17, 2014

Troy Huff dunked so viciously that a man in the background put on his coat and left.

Huff is always attacking, and as can be seen from his basic stats, does so all over the offensive end of the court. A very good rebounder for a two guard, Huff has a high motor and is always willing to use it.

This motor, though, is a bit hindered by his physical profile. Much as Huff likes to crash the glass and get out and run, his slender frame and lack of overall size makes him a limited finisher at the rim. Huff likes to go into the trees anyway, works off the ball a lot, cuts and runs, but despite being a good athlete when given room to get up, his small stature limits his effectiveness on both ends of the floor.

Nonetheless, Huff is snaky, in a good way. When he can't drive in transition or semi-transition, he plays in the half court like he can anyway. Huff gets to the free throw line a lot on account of his relentless desire to drive. His drives come not because he is a particularly good isolation player or ball handler - he isn't - but because he always looks to drive off of closeouts, screens and the like. Playing off the ball, Huff nonetheless uses up a large number of possessions with his high motor and tenacity, running at every opportunity and always prepared to try and make things happen if you need him to.

The limitations in his offensive game are, however, quite apparent. Huff almost always uses his right hand, and shows little passing awareness or interest. His shot is inconsistent and sporadic - quite a good pull-up two point shooter, Huff struggles more from three point range, and usually shoots in the low 60%s from the foul line save for this past year. And as much as Huff likes to get to the rim, he struggles somewhat to finish there, capable of incredibly difficult acrobatic finishes but also prone to making things much harder than they need to be, partly due to always seeming to want to shoot from behind his head for some reason. Huff can rip down a rebound, go coast to coast, catch lobs and barrel in given any slither of room, but he is little threat handling up top and never seems to want to go to the corner. He can make highlight plays, but he alwas wants to make them so

On defense, Huff was somewhat hidden due to his importance to his team on the offensive end. That said, he also did not compete nearly as much as he did on offense, and, as mentioned above, he hasn't the size or length to get away with this. Huff gambles in the passing lanes and does so effectively, but when he gambles unsuccessfully, he does not show the fight to recover. This, then, is the frustration with Huff's game. There's quite a lot to like there, but Huff is only effective in a certain way, and needs freedom to do as he pleases. It will be seen how he copes when he goes to a professional team on which he is not the main man, which will inevitably happen.

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