How Will Jrue Holiday Fit In Portland? Dirt & Sprague

How Will Jrue Holiday Fit In Portland? Dirt & Sprague

Drew Holiday had his press conference, his huge press conference yesterday, the long- aaited press conference of Drew Holidayiday as a Portland drob. This is a massive deal, dude. Massive deal. Um, you knew it was a big deal when he was like standing/sitting and not at like a table with the GM and the coach. There was no jersey hold up. There was no coach. There was no general manager. He was at a little table and his kid who was what, probably eight or nine, I don’t know how old his son is, was sitting in his lap the entire time. Does him not having the holding the jersey with the general manager and coach make you believe he won’t be here more than a season? Yes, that’s kind of a vibe, right? That was the vibe that I got and that was the only reason I was supportive of the trade when it happened in the first place is that you’re hopefully going to move on from him in a year. Uh but yeah, that made me think that as well. Well, he was asked questions. The first was uh what he has talked about in regards to what his expectation and role is going to be within the Blazers. This is what he said he’s talked about with Chanty. Uh, you know, honestly, we’ve talked about offense slightly. Uh, a little bit. Obviously, defense, I feel like I fit in anywhere. Um, knowing the type of defense that they that they had and played with. Excuse me, sir. Yeah, let’s let’s relax a little bit. Um, right here. Hold that. Um, yeah, the type of defense that they had last year, uh, super excited about, but honestly, I’m here to fit in wherever I fit in. That was his kid opening a rapper, by the way. He was on his lap, so he’s kept like a popping noise that you heard. He’s like, “Excuse me, sir.” I also know that he’s a bit of a like he’s not the most, you know, high energy guy in interviews and stuff, and a lot of Drew Holiday interviews sound like that. There was a vibe that I got yesterday of like, you know, I’m here. I thanks for what you did for me last time, but I know this isn’t going to be long term. Okay. Well, he was asked about Scoot and Shay. What are your thoughts on Scoot Henderson and Shaden Sharp? They they let a hoop. Um you can tell they give 110% every time they play. So super excited to not sure about that. If it’s mentor mentor them, but um just kind of play the game, you know, uh be able to uh go out here and and show the world uh not just my talent, but theirs and and uh just from playing against them, they have have long roads ahead of them. They’re going to have a very long careers. And the one thing about Drew Holiday being in Portland is we hear the mentor. Oh, they brought him in to be the mentor. They brought him in to be the leader. And I want you to just listen to the tone of when he was asked, “Hey, at this stage of your career, you ready to mentor, to be the mentor on a team?” Sure. Uh, I think I really just like basketball. It doesn’t really matter the age. I know when I was younger and first coming in, um, I had vets, but, um, I try not to look at them as vets. I more just kind of like, uh, study everything around me. And even though I’m at this age now, I feel like I still try to do the same thing even though guys might be younger and uh I might not like the same type of music or uh uh we might not be in the same thing, but I also feel like that’s what makes us a team is finding finding commonality um and and be able to uh mesh and and um mesh over that and then kind of translate it to the court. He was asked a mentorish question like two or three times in this thing. I think it’s about 13 minutes and I got a real like, hey, you guys should listen to Brandon Sprag and his radio show cuz he’s been 100% right. I’ll mentor if the kid asks a question. I’m just here to play basketball. Yeah, I’m not I’m not an assistant coach. You are paying me 30 something million dollars to hoop and I’m going to hoop and if that helps your young guys, it helps your young guys, but I’m not a coach on the floor. It’s not my responsibility for them to be professional athletes. I also love the they give 110% every game which you know I’m high on or hopeful I should say that both of them have good years but that’s been a criticism of Shaden Sharp is that he doesn’t always play with 100% effort and that’s one of the reasons he was benched last year and he might be coming off the bench this year in year four. Yeah he was asked his fit because he said he’s excited to play with Dame. Obviously we have Scoot. We have Blake Wesley as well. We cannot do not overlook Blake Wesley. Massive news acquiring Blake Wesley. Blake Wesley. Spurs are also in a rebuild trying to win a championship with WBY. They did not want Blake Wesley. We got Blake Wesley. Steal of the offseason is what people are telling me. But, you know, there’s a lot of point guards on this team right now. And he was asked like, “Hey, how are you going to fit if this is just a bunch of point guards?” I think I play every position. I think I’ve proven that and shown that throughout my career. Um, I think for me, I’m I’m a complete basketball player, so you can’t just put uh just one position on me. And even the way the game is changing now, there’s so many guys who may may have never played point guard and you come into the league and and they’re playing point guard now. So, um I feel like I’m good. I’m a good fit with anyone. And again, Dame’s game is so easy to play with. Um he opens up the floor because of his scoring ability and his shooting ability and he gets you open shots because his of his driving ability. So, um I feel like what’s not to want to play with? Little whispers from the kid here. I want to get down. Can I go now, Dad? Go play. Can I have a fruit roll up? Boring. Where’s the PS5? Who are all these white people? Get me out of here. I want to get the hell off your lap. I liked Boston better. Do you think he’s more excited to play with Dame in a year or Scoot? Now, I also love too like one of the main arguments of acquiring Drew at the time was the whole mentor thing, which then he totally poos in the answering of the question of like, “Yeah, man. I’m just here to play basketball. Like I hope that hopefully they can, you know, learn something from me. He seems far and away more excited to be a teammate of Dame and play with Dame. The guy who’s not going to play this year. And then we went through the whole, well, you need a leader. You need a mentor in your locker room for your young guards. Drew Holiday is going to be great at that. And then they signed Damen Lillard to a three-ear $42 million deal to have that same role and be the mentor for your young guards. We’ve long wanted Drew Holiday in a Blazer uniform. Yes. since he kicked our ass in 2018 and they swept the three-seated Blazers as a when they were both healthy and in the prime of their careers, he would have been the perfect guard to have alongside Damen Lillard because he maxes uh deficiencies defensively. Uh the unfortunate thing I have to call out on Drew Holiday because I find him really refreshing and honest and not really with the BS. I I’ve watched a lot of Drew Holiday. You don’t play the five. No, you don’t play the four. I’ve seen