Milwaukee Bucks: Grading Jrue Holiday’s season at the All-Star break

After an incredibly successful first season with the Milwaukee Bucks last year, fans were anxious to see how Jrue Holiday’s second season with the franchise would go. Though it would be hard for Holiday to top his outstanding efforts from last season that helped the Bucks win their first title in 50 years, he has done just that up to this point in the 2021-22 season.

Evaluating Jrue Holiday’s 2021-22 season with the Milwaukee Bucks at the NBA All-Star break

For context, Holiday averaged 17.7 points per game in his first season with the Bucks while having the most efficient shooting season in his career. The veteran shot 50.3 percent from the floor and 39.2 percent from 3-point territory, both of which were new career-highs. In year two, Holiday has been even better by averaging 18.1 points on average while knocking down 50.7 percent from the field and 40.7 percent from long range thus far. Holiday has been insanely efficient this season on the offensive end, which has been a tremendous boost for the Milwaukee Bucks.

The main reason behind Holiday’s efficiency has been his incredible 3-point shooting. Holiday has never been known as an outstanding perimeter shooter, but one would not be able to tell that by watching him this season. According to NBA.com/stats, the bulk of his damage is coming on his pull-up attempts, where he is shooting 61-of-150 (40.7 percent) on the season. However, he has also proven to be even more efficient as a catch-and-shoot-threat, hitting 26-of-63 (41.3 percent) on those attempts. In addition to his ability to attack the rim with authority, having a 3-point shot like this has helped Holiday turn his game up a notch scoring-wise.

While he has shown a knack for scoring the basketball all over the floor, Holiday’s facilitating has improved with the Bucks as well. After tallying 6.1 assists on average last season, the guard is all the way up to 6.6 per game this season. Due to this facilitating prowess, Holiday has eight games this season with double-digit assists, including a 14 assist night against the Indiana Pacers back in December and a pair of 13 assist outings against the Boston Celtics and LA Clippers. In short, the passing from Holiday this season has been pristine as he has taken on a larger role in the offense.

While Holiday has been excellent offensively, his efforts on the defensive end cannot be ignored. After earning First-Team All-Defensive honors last year, the guard appears to be well on his way to earning the nod once again this season. Of all the numbers, Holiday numbers when defending other guards are certainly the most captivating. The defensive ace is holding opposing guards to 163-of-140 (37.9 percent) shooting from the field and 78-of-227 (34.4 percent) shooting from the perimeter this season. The numbers are just outstanding, highlighting just how impactful he has been on the defensive end this season.

Overall, Holiday has been incredible this season. Following a tough start where he missed time due to an ankle injury and then an illness, the 31-year-old has found his rhythm and played his role to perfection. Given how well he has played, many were upset that the guard was not given the All-Star nod this season, as he undoubtedly had a strong case to join Giannis Antetokounmpo and Khris Middleton in the big game tonight, most would argue. Nevertheless, Holiday will remain focused on the big goal at hand, which is competing for another championship trophy this season.

BTBP All-Star Break Grade: A

Hopefully Holiday can pick up where he left off when the Bucks return to action next week.