It's Definitely A Little Surreal To See Jrue Holiday Getting Shots Up At The Celtics Practice Facility
Brian Fluharty. Getty Images.Now that everyone has taken and passed their physicals, the Jrue Holiday era in Boston is officially underway. While it was a little disappointing he couldn't be a part of Media Day, he'll be having his own introductory presser later today where I'm sure the exact same questions will be asked.
And even though we knew that Holiday was now a member of the Boston Celtics, it didn't truly set in for me until we saw that first workout at the Red Auerbach Center. Sort of like how we waited for the first Porzingis footage. There's just something about actually seeing it that makes it feel more real to my brain. It's not a dream, it's no longer a NBA Twitter rumor, it's actually reality
Brad Stevens and the Celts obviously paid a hefty price to bring in Holiday, and on paper I think you'd be hard-pressed to find someone who doesn't look at the Celts roster on paper and declare it's better. While I do think their ceiling is certainly higher, that doesn't mean they aren't entering the season without questions. The offseason moves are a risk. It's a gamble. Whatever perimeter questions you may have had with Smart gone and only White/Brogdon/Pritchard on the roster are certainly answered, but essentially we just now swapped those perimeter questions for frontcourt questions. We're going to have to see how defending the Dame/Giannis P&R now works without another athletic freak on the backline. We'll have to see how this current frontcourt group handles the Embiid/AD/Jokic's of the world.
You may have questions about Holiday's playoff offense, and for good reason. I think there's been a lot of early spinzoning with this, about how his offensive struggles (that date back to his NO days) were simply a result of his playoff role and that things will be different as a Celtic. That may be true to some degree, but there may also be a bit of denial at play. I don't think any Celts fan, myself included, had that same opinion of Jrue's playoff offense like two weeks ago when he was a Buck, so I think it's fair that until he proves otherwise it's OK to be somewhat nervous about his history as an offensive playoff dropper.
At the same time, you'd be crazy to say that ultimately the positives don't outweigh the potential negatives when it comes to this trade. Let's not get crazy. There may be questions that will have to be answered, but there's also a reason this move is being talked about as a game changer in the East. Jrue's that good.
With all the new faces on the 203-24 Celts, a total of 7 guys in all, Brad Stevens has essentially revamped half of his roster, including 2 major rotation pieces. It's going to take a while for us to get used to seeing these guys in green, and I don't know about anyone else but it's yet another reason why I can't wait for Sunday. It may be a fake preseason games, but it's another reminder that this is in fact real.
Brad Stevens and the organization went all in. They have made it clear that the pursuit of Banner 18 trumps all, even if that means letting go of guys who were great Celtics. Their window to win a title is wide open, and hopefully, this is the group that gets it done.