you be the three a little bit. I’ve seen you obviously be a two and a one, but he can play bigger than what his stature is, but he’s not playing center. You’re not gonna play I think we should go with a three guard lineup. I think that’s what we learned yesterday. We used to do it. Why not bring it back? Scoot Shay Andrew all in the starting lineup. I’m two at two at the five, Denny at the four. I mean, that’s going to happen. Run people up and down the floor. I don’t know if it’s going to be heavy minutes, but we’re going to definitely see a Drew Scoot Shay thing at some point. It’s going to happen. It will take place. Uh lastly, he was asked, “Hey man, what like what are your goals here? You’re in Portland now. What are your goals as a Blazer?” Honestly, it’s to win. Um I feel like that’s always been the ultimate goal ever since you’ve started playing basketball is to win. And whatever that may look like, uh obviously taking small wins is great, but um winning is is what we do is is what we play this game for. So, um, if it’s getting to the playoffs, if it’s, uh, winning the championship, I feel like winning is the purpose and the reason why why I’m here. What’s his feelings, uh, if we don’t win and we don’t win the championship or even get to the playoffs? Probably not happy about that. Probably not where he wants to be at this stage of his career. He strikes me as the tone I would take away. He’s a consmate professional. Yes. my reading of his answers and his tones and all that. Like if I’m to like dive into that, he just came off as a guy that’s like, “Dude, I really want to win.” How does this make sense? I think there’s something of that in his in his mind, too. I think he respects Joe and Chanty. They put him into Boston and gave him a champion. He gave him a shout out for that yesterday. He said he’s very appreciative of what they did for him sending him to Boston. And I remember that being a talking point for us at the time of like Drew Holidayiday never played a game in a Blazer uniform. Why are we allowing him to dictate where he’s going to get traded? That didn’t make a lot of sense if there was a better package out there. But, you know, that’s all water under the bridge now. So, he was thankful for that. But, I do think in his mind on top of that, he’s saying, “How does this all make sense?” I think he’s just going to be the professional he is, but like that guy wants to still play highlevel meaningful basketball with a chance to win. Yeah. He probably thinks he has three to four years left. Uh, yeah. And maybe they’ll be a playing team this year. Maybe injuries will break their way and they’ll be the eight seed or the seven seed. I don’t have them being much higher than that unless Chinese Jokic is Chinese Jokic, baby. Right. And things just go a different direction. Yeah. So, barring that, it’s going to be like, you cool with being a 10 seed, dude? Cuz they’re three games worse than the 10 seed last year. Dallas was the 10 seed. They had 39 wins. They were 36 this year. Their overunder is like 33 and a half, 34 depending on the book. that’s not lining up with what his goals are here in Portland of no, I want to win. I want to be in a title situation. He’s not going to say that publicly because again, consumate professional, but it didn’t it doesn’t seem to line up with what his goals are, which again goes back to the it may be a nothing burger. He could be untradeable. He could be here for all three years of the contract. Everybody said DeAndre Aton was going to get traded for stuff and then we bought him out. So, I have no I have no idea what the future holds for Drew Holiday in Portland, but him not holding a jersey up, it just had a real like he’s here for maybe a year and I wouldn’t be surprised if they move on after that. And I think that’s the move that that that is how this trade makes sense at the end of the day. That’s what I’ve argued since they made the deal and why I like the deal was that I I thought there would be a little value there. Now, you have pointed out accurately. So, we all would have said something similar about DeAndre. That’s a massive expiring deal. How do you not get something out of it? and they didn’t get anything for it. They had to pay him to go away essentially. Yeah. Um so you never know how this stuff’s going to work out. I think there’s more value for a Drew Holiday because of the the effort that he plays in the defense that he can still play, what he is in a locker room on a bench. Like there’s no work ethic questions about him that it’s the contract, but it’s the contract. And if you don’t get anything for it, then it’s going to be an absolute blunder and headscratcher because having him here for the next three years with two young guards and Dame returning, I just don’t quite understand how that all works out. That’s a down the road problem. Dame’s not playing this year. He’s going to be on the roster this year. If he’s dealt at the deadline or next off season, I could say, “Okay, it makes a little more sense.” Now, if you can’t find a trade partner for it, if he has a bad year, or hell, if worst case scenario, he gets hurt at the age of 35 with two years and like 60 $70 million left on that deal. Then you’re stuck. And then you’re looking in the mirror saying, “Where do we go from here? And how do we get better? What do we do with our young guards?” There’s a million questions left to have. There were reports that came out when he got traded here. They didn’t want to be here. Those got quickly refuted. People said, “No, it’s not the case. He’s not feeling that way.” I did get a general vibe and I have I remember when they tweeted out that video of him his first time walking through the facility when he showed up in the van. It was like he just had a vibe of a guy who was like, “Can’t believe I’m really here. What am I doing here? You want me? How does this what now? Huh? Doesn’t make a lot.” And then he had that there was a little bit of that vibe yesterday. We’ll see how it all plays out long term, but I definitely had that take away. Dude, he’ll lace him up. He’ll go He’s going to play hard every night. No doubt about it. There’s nothing to worry about there. We’re just like looking at the whole picture of this and it could work out. It also he is 35. Um, we’ll see. We’ll we’ll we’ll see what happens. I’m excited to see him in the uniform. I’ve been a Drew Holiday fan forever. Just unfortunate that it was four years too late. Well, yeah. Yeah. It’s actually longer than that. Yeah. Five years, six years too late, seven years too late, eight years, the year we lost, I believe. So, yeah. When he got to New He got to New Orleans in 2014, 2013 somewhere around there. and uh he’s been a pretty damn good player ever since then. Depressing scene me at a bar watching game one of that series where it was like, “Oh my god, we might do it this year. We’re a three seed sweep.” I think they went to Myers Leonard on the last possession, did they? Not in game one or game two. I remember losing it and it was like, “Why are we drawing up a play from Myers Leon?” I have to go back and look at that. I don’t remember that one from Terry, but we’ll have to go back and look. I remember that one vividly because it was Myers Leonard.

