New Orleans Pelicans: Doing Right By Jrue Holiday

The New Orleans Pelicans can make a smart move by sending Jrue Holiday back to the Philadelphia 76ers

Who says you can’t go home again? That’s the idea here for the New Orleans Pelicans with guard Jrue Holiday. Since joining the Pelicans back in 2013, Holiday has been the consummate professional on a team that spent most of its time struggling to find their place in the league.

I appreciate that unlike many stars in the modern NBA, Jrue Holiday stayed the course with an organization he cared about rather than looking for greener pastures. That’s why so many fans support Jrue Holiday, but it’s time to move on.

Jrue Holiday is the older veteran on a team of young up-and-comers, and he simply isn’t on their timeline to contention. I recently wrote about how Holiday’s aging offensive game is taking away valuable opportunities from the youngsters around him so parting ways with the 30-year-old guard could help the Pelicans.

Again I understand that Jrue Holiday is a fan favorite and no one in the New Orleans community wants to see him go but there’s a history of this type of move in the NBA. We recently compared moving Jrue Holiday to the Memphis Grizzlies trading Mike Conley. I also think trading Holiday is very reminiscent of the Boston Celtics trading Rajon Rondo in 2014.

Both of those deals set up young cores for future success so moving Jrue Holiday can too. If they do I think the Pelicans organization should be fair and send Holiday to a location he’d thrive in as a thank you for his loyalty. That’s why I think a smart move is trading Holiday back to a team he is fond of in the Philadelphia 76ers.

The perfect Jrue Holiday deal between the New Orleans Pelicans and Philadelphia 76ers

Trading Jrue Holiday back to Philadelphia is a deal that makes sense for both teams involved because the 76ers and Pelicans are at two opposing ends of the competitive spectrum.

The 76ers are desperate to contend with their franchise duo of Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid, needing the proper pieces around them to do so. The New Orleans Pelicans on the other side, are looking for complementary players that will fit around their growing young core.

I believe a deal like this can be a win-win for both teams:

This is a deal that works for both sides and is a smart move, even if Pelicans fans groan over the return. Al Horford is a player many NBA fans are losing faith in, but I don’t think the fit was right for him in Philadelphia.

Horford excels by playing center where he can provide smart team defense, and facilitate from the interior. When he was playing next to Joel Embiid, he wasn’t able to do that. In New Orleans, he could slide perfectly into the team’s hole at the center position and mentor Jaxson Hayes as they split time at the center position.

Regardless, because the Pelicans take on Horford’s contract they get rewarded with another first-round pick in the 2020 NBA Draft which the front office can use in many ways to acquire another valuable player.

Getting Josh Richardson meanwhile is a steal. Richardson is a younger shooting-guard who does a lot of the good things Holiday does for New Orleans but fits better with the team’s offense as an off-ball player. His height and length will fit perfectly with the New Orleans Pelicans and his 3 point shot is better than Jrue Holiday’s.

For Philadelphia, this move brings the team a veteran star to add to their core of Ben Simmons, Joel Embiid, and Tobias Harris. The team will also get to start growing forward Matisse Thybulle. Jrue Holiday can then take over the perimeter shot creator role Philadelphia is missing since the departure of Jimmy Butler.

I like many Pelicans fans would love to get Thybulle back in a deal but that’s unrealistic since the 76ers see him as a valuable defender going forward. This is a deal this gives the New Orleans Pelicans value for Jrue Holiday before his game totally declines and a chance to build further on their young core.

Most importantly, this is a trade that does right by Jrue Holiday as a subtle thank you for everything he’s given the organization and this community in his years with the team.