Jrue Holiday. NBA AllStar in 2013. AllDefensive First Team in 2018. In his first full season back since he took an indefinite leave when his wife was diagnosed with a brain tumour, he was absolutely magnificent: a careerbest 19.0 points per game on 49.4% from the field, 4.5 rebounds per game, and 0.8 blocks per game. To put his block numbers in perspective, he finished with more blocks shots on the year than Nikola Vucevic, Alex Len, Nikola Jokic, Marcin Gortat, Robin Lopez, JaVale McGee, Taj Gibson, and Robin Lopez. In terms of guards, the only “guards” that finished ahead of him were Danny Green, Ben Simmons, and LeBron James. Jrue also finished in the top 20 in assists per game (6.0) and steals (1.5). In the playoffs, those numbers ROCKETED to 23.7 points per game, 5.7 rebounds, 6.3 assists, on 51.8% shooting while guarding AllNBA First Teamer Damian Lillard and future allstar CJ McCollum in the first round, and former MVP Stephen Curry, and his superstar Splash Brother Klay Thompson the next.

Listen. Just between us, Jrue is just a bucket. He seems to breeze to the basket. He’s long, and strong, and rarely puts a foot wrong. He’s a dynamite defender, yes, but he’s also grown so much on the offensive end that he’s become grossly underrated as a shot maker. He’s tough, has got touch, and whether it’s with his muscle or his incredibly creative mind, he almost mystifies with the way he manuevers to the basket. If he weren’t in the hyper stacked Western Conference, who knows how many AllStars berths he might have earned himself already. Basically, if you didn’t know about the underrated yet awesome former UCLA Bruin, you better stop sleeping on him.

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