Milwaukee Bucks: 3 bold predictions for Jrue Holiday in 2022-2023
By Lucas Valind
Bold prediction No. 3: Jrue Holiday will win the Defensive Player of the Year Award with the Milwaukee Bucks in 2022-2023
Even though Marcus Smart won the NBA’s Defensive Player of the Year Award in 2021-2022, one could argue that Jrue Holiday is just as good, if not a better, defender than Smart. Among peers, Holiday’s name frequently gets brought up as one of the game’s most underrated perimeter defenders.
Holiday will have a chance to beat out Smart and others in the Defensive Player of the Year vote this season if he can duplicate what he was able to do last year. Holiday held opponents to 44 percent shooting last season, per NBA.com/stats. That number is important because Holiday held opponents to a lower percentage than Smart, who limited opponents to 45 percent shooting from the field.
In addition to what he did contesting shots, Holiday was also great at forcing turnovers. In 67 games, Holiday forced 136 turnovers, compared to Smart’s 131 in 71 games. Despite playing four fewer games than Smart, Holiday still forced more turnovers.
It’s up to you to decide whether or not Holiday was snubbed of the award last season. I’m just here to give you information that I find interesting when looking at their performances. I can tell you that if Holiday can have another season of that caliber, there’s no reason he shouldn’t win the award this year or at least be highly considered.
3 key takeaways for Milwaukee Bucks following games in Abu Dhabi. dark. Next
Stay tuned to see how Holiday and the Bucks perform throughout the 2022-2023 NBA season.