Milwaukee Bucks: 3 bold predictions for Jrue Holiday in 2021-22
Jrue Holiday’s first season in Milwaukee last year was a memorable one, as he turned out to be the missing piece the Milwaukee Bucks needed in order to get over the hump and win a title.
Holiday set career-highs in basically all of the efficiency stats last season – field goal percentage, 2-point percentage, 3-point percentage, effective field goal percentage, and true shooting percentage – and seemed to fit in perfectly at point guard with the Bucks. He gave Milwaukee a true “Big 3,” and was extremely impactful on both ends of the court, continuing to be one of the best perimeter defenders in the NBA.
Shooting and scoring were a bit of a struggle for Holiday in the playoffs, as all of his shooting percentages dropped by about 10 percent and he shot just 49.5 percent from inside the paint, according to NBA.com/stats. But as frustrating as he was shooting the ball at times in the playoff run, he found other ways to make a positive impact. He averaged 8.7 assists to just 2.4 turnovers and played lockdown defense to help the Bucks win their first championship in 50 years.
After signing a 4-year, $135M extension in April to remain with the Bucks through 2024, here are three bold predictions for how the first year of that extension will go for him.
Bold Prediction No. 1 – Jrue Holiday becomes an All-Star in 2021-22 with the Milwaukee Bucks
The only time Holiday has made the All-Star team in his career was in 2012-13 when he averaged 17.7 points and eight assists per game.
He received a decent amount of votes last year but was not really in the All-Star conversation after missing most of February with an injury. On top of that, he took some time to really get acclimated to the new team and was not his best self at the beginning of the season, averaging 15.5 points and 5.3 assists on 47.5 percent field goals and 35.8 percent 3-point shooting. This led to him not receiving a ton of All-Star hype.
However, for the rest of the season after that (42 games), those averages went up to 18.6 points and 6.4 assists on 51.3 percent field goals and 40.6 percent three-point shooting. If he was putting up around those numbers earlier, he would have certainly been very close to being an All-Star selection.
On top of all this, Holiday was arguably the most underrated player in the NBA before the Finals run, so he was never in a great position to receive a ton of All-Star votes. Now that he and the team are a bit more popular after winning a title, he should receive some more votes from that and it could potentially get him a spot. People are finally starting to see how good he is, and if he can start this season the way he finished last season, Holiday could definitely become an All-Star in 2021-22.