I don't normally do this, in fact I believe this is the first time on this site, but I was reading Jordan Sams piece on keeping Jrue Holiday in perspective, and I disagreed quite a bit with both the conclusion and the methods used to reach that conclusion, to the point where I thought the topic was interesting enough to make into a post here.
First, I want to state that I respect Jordan and the work that he does quite a bit, and read his site regularly. I disagree with this piece, but that's not indicative of anything larger than that.
Second, I find this a little bit of a shame. I was a Jrue Holiday fan before the draft, and I posted on draft night from Madison Square Garden how much I liked the pick. The problem? It was obvious he wasn't a fully developed package, and I stated that if he put it all together, his upside for this year was he could end up having a Thaddeus Young type rookie year. Start off the year getting spot minutes, work his way into the regular rotation due to hustle and effort, and continue to improve to the point where he deserved decent minutes.
The problem is, rather than looking at a kid showing great promise and a faster-than-expected learning curve, we're instead lamenting that he's not a finished product. We've thrown analysis out the window, instead relying on advanced stats to prove something that we all knew coming into the season: that Jrue Holiday is not a complete package. Rather than looking at his tools, his progress, and his glimpses of greatness, we're instead expecting him to produce in the same way Tyreke Evans, Stephen Curry, Brandon Jennings and Darren Collison are.
In short, we've lost our perspective.
Here is the link to Jordan's original piece that prompted my response. I've copied my response in below, which you can view after the jump.
Continue reading "Keeping perspective on Jrue Holiday"
First, I want to state that I respect Jordan and the work that he does quite a bit, and read his site regularly. I disagree with this piece, but that's not indicative of anything larger than that.
Second, I find this a little bit of a shame. I was a Jrue Holiday fan before the draft, and I posted on draft night from Madison Square Garden how much I liked the pick. The problem? It was obvious he wasn't a fully developed package, and I stated that if he put it all together, his upside for this year was he could end up having a Thaddeus Young type rookie year. Start off the year getting spot minutes, work his way into the regular rotation due to hustle and effort, and continue to improve to the point where he deserved decent minutes.
The problem is, rather than looking at a kid showing great promise and a faster-than-expected learning curve, we're instead lamenting that he's not a finished product. We've thrown analysis out the window, instead relying on advanced stats to prove something that we all knew coming into the season: that Jrue Holiday is not a complete package. Rather than looking at his tools, his progress, and his glimpses of greatness, we're instead expecting him to produce in the same way Tyreke Evans, Stephen Curry, Brandon Jennings and Darren Collison are.
In short, we've lost our perspective.
Here is the link to Jordan's original piece that prompted my response. I've copied my response in below, which you can view after the jump.
Continue reading "Keeping perspective on Jrue Holiday"