We're still in the first few weeks of the NBA season, but early returns are showing that the Portland Trail Blazers have been the clear winner of the Jrue Holiday trade with the Boston Celtics thus far. This has not been the result that many were anticipating headed into the season.
When the Trail Blazers first made their trade for Holiday in June, I think a large portion of the fan base assumed he was bound to be flipped again in the near future. Perhaps in a best case scenario, he'd simply serve as a short-term veteran piece. But it's hard to say anything resembling a majority of the fanbase anticipated the result that we're now seeing play out.
At the time, Boston was praised by national media outlets for flipping an older piece for draft capital and younger, tradeable talent. On the other hand, Portland seemed to be simply taking on salary for leadership purposes. But now, it's becoming clear that the Blazers may have just walked away with the better overall return.
After battling through some injury concerns last season, Holiday now looks much more refreshed and explosive to begin this season. Jrue has provided the kind of veteran presence, stability, leadership, and defensive toughness that this young group was in need of.
Jrue Holiday has been a slam dunk for the Blazers
Holiday has been doing a lot to boost the defensive performance in the backcourt while setting a tone of professionalism for a roster that's still figuring out its identity. Offensively, his steady shooting and unselfishness has helped the other young guards grow without overwhelming them. This is the perfect balance on a team like this.
Boston's logic in moving Jrue seemed to make sense on paper. The idea for them was to shed salary, get younger, and add a bit of future flexibility in a season where they were very uncertain what their sealing would be without their best player. However, it appears they still underestimated just how vital his presence is.
And if you've followed the career of Jrue Holiday, you know that this is a common theme. The New Orleans Pelicans, Milwaukee Bucks, and now Celtics have all moved on from him and looked worse after doing so. Portland has now gained the exact type of veteran influence that rebuilding teams rarely find at this stage in the game.
Should he sustain this level of play and continue to establish a winning culture for this young Trail Blazers team, this trade is going to easily end up looking like one of the best across the entire league from this past offseason. It's still early, but right now it looks like Portland pulled off something that few could have seen coming.