Predicting Basic Stat-Lines For All 5 New Orleans Pelicans Starters

NEW ORLEANS, LA - MARCH 14: Anthony Davis
NEW ORLEANS, LA - MARCH 14: Anthony Davis /
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Jrue Holiday

OKLAHOMA CITY, OK- OCTOBER 6: Jrue Holiday
OKLAHOMA CITY, OK- OCTOBER 6: Jrue Holiday /

"2016-17 Season Stats (per ESPN.com):  PPG: 15.4 APG: 7.3 RPG: 3.9 Potential 2017-18 Season Stats: PPG: 18.9 APG: 4.6 RPG: 4.2"

Although Holiday has played the point guard position his whole NBA career, he does not posses the play style most traditional point guards have. By this, I mean Holiday seems to be more of a scorer than a set-up man for his teammates.

Now, this isn’t to say the guard is a selfish player, or that he’s a bad passer. Quite the opposite in fact. When tasked with being predominantly a facilitator for the Pelicans, he stepped up to the plate, averaging a very respectable 7.3 APG (8th in the entire NBA). With this, it’s obvious Holiday can perform the typical duties the point guard position entails, and excel. The problem is, however, he never seemed comfortable with this role.

Because of a certain offseason signing, Holiday’s days as lead distributor on the ball club may be coming to an end; and that’s a good sign for the guard. Obviously if you’ve gotten to this slide you know that Rajon Rondo is the starting point guard for the New Orleans Pelicans. And if you managed to miss that fact, I’m curious as to how you ended up here in the first place. Must have been a glitch in the system.

ANYWAY…….

MUST READ: Is A More Selfish Jrue Holday A Good Thing For The Pelicans?

With Rondo now on the team, it’s almost guaranteed he will serve as the Pelicans main distributor, for the veteran’s skill set is best used in the passing game. With this, Holiday is now put into a position where he can focus more on his own scoring than that of his teammates. As Holiday put it, in regards to playing alongside Rondo the guard said (per William Guillory):

"“Obviously, being able to play with somebody of his caliber at the point guard position gives me a chance to shoot a little more and maybe be a little more selfish.” “Playing with (Rondo), you get like wide open shots. They’re not even contested three-point shots, they’re wide-open shots. That’s what I’m excited for, just getting wide-open shots.”"

With this anticipated “selfishness” coupled with “wide-open shots”, Holiday very well should see an uptick in his PPG averages from the year before and, quite frankly, could even witness a new career high in that department. An estimation of around 19 PPG for the former All-Star seems like a safe bet if you were to ask me!