This maturation – a better understanding of how to facilitate the game – has been evident in Holiday. While his assists are at a career high and nearly double the 4.5 he averaged last season, Holiday also is taking four more shots per game with no discernible dropoff in efficiency.
“His game is just extremely well-rounded,” Hawes said. “He has reined his talent in, he is able to do pretty much whatever he wants with his midrange shot, and it’s hard for opponents to take one thing away from him.”
Holiday’s development may have come in part through physical maturation. It has been speculated that the 6-4 Holiday has grown at least an inch since joining the league. More likely, however, his ascension has come from Doug Collins giving him more freedom to run the offense without deferring to ballhandling teammates.
During his tenure in Philadelphia, Holiday has had to accommodate high-scoring – and high-touch – such as Andre Iguodala, Lou Williams and even Allen Iverson. They have all departed, leaving Holiday as the primary handle.
Having free rein to orchestrate and control the ball has given Holiday unprecedented confidence. As teammate Lavoy Allen noted, “Jrue’s been more aggressive this year in looking for his shot. Last year, we saw glimpses of his aggressiveness, but he was deferring to other guys on the team like Andre and Lou. This year, he came out more aggressive from the start and it has worked for him.”
With the loss of nearly 40 points per game with the departures of Iguodala, Williams and Elton Brand, Holiday’s usage rate has increased from 20.8 percent last season to 26.2 percent this season – the biggest measured increase in responsibility for any point guard.
The knock on Holiday’s play is his carelessness with the ball. His 3.8 turnovers per game ranks him atop the league leaders in the category. However, Young was quick to defend his point guard.
“Jrue’s making better decisions with the ball this year,” he said. “Although his turnovers are up, that comes naturally with his greater obligations on offense and the high risks he has to take on many plays to help us score.”
The numbers validate Young’s claim. Holiday actually averages fewer turnovers per 100 plays (12.4) than stars such as Rondo (13.7), John Wall (13.3) and even Steve Nash (12.7). Moreover, Holiday’s assist-to-turnover ratio (2.27) ranks him ahead of Lillard (2.22), Westbrook (2.21), and Stephen Curry (2.13).
For many, Holiday’s ascension to All-Star is no surprise. He was the top prep point guard in a recruiting class that featured Brandon Jennings, Tyreke Evans and Kemba Walker. (He slipped to 17th in the 2009 draft Holiday because he was not UCLA’s primary ball handler in his lone college season, sharing duties with Darren Collison.) In a draft with plenty of accomplished point men, Holiday was selected 11 spots after Jonny Flynn.
“I remember back when I was with Sacramento, we were talking pretty seriously about taking him at 4,” Hawes said. “The organization over there really liked him. So for him to fall all the way to 17 is pretty nice for me now.”
With the Sixers out of the playoff race and facing the distinct possibility of never playing a game with their supposed cornerstone in Bynum, the fans in Philadelphia are grumbling again. One thing they can take comfort in is knowing that the Sixers have an ever-improving All-Star locked up for four more seasons at a very reasonable $44 million.
“Jrue listens,” teammate and point guard Royal Ivey said. “He’s a good student. He just wants to get better and he takes in any sort of input you give him. He has a calm presence about him and a lot of humility.”
However, Ivey sees an area where Holiday can lift his game even higher.
“He’s still so young and still works so hard,” he said. “Once he becomes a little more vocal, that’s when he’ll reach his height.”
Jacob Eisenberg is a sophomore at Emory University in Atlanta who covers the Hawks for The Emory Wheel and TheFanManifesto.com. Check out his Web site, jacobeisenberg.com.
the definition of elite: A group of people considered to be the best in a particular society or category, esp. because of their power, talent, or wealth.
where & who does holiday dominate that would suggest he is one of the best? he has the ball in his hands more than anyone else, so he has an abundance of opportunities to distinguish himself more than every other sixer. good numbers on a bad/poorly coached team are deceptive, moreover, as charles barkley said, “any fool with the ball in his hands can score.” who does he make better on this team? holiday is a good player but to compare him to westbrook is an insult to westbrook. when they go head to head, holiday all but disappears. here’s the box score’s to prove it:
November 24, 2012:
Russell Westbrook, PG 42 11-23 2-5 6-6 1 4 5 9 2 1 3 2 +8 30
Jrue Holiday, PG 37 3-11 0-3 0-0 1 2 3 13 0 0 2 4 -17 6
one year later:
FRIDAY, JANUARY 4, 2013
J. Holiday G 31:56 7-13 1-6 0-0 -12 0 1 1 9 3 0 4 0 0 15
R. Westbrook G 33:37 10-17 4-4 3-4 +12 0 3 3 5 0 1 6 0 1 27
February 29, 2012
Russell Westbrook, PG 36 7-20 0-4 8-8 7 6 13 4 1 0 7 0 +3 22
Jrue Holiday, PG 33 8-15 0-3 2-2 0 2 2 2 3 0 2 3 -8 18
on top of that, okc is a winning organization. yes they have durant but an elite pg would make his team mates better by making the perfect pass that leads to higher percentage shots, he’d play better defense (he rarely stops the ball when there is a one man fast break or penetration that leads to a drive & kick), most important, he’d find someone down low to generate high percentage shots the team can depend on. even if that means demanding a trade for a quality big man because collins has greatly overvalued one of his hand picked big men. an elite point guard dictates the pace of the game & has a high basketball i.q. holiday is nice but elite, no. not at all.