Boston Celtics guard Jrue Holiday has made one heck of an impact since joining the franchise last year.
Holiday — a two-time All-Star guard — was traded to the Celtics shortly after the Milwaukee Bucks sent the veteran guard to the Portland Trail Blazers before the start of the 2023-24 season.
It didn’t take the 34-year-old too long to make an impact as the team’s starting point guard, helping lead the Celtics to an NBA title after many years of the team coming up short of getting over the hump.
While Holiday has moved on from the Bucks and is now very well acclimated in Boston, he admits that the trade from Milwaukee was “hard” to deal with at first.
“Initially it was like, man, I have to move my family,” says Holiday in a one-on-one interview on behalf of his partnership with Zenni Optical. “I think that was one of the big things. I was so close to that city and the people, I felt like I was home. My kids went to school there, they had friends and best friends. We had close family friends that we became family with. Sometimes when you just uproot it abruptly, that can be hard and that was one of the hardest things. Literally, the first thing I thought about was, my daughter’s going to be so upset.”
Jrue Holiday. NBA Champion. pic.twitter.com/9PmjtRoAI0
— Milwaukee Bucks (@Bucks) July 21, 2021
Holiday carved out quite the resume with the Bucks, helping lead them to an NBA title during the 2020-21 season as the third scoring option behind Giannis Antetokounmpo and Khris Middleton.
Furthermore, he solidified himself as one of the top perimeter defenders in the league, earning two NBA All-Defensive First Team selections as a member of the Bucks along with his second All-Star appearance after averaging 19.3 points and 7.4 assists per game during the 2022-23 season.
However, the Bucks were looking for a change and an upgrade to get back to being a title favorite after things became stagnant following their Finals win in 2021. Despite winning the Central Division in the following two seasons, the Bucks were eliminated in the semifinals and the first round.
When the opportunity arose to acquire eight-time All-Star guard Damian Lillard, it was a no-brainer to make the move. It also wasn’t the first time Holiday has been traded, having previously been dealt to the Bucks from the New Orleans Pelicans. Prior to that, he was traded by the Philadelphia 76ers to the Pelicans after turning in an All-Star campaign during the 2012-13 season.
“But I’ve been traded before, so I think that’s kind of the business of it — business that we don’t particularly like — because it just happens with no warning,” says Holiday. “There’s obviously no hard feelings, I still love those guys over there (in Milwaukee). I wish them the best. It’s definitely a shock sometimes when it comes out of the blue.”
Holiday had to make a bit of an adjustment to his game when he arrived in Boston. The Celtics had already been considered the title favorite when they acquired Holiday before the start of the 2023-24 season after years of knocking on the door of raising their 18th title banner.
Boston already featured two of the top young stars in Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown along with former All-Star big man Kristaps Porzingis.
In other words, Holiday had to become less of a scorer and more of a role player who focused on getting others involved — along with his trademark lockdown defense.
“I think that adjustment was figuring out where I find my spots to score and make an impact offensively,” says Holiday. “I think at first it was hard, it was a bit difficult. I felt a little out of place. But I think about my career, I think about even as a little kid, being able to adapt and I’ve always been that type of player that can adjust to the game and whatever’s needed. It took a little minute for me to adjust to where I was going to get my shots and how they’re going to come and even me having less of a workload.”
Holiday averaged 12.5 points on 10.0 field goal shot attempts per game during the 2023-24 season, his lowest averages since his rookie campaign in 2009-10 when he was 19 years old and the youngest player in the league.
“It was definitely different, especially from where I had just come from,” says Holiday of making the adjustment in Boston compared to Milwaukee. “But again, the talent on our team is amazing. We have guys who are top 75 now probably and then will go down in the Hall of Fame. It’s not like I’m upset at my role or anything, it was more like an adjustment period.”
Two-time NBA Champion Jrue Holiday played a pivotal role during the Celtics’ playoff run ☘️🔒
13.2 PPG
6.1 RPG
4.4 APG
1.1 SPG pic.twitter.com/UdwrwJmqe9— NBA (@NBA) June 21, 2024
During the early portion of the season, the Celtics have not disappointed, going 11-3, the second-best record in the NBA. They’ve done so despite the absence of their top big, the 7-foot-2 Porzingis, who suffered an ankle injury in last year’s NBA Finals and has been sidelined for the start of the 2024-25 season.
“It’s huge, he’s unguardable,” says Holiday of Porzingis’ impact in the lineup. “When he came into the league, they called him the unicorn. He’s a 7-2 shooter, he can shoot from 25 feet out. You can’t switch on him, because if you’re too small, he’s gonna shoot over you. Bigs can’t necessarily guard him or target him because he spaces the floor.
“He opens up the floor for driving lanes and passing lanes,” Holiday continues to say of Porzingis. “He can finish around the rim. He draws fouls, he pretty much does everything. Losing that impact was hard on us, but we have a lot of players who step up to the plate and do our best to kind of add to whatever we lost.”
A large reason for the Celtics’ success without Porzingis is due to the continued strong play of both Tatum and Brown. The two All-Star players continue to lead the way for Boston, with Tatum leading the league in total points and Brown contributing 25.6 points per game.
“For one, they’re both themselves,” says Holiday of what it’s like playing with both Tatum and Brown. “That’s one thing that I like about them. How you see them in the media and all that, that’s how they are off the court too. Jayson is very much himself, where he can be quiet at times and not do too much, super chill, loves what he loves, a bit picky, but also super, super competitive. JB is more outspoken, more outgoing in terms of community work and maybe some of the stuff that he will say — I know he had a big summer in terms of that — but he’s definitely more outspoken than I would say Jayson is.”
Prior to the Celtics winning the championship in 2024, many observers had speculated that Tatum and Brown weren’t equipped to win a title together. Obviously, they proved that theory wrong in last season’s Finals. Holiday calls the relationship between the Celtics’ star duo “great.”
“I think the relationship is great because they balance each other out where Jayson’s a bit more quiet, JB is a little louder and they kind of feed off each other to be able to get the best out of each other,” says Holiday.
There’s only been one team that’s been better than the Celtics through the first month of the season and that’s the 15-0 Cleveland Cavaliers, who Boston will host in a huge regular season matchup on Tuesday night.
The Celtics will look to hand the Cavaliers their first loss of the regular season after starting out the first 15 games undefeated, just the fourth team in NBA history to do so.
Holiday mentions the Cavaliers along with several other teams such as the Golden State Warriors — who the Celtics lost to — the Dallas Mavericks and the Minnesota Timberwolves as squads who have impressed him early on this season.
“I think Cleveland is playing really, really well, they’re still undefeated,” says Holiday. “The Warriors were a tough team, Dallas and Klay — obviously them playing in the Finals — that’s a great add for them. I think Minnesota is tough, Minnesota is tough even losing KAT, but Julius and Donte DiVincenzo, I think they’re tough. But for the most part, I think it’s really early.”
