The Portland Trail Blazers traded for Jrue Holiday last summer, and the move was roundly panned at the time. Now it looks a lot different. Portland is in eighth place in the Western Conference and has put itself in position to make a run into the playoffs, with Holiday playing a central role in that push.
Holiday has given the Blazers exactly the kind of steady two-way presence they hoped for. He is averaging 16.3 points, 6.1 assists and 4.5 rebounds per game, while shooting 38.9 percent from deep. After moving from a smaller role with the Boston Celtics into a more featured job in Portland, he has become more than a veteran stopgap. He has given the Blazers scoring, playmaking and the calm that comes from a player who has won multiple titles.
That matters because Portland was expected to tank again this past season, a plan that is now being described as a mistake. The Blazers were never really tanking, in part because Deni Avdija’s improved play helped keep them competitive. Holiday fit that shift. His defense remains top notch, even if it is not quite at the all-world level it showed in recent seasons, and the extra offensive responsibility has not knocked him off balance.
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The biggest sign of his value may be the way people around the organization talk about his impact on Scoot Henderson. Holiday is not just filling a box score for a team on the rise. He is helping shape what Portland looks like when it plays with purpose, and that is a harder thing to replace than points or assists. If the Blazers do make the postseason, the trade that once drew skepticism will look like one of the reasons they got there.
