Pelicans’ Jrue Holiday earned his NBA respect this season

Media outlets and social media accounts from the coasts all dismiss the New Orleans Pelicans as a free agent destination. However, recent player polls suggest that Jrue Holiday makes the Pelicans a big more attractive.

Jrue Holiday has been overshadowed by greater forces his whole career. The Process was the sole worry in Philadelphia, which is why Holiday was traded to the New Orleans Pelicans in the first place. Anthony Davis was the main attraction for years in New Orleans, but Holiday took the mantle of Pelicans People’s Champ this season.

The league took notice. Recent player polling by The Athletic showed how much Holiday is respected among the NBA’s players. Holiday ran away with title of Most Underrated Player, drawing 16.3% of the vote.

Holiday was also voted the sixth best defender in the league by the players, yet most Pelicans fans expect Holiday to be overlooked for any All-NBA Defense teams.

New Orleans has to maximize the rest of Holiday’s prime. The new front office needs to seek out Jrue’s opinions before forming a plan, short or long term. It sounds like Holiday is enthusiastic about being the leader of a fresh project, or so he told The Advocate. 

"“I’m going to go with it. I’m excited to run with it. I guess I’d like to be more involved with decisions and decision-making moving forward. I’d like some sit down conversations with Mickey (Loomis), Mrs. B (owner Gayle Benson) and the new GM or Danny (Ferry) if he stays.”"

The Pelicans’ last home game of the season was hijacked by Anthony Davis’ clown antics. In the midst of the Davis twitter storm and a home game against the Golden State Warriors, Holiday gave a sideline interview full of positivity.

Holiday said he wanted to be on the court, even in a lost season. He expressed wanting to beat the Warriors specifically. Davis is trying to jump ship to a lesser squad. Holiday wants to lift his current teammates to a championship standard.

During the interview, Holiday mentioned all the players gathering for offseason workouts. Jrue is taking the leadership of the team seriously. He is even recruiting other team’s players to join them, mentioning his brothers first.

After reading through the polls and twitter replies, it seems Jrue Holiday finally earned respect in the NBA brotherhood this season. The stats show that the national media should pay attention as well. Preston Ellis compared the numbers and found Holiday was an All NBA caliber player. 

"he’s (Holiday) one of three players averaging at least 21.2 points, 7.7 assists and 5.0 rebounds.  You should recognize his company: James and Russell Westbrook. Holiday’s real plus-minus (4.75, per ESPN.com) falls fourth among all point guards (behind only James Harden, Stephen Curry and Kyrie Irving) and sits 11th in the entire NBA. His player impact plus-minus also ranks 11th.While Irving is the better one-on-one scorer, Holiday’s roll gravity (97.6 percentile), finishing (97.6 percentile) and off-ball movement (81.6 percentile) outshine his fellow point guard’s numbers (94.1, 90.8 and 60.9, respectively), per BBall Index."

Holiday should get NBA first team defense honors, but will likely settle for the second team largely in part to his previously discussed underrated-ness. Holiday’s numbers scream 3rd Team All-NBA, but he will likely have to settle for being the Pelicans’ All-Star Team representative next season instead.

The national media slights are out of Holiday’s control. The Pelicans’ path towards a respectable future though, should be controlled by Jrue Holiday. Jrue’s NBA peers have taken notice, and so should the new front office. It sure seems like Holiday is more beloved in New Orleans now than either of the “stars” Chris Paul or Anthony Davis ever were.

Respectfully, Jrue Holiday is more important to the franchise than anyone this side of Gayle Benson and deserves the organization’s faith, loyalty, and respect. He has more than earned it over his years with the New Orleans Pelicans.