Disappointing year after disappointing year, the relationship between Jrue Holiday and the New Orleans Pelicans deepens. This year it can be maximized.
There is no point mincing words: the New Orleans Pelicans need Jrue Holiday.
Yes, Tim Frazier shows promise. Yes, we can expect a “comeback” year from Anthony Davis. Yes, new players Solomon HIll and E’Twaun Moore should provide perimeter defense and more consistent play. Yes, Buddy Hield will be exciting.
And no, none of that matters if Holiday misses significant time. If Jrue Holiday misses too many games, the Pelicans’ season could once again be effectively over before Christmas.
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No one else on the roster can offer what Holiday provides. Head coach Alvin Gentry needs a high-IQ, athletic floor commander running his offense. Lead assistant coach Darren Erman needs a long, elite defender at the point for his defensive schemes to work. Davis and Hield will be most effective with Holiday setting up the pick-and-roll or having the court vision to kick the ball out for a three pointer. The entire team will benefit from having a pass-first point guard who is also a devastating in his own right.
Even with a minutes restriction, Holiday posted some of the best numbers of his career in the Pelicans’ lost 2015-16 season. Holiday himself averaged 16.8 points a game to go along with 6.0 assists and only 2.6 turnovers.
On the other side of the ball, Holiday logged 1.4 steals and 2.6 defensive rebounds. It is worth noting that Holiday did this in an average of 28.2 minutes a game, mostly beginning games as a part of the second unit. The Pelicans’ bench last season was a rotating door of 10-day contracts and D-Leaguers. If Holiday can post six assists and 2.6 defensive boards with virtually no help, imagine what he will accomplish when leading Davis, Moore, Hill, and Hield on the court.
Further, Holiday is the true Robin to Davis’ Batman. While the Pelicans upgraded the role players surrounding Davis this offseason, he still needs legitimate stars by his side. Holiday is one of those stars. Holiday was an All-Star himself for the Philadelphia 76ers in 1012-13. He has the potential to be a top-10 point guard in the NBA if he could stay healthy.
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If he could stay healthy. With that, we arrive at the other side of this coin: Jrue Holiday needs the New Orleans Pelicans.
Holiday came to New Orleans in a fan-polarizing trade with Philadelphia. Of all the numbers he posted in his career prior to that point, there is only one number that matters to Pelicans fans: 74. That is how many games Holiday played over his first two seasons in New Orleans.
Holiday is in the final year of his contract and will be an unrestricted free agent next summer. The salary cap is expected to jump to approximately $111 million in 2017, and if this offseason is any indication, many lucrative contracts will be signed next July. If Holiday wants his name on one, he must prove himself capable of playing more than 65 games in a season.
Of course, he will already miss significant time this year due to the off-court tragedy that befell his new family this summer. In June, Holiday’s pregnant wife Lauren – an Olympian with two gold medals in women’s soccer – was diagnosed with a benign brain tumor.
Holiday is taking time to tend to his family, and only the most heartless fan would fault him for that. However, Lauren gave birth to a healthy baby girl in late September, and she underwent a successful surgery to remove the tumor this past Thursday. Should her recovery remain on track, Holiday may return to the team sooner rather than later.
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The New Orleans Pelicans need Jrue Holiday. Jrue Holiday needs the New Orleans Pelicans. Once the two parties are reunited, the true test for how far this team will go can begin. With more than a bit of luck, we will all find out while there is still life in this season.