Player Preview - Jrue Holiday - 9/8/2009

SIXERS.COM will preview each of the team’s current players leading up to the start of Training Camp. Today, a quick look at rookie guard Jrue Holiday.

For the Sixers, selecting 19-year-old Jrue Holiday with the 17th pick in this past June’s draft was a no-brainer. If Holiday would have stayed at UCLA past his freshman season, he had the potential to be a top-five pick down the road. A slew of mock drafts even had Holiday projected to go in the early part of the lottery this year.

Needless to say, Sixers President and General Manger Ed Stefanski along with the rest of the Sixers front office were thrilled to see Holiday fall into their lap when they were ready to pick at 17. When NBA Commissioner David Stern announced the 16th pick, a chorus of applause filled the Sixers draft room, as the staff was relieved Holiday’s name wasn’t the one called.

To judge Holiday solely off of his freshman statistics with the Bruins would be a mistake. At just 18 years of age, Holiday started all 35 games for arguably the most prestigious program in college basketball, averaging 8.5 points, 3.7 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 1.6 steals.

Keep in mind, Holiday, a natural point guard, was playing out of position at shooting guard last season … and for good reason. The Bruins starter at point was senior Darren Collison, who was also a first-round pick in the 2009 draft.

But it wasn’t Holiday’s play as a freshman that had NBA scouts salivating. Coming out of high school, Holiday was rated the No. 1 point guard and the No. 2 overall prospect in the Class of 2008 by Rivals.com. As a senior, he averaged 25.9 points, 11.2 rebounds, 6.9 assists and 4.8 steals en route to being named the 2008 Gatorade National Player of the Year and Parade Magazine First Team All-American.

To be fair, no one knows what to expect production wise from Holiday this season, but if his play at the Orlando Pro Summer League back in July is any indication, you can expect Jrue to remain composed, compete hard and get after it defensively. All of those attributes make Holiday a valuable asset to the Sixers in practice as well, no matter how many minutes he may see on the court this season.

One thing’s for certain, Sixers fans are in for a treat getting to watch this youngster develop his game over the next couple seasons.

*****

Holiday posted averages of 8.5 ppg, 3.8 rpg, 3.7 apg and 1.6 spg as a freshman at UCLA, which are comparable to the statistics of a few other NBA point guards following their freshman year of college.

Russell Westbrook, 2006-07 (UCLA)
3.4 ppg, 0.8 rpg, 0.7 apg

Rajon Rondo, 2004-05 (Kentucky)
8.1 ppg, 3.5 apg, 2.9 rpg, 2.6 spg

Deron Williams, 2002-03 (Illinois)
6.3 ppg, 4.6 apg, 3.0 rpg, 1.4 spg

Kirk Hinrich, 1999-99 (Kansas)
5.5 ppg, 3.6 apg 2.4 rpg, 1.0 spg

Andre Miller, 1995-96 (Utah)
8.6 ppg, 4.6 apg, 3.7 rpg, 1.1 spg

Steve Nash, 1992-93 (Santa Clara)
8.1 ppg, 2.5 rpg, 2.2 apg, 0.8 spg

Tim Hardaway, 1985-86 (UTEP)
4.1 ppg, 1.9 apg, 1.3 rpg

Mark Jackson, 1983-84 (St. John’s)
5.8 ppg, 3.6 apg, 2.0 rpg

John Stockton, 1980-81 (Gonzaga)
3.1 ppg, 1.4 apg

Maurice Cheeks, 1974-75 (West Texas A&M)
3.9 ppg, 2.2 rpg