On Jay Huff playing (center)field for the Pacers

And the potentially bigger question of who will play the part of Andrew Nembhard for Andrew Nembhard

By: Caitlin Cooper I @C2_Cooper

On December 29, just three days after the Pacers had played the Oklahoma City Thunder at Gainbridge Fieldhouse but long before the two teams would meet in the NBA Finals, the Memphis Grizzlies were playing the Thunder at Paycom Center. With 5:13 to play in the third quarter, Oklahoma City entered the ball to Isaiah Hartenstein at the elbow area extended, triggering an interesting reaction from reserve center Jay Huff, who the Pacers recently acquired from the Grizzlies in exchange for one second-round pick and one second-round pick swap. As soon as Hartenstein touched the ball above the break, Memphis' back-up big man, well, backed up.

That wasn't a one-off, either. A few months later, Huff exhibited the exact same conditioned response, dropping wayyyy back into a one-man zone as soon as Hartenstein started steering the offense on the perimeter.

That's a significant departure not only from how the Pacers defended the Thunder in the Finals, but also from how the Pacers defend in general. Of course, the coverage against the Thunder took on several different forms over the full-breadth of that seven-game series.

In the beginning, Indiana started out next-ing (i.e. jump-switching onto the ball from the next nearest gap with the on-ball defender peel switching off to the perimeter) anytime Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was the pick-and-roll ball-handler. When Oklahoma City Thunder countered with strategic cuts and by re-arranging who was standing where (i.e. deliberating placing a big in the next nearest gap to force the defensive big for Indiana to cover more ground or jump-switch onto the ball), the Pacers dialed up the pressure, with Andrew Nembhard tracking the league MVP the full length of the floor as the bigs for Indiana also stayed up, meeting the ball at the logo and keeping their heels outside the paint against Hartenstein as a playmaker.

Eventually, the answer for the Thunder was to start Hartenstein, elongating the length of the court with bone-crushing screens at the logo in Game 5, as the Thunder recorded the highest average distance from the hoop on picks in any game between any two teams this past season. After going overboard with overs and struggling to maintain the edge of the defense against those north-south attacks with the bigs defending up at the level that far from the basket, the Pacers made the necessary change to pull back on the full-court pressure in exchange for ratcheting up the frequency of double teams against Shai-Gilgeous Alexander in the half-court, which ultimately led to Indiana forcing a Game 7 (but let's not talk about Game 7, okay?). Quietly though, beyond just the element of surprise and the need to counter for the runway that was being created by Hartenstein's screen craft, the other benefit of that strategic adjustment was preserving Nembhard.

Remember, Haliburton was gimpy in Game 5 and mostly just ended up being used as a decoy. As a result, a big chunk of the primary initiation tilted to Nembhard, who was already responsible for playing the part of itchy sweater against the league MVP. By the end of the game, he committed three turnovers in the final frame and looked exhausted, as he struggled to complete even a simple slot-to-slot pitch.

For that reason, the bigger question with regard to the addition of Jay Huff isn't necessarily whether the Pacers can replicate what they do offensively with him at center, but rather whether he can play centerfield at the other end of the floor (at least against certain match-ups) and what the ramifications of such a change would be on the rest of the roster and, particularly, Andrew Nembhard.

On the surface, brazenly ignoring the opposing five-man in order to drop into a one-man zone, as the Warriors also did against old friend Domantas Sabonis in their 2023 first-round playoff series against the Kings, may seem like a conservative scheme, but that type of coverage actually requires a tremendous amount of energy and effort from the other four remaining players on the perimeter to apply maximum ball and lane pressure with fluid screen navigation and rigorous top-locking in order to sustain the disruption. To be fair, the fact that those players also know that a big will always be dropped to the rim can serve to embolden them in being ultra-aggressive, but ultra-aggressiveness is certainly necessary. Otherwise, with the big who is being ignored free to make passes and set up screening angles, the potential is there for the offense to play downhill and in a constant state of rhythm.

Just look at how readily available this pocket pass is from Jalen Williams when Luke Kennard gets clipped by the pick.

Notably, Huff steps back into the paint when Hartenstein has the ball but then steps forward to guard the hand-off and/or screening action.

Again, this couldn't be more different from how the Pacers operated during the Finals. After all, a unique defensive wrinkle that Indiana rolled out during that series was tagging with the low-man against the pick-and-pop, committing two players to the ball against one of OKC's stars, so that Nembhard or Nesmith could stay home one-pass away against OKC's other star.

For emphasis, that's Haliburton sprinting to meet Hartenstein at the point of the pop. By comparison, the Grizzlies went out of their way, by staying out of the way, for possessions to end with Hartenstein shooting or creating for himself off the dribble. And that didn't only apply to Huff.

Here's Jaren Jackson Jr. executing the same scheme.

In that sense, a lot of this says as much about the difference in philosophy between Memphis and the Pacers, as it does, specifically, about Huff.

Still, there's reason to view him as a single pick-and-roll coverage big. The Grizzlies played ICE coverage, in which the action gets pushed to the sideline, a bit more often than the Pacers, who ranked 30th in ICE-d picks per 100 possessions, but this clip is still informative of Huff's tendency to allow the ball-handler to get into deep, advantageous positions, forcing himself into longer, arduous closeouts.

Again, this is a departure from the Pacers, who while ranking last in ICE frequency, also posted the second-lowest average screener defender depth in the league, at just 4.42 feet, as Turner could often be seen giving the screener a gentle nudge to force them to actually set the pick while protecting against the potential slip. That said, there were plenty of occasions during the Finals when he struggled to play that high, and it's telling that the Pacers gave up 0.940 points per chance with him as the screener defender when Siakam was on the floor, which is the equivalent of a top-five mark, compared to 1.037 when Siakam was off the floor, which is the equivalent of a bottom-five mark. To be fair, some of that discrepancy can likely be explained by the general drop-off between Siakam and Obi Toppin as defenders, but Turner wasn't exactly propping up the team's pick-and-roll coverage as a ball-side anchor when Siakam was off the floor.

There's a reason why the defense was more effective against wide-angle drives and slaloms, when Siakam and/or Nembhard could operate as guardrails, whether peel switching, stunting, digging, or just generally taking up space in the gaps, by comparison to those previously mentioned north-south attacks when the action was being funneled directly at Turner. If the Pacers carryover the same scheme next season, it's possible that same scaffolding could likewise enable Huff to defend higher up the floor, as his average screener defender depth was 7.70 feet compared to 5.05 for Turner, including the playoffs. If not, then playing him at centerfield could put Nembhard even more front and center, in terms of everything that could potentially be asked of him in the absence of Haliburton.

Put simply, there aren't a lot of starting point guards who initiate the majority of their team's offense while also guarding the other team's top-initiator. Then, add to that the fact that the Pacers have posted the two highest average pick-up distances in the playoffs of any team in Genius Sports' 12-year tracking database the last two seasons. Then, also add to that, the potential aforementioned energy and effort that would be required of him if Huff were to drop back to the rim in a one-man zone. Admittedly, there are merits to playing that type of scheme, but that would be … a lot.

If Isaiah Jackson signs the qualifying offer that's on the table and is close to being the former version of himself after recovering from his Achilles injury, then he'll offer more in the way of scheme versatility as far as mixing pick-and-roll coverages. Meanwhile, the fact that Huff shot 19-of-50 on corner threes last season suggests that the Pacers should still have the flexibility to shape-shift into different alignments, whether stationing him in the strong-side corner with a guard in the dunker spot so that an opposing guard has to guard the rim...

Or, for the purpose of opening a wider gap on the perimeter for Siakam to attack into.

Likewise, for the functionality of how the Pacers generally keep Siakam posted, it's encouraging that there are examples of bigs defending Huff at the top of the key, where he shot 40.8% on 98 attempts last season, with their heels outside the paint.

That wasn't always the case with Thomas Bryant last season, which makes the high-low entry to Siakam out of their pet-play "c" much more difficult to execute.

Plus, it's always a plus if the big can run the floor and finish reverse lobs, right? Last season, Toppin was the only player for the Pacers who completed more lobs (28) than Huff (13), who actually edged out Toppin (0.672) in lobs per 100 possessions (0.788). Overall, this is a low-risk move. After getting nothing in return for Turner, the Pacers gave up next to nothing to acquire Huff, who obviously comes at a much lower price point in what could potentially turn into a gap year.

To that point, while it's possible that Huff can replicate some of last season's alignment flexibility without Turner, there's still a lot to be answered as to how the offense will run, both figuratively and literally, without Haliburton. Nembhard has shown he can level up his game while playing point, but doing so for a full season without Haliburton's gravity will be a new reality, as will the fact that, depending upon how the Pacers scheme the defense with Huff, it seems fair to ask who on the roster can play the part of Andrew Nembhard for Andrew Nembhard?

In that regard, as it pertains to lessening the blossoming guard's potentially immense workload, every game won't be Game 5 of the NBA Finals against the Oklahoma City Thunder; however, the Pacers may also need to make some tweaks headed into next season to ensure that every game for Nembhard doesn't turn out to be the equivalent of Game 5 of the NBA Finals against the Oklahoma City Thunder.