SI Top 100 NBA Players Released (Boogie #23, Jrue #60)

Sports Illustrated released the first half of their top 100 list today.

Jrue is in at #60

quote:

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60. Jrue Holiday, Pelicans

It’s hard to fully grasp how imposing Holiday is until you watch him hound some poor, undersize point guard punching the clock in a random regular season game. Denial is a Holiday specialty. Nothing seems amiss until it comes time to get the ball to Holiday’s man, and the way is shut by an aggressive, 6'4" defender with a 6'7" wingspan. Sneak a pass through and any shot still has to arc over Holiday’s reach. Any drive has to create enough room so that Holiday—supposing an opponent can get by him in the first place—can’t disrupt a play from the side or from behind. When the applications for Holiday (15.4 PPG, 3.9 RPG, 7.3 APG) start there, his scoring and playmaking are almost gravy. The latter may be understated even by a solid assist average (7.3 per game). Through his passing, Holiday managed to pull nearly three three-pointers a game from a cast of misfiring teammates. Isaiah Thomas, who ran one of the most prolific three-point-shooting offenses in the league, averaged slightly fewer. That said, it’s a bit odd that Holiday had as much trouble as he did playing alongside Anthony Davis and DeMarcus Cousins last season. The versatility of Holiday’s game and positioning should make him useful in all sorts of situations. Those short-term snags were somewhat understandable given the magnitude of the mid-season changes involved, though this will be a season to watch as Holiday wages a season of his playing prime with a team that very much needs his guidance. — RM

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Other notables

54. Avery Bradley
55. Jeff Teague
62. Trevor Ariza
75. Danny Green
78. Reggie Jackson
82. Robert Covington
83. Eric Gordon
84. Wilson Chandler
87. Rodney