New Orleans Pelicans: Is Jrue Holiday really a valuable trade chip?

Is Jrue Holiday really a valuable trade chip for the New Orleans Pelicans in today’s NBA where the emphasis is on shooting?

There is a prevailing thought around the league that New Orleans Pelicans guard Jrue Holiday will be a highly sought player on the trade market until the trade deadline. Sam Quinn of the CBSSports wrote an article suggesting that the Miami Heat and Milwaukee Bucks should be of the teams involved in the Holiday trade sweepstakes.

However, one can argue that Jrue Holiday shouldn’t be an appealing trade target because he does not have the proper skill set to succeed with the teams that have been linked to him. Jrue’s statistical success over the last couple of seasons has been significantly influenced by how many times he can drive to the basket.

For example, Jrue drove to the basket 14.6 times per game during the 2015-16 season. He was able to generate 7.7 points per game on the 14.6 drives. The 7.7 points accounted for 45.8 percent of his total scoring output as he averaged 16.8 points per game.

More from Sir Charles In Charge

Holiday saw a decline in his drives per game during the following season as he averaged 12.1 per game. Jrue created six points per game for New Orleans on the drives to the basket. The six points accounted for 39 percent of his total scoring output as he averaged 15.4 points per game.

Jrue experienced a slight increase in his drives during the 2017-18 season as he averaged 12.3 per game. Jrue created 7.4 points per game for New Orleans on the drives to the basket. The 7.4 points accounted for 38.9 percent of his total scoring output as he averaged 19 points per game.

His drives continued to increase as he averaged 16.6 per game last season. Jrue was able to generate 9.7 points per game on the 16.6 drives. The 9.7 points accounted for 45.7 percent of his total scoring output as he averaged 21.2 points per game.

Unfortunately, Jrue’s ability to attack the basket will be significantly reduced if traded as he is going to spend more time off the ball. For instance, if Jrue gets traded to the Heat, he will be playing alongside a player in Jimmy Butler, who is insistent on being the primary ball-handler of an offense.

According to USA Today, Jimmy believed that his desire to be the primary ball-handler played a factor in his departure from the Chicago Bulls as former head coach Fred Hoiberg wanted to run a ball movement offense. Butler wanted Fred to design a system where he was allowed to distribute the ball and iso in the pick-and-roll.

Chicago wasn’t the only stop where his desire to be the primary ball-handler caused an issue as the Philadelphia 76ers encountered the same problem. According to ESPN, Jimmy had a meeting with head coach Brett Brown two months after being acquired to talk about the lack of pick-and-roll in the offense.

Jimmy Butler‘s history indicates that Jrue will be forced to spend a greater amount of time off the ball, which puts a greater emphasis on his biggest weakness, shooting. Holiday shot 33.8 percent from behind the arc in the four campaigns before the 2019-20 season.

Consequently, defenders left him open when he is off the ball as 93.3 percent of his 3’s were uncontested during this span. Holiday would face the same problem in Milwaukee as guards play the role of a floor spacer for the ball handler, Giannis Antetokounmpo.

A prime example of this was found on December 19th, 2017, when the Bucks had a home game against the Cleveland Cavaliers. Giannis dribbled up the court as Eric Bledsoe was standing on the left-wing in the role of the bystander/3-point shooter.

Unfortunately, Bledsoe was not a threat to hurt the Cavs in this role as he has a career shooting percentage of 33.6 percent from behind the arc. His role allowed his defender LeBron James to leave him wide open by standing near the free-throw line because he did not respect Bledsoe’s shooting abilities.

This allowed James to analyze the rest of the floor and see if any of his teammates needed help with their assignments. Opposing teams would defend Jrue Holiday in a similar fashion due to his subpar shooting.

Therefore, it should lessen his appeal as a trade target because most teams linked to Jrue will put him in the role of a floor spacer as they already have a primary ball-handler.