Now that Jure Holiday has officially been introduced as a Trail Blazer, how will he fit in Portland?

Download the Audacy App to listen to all of your favorite shows and podcasts:
iPhone: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/audacy-radio-sports-talk/id323701765
Android: https://play.google.com/store/search?q=audacy&c=apps&hl=en_US&gl=US

Stay up to date with 1080 The Fan on Social Media:
𝕏 : https://twitter.com/1080TheFAN
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/1080thefan/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/1080TheFAN/

#NBA #NBAOffseason #NBAFreeAgency #MilwaukeeBucks #Bucks #FearTheDeer #DamianLillard #Dame #DameDolla #Giannis #GiannisAntetokounmpo #KyleKuzma #PortlandTrailBlazers #TrailBlazers #Portland #RipCity #Blazers #BlazersNews #JackedRamsays #JeramiGrant #DeniAvdija #DeandreAyton #ToumaniCamara #ScootHenderson #DonovanClingan #DalanoBanton #ShaedonSharpe #JodyAllen #YangHansen #HansenYang #JrueHoliday #BostonCeltics #Celtics #BleedGreen #JaysonTatum #JaylenBrown #PaytonPritchard #JoeMazzula #NBATrade #DerrickWhite #NBANews #Basketball #BasketballNews #AnferneeSimons