New Orleans Pelicans: Give the Backcourt Time To Grow

Why The New Orleans Pelicans Keep Jrue Holiday

The New Orleans Pelicans should want to keep Jrue Holiday on the team for several reasons. It starts with his stellar two-way play where Holiday has shown that on offense, he is a smart distributor and on defense, he’ll continue being one of the best defensive guards in the league.

Jrue Holiday is 29 years old and still has two years remaining on the extension he signed during the 2017 offseason. He’s the second longest-tenured player with the organization behind Darius Miller, trading Holiday would mean moving on from another player with deep ties to New Orleans and the team just one summer after trading Anthony Davis.

Holiday is also the leader of this team and a fan favorite, with a lot of NBA experience he can use to help this young team grow. An off-the-court piece to note is that Holiday donated his entire bubble salary, five million dollars, to Black-owned businesses in New Orleans, Indianapolis, and Los Angeles. While that doesn’t impact his on-court performance it does mean that he cares about the city where he spends most of the year.

Why The New Orleans Pelicans Keep Lonzo Ball

Lonzo Ball by all accounts was one of the worst Pelicans in the bubble, his three-point shot wouldn’t fall and he scored double-digit points just once during that time. If the Pelicans weren’t invited to the bubble, fans would still be high on Lonzo Ball after the flashes of greatness he was showing in the regular season.

Moving Lonzo Ball now would be selling low on a player who has improved every year he’s been in the league. He’s already one of the NBA’s best passers and he’ still developing into a true two-way point guard.

Offensively, Lonzo has gotten dramatically better with his shot going from a 30.5% three-point shooter in his rookie year to a 37.5% shooter this year. While his shot abandoned him during the bubble, his stretch from February into March where hit 43.8% of his threes shows that he’s growing into a capable shooter.

Defensively, while Lonzo Ball hasn’t been recognized as an All-Defense player he’s been worth nearly as many Defensive Win Shares as Jrue Holiday since he joined the NBA (6.2 vs 6.7, according to Basketball-reference). Ball has the height to defend most guards and some of the better wings across the league.

If Lonzo Ball can improve his driving and be engaged, then the New Orleans Pelicans will have one of the best young point guards in the league for years to come.