I miss the curly mop of hair that Marcelo “Hurtass” Huertas was sporting last year. It made him look like a Hobbit and it opened the door to Lord of the Rings-themed descriptions, a door which I only tentatively placed a single toe through. I would love to step more boldly through that door and transport my readers to a fantastical land called Middle Earth, populated by many delightful characters, including Marcelo himself. The problem is, he doesn’t really look like a Hobbit anymore. He looks generic now.
Hobbit or no Hobbit, Huertas has not been great this year. While his assist numbers are pretty, he’s shooting a cool 32% from the field, so you can see why Luke Walton is loath to play him in any meaningful situation. They have a very Huertas-esque player on the roster in Jose Calderon, and Calderon takes all the Euro point guard minutes thanks to his superior play and ability to hit threes (yes, I know Huertas is from Brazil, but did YOU know that Brazil is actually in Europe?), so that’s another reason why Huertas is stuck at the end of the bench.
It’s hard to see Huertas having much of a future in the league, but it was fun while it lasted. Hopefully he’ll get the whole month of April to dazzle the league with his steady ability to set up his teammates, and then we’ll wave bye-bye as he steps on an Elvish ship and sails away to the Grey Havens. Cue sad music and tears.