Jrue Holiday is set to become an unrestricted free agent for the first time in his career, but he hasn’t yet begun to evaluate his options outside of New Orleans, as William Guillory of the Times- Picayune relays. “I haven’t thought about it, not even a little bit,” Holiday said.
Holiday’s teammates want to see him in a Pelicans’ uniform next season. “He’s huge for what we want to do here. I look at the situation, and if we have a full season, I’m pretty sure we’re in the playoffs,” Solomon Hill said. “He’s a game-changer. He’s top-10 in assists, defensively he’s one of the best point guards on both ends of the floor. That’s everything, I think that’s the main goal this offseason is to get him to re-sign and to get him to sign as long as he possibly can.”
The point guard believes he’s a good fit in coach Alvin Gentry’s system and he’s optimistic about the future of the franchise. “It’s been fun to play,” Holiday said when asked about the Pelicans‘ offense since the team traded for DeMarcus Cousins. “Obviously, we’ve been winning more frequently, put some streaks together. It’s been really good. Obviously, we added a big piece and we want to win more frequently, or whatever, but it’s been fun.”
Gentry has recently given Holiday more of a combo-guard role, playing him alongside point guard Tim Frazier in the starting lineup.
“I think that’s when he’s at his best,” said Gentry. “It’s not a negative, it’s more of a positive that, when we have two ball-handlers out there, we can create situations for Jrue where all the responsibility is not on him. I think Jrue is at his best when he’s thinking about scoring also.
“With DeMarcus [on the team], he has a tendency to want to be this ‘point guard’, but I want Jrue to always be aggressive offensively because we need those 16, 17 points that he gives us pretty much on a nightly basis.”
Holiday’s 2016/17 salary is worth slightly under $11.3MM. He’ll almost certainly see an annual salary above that figure on his next deal.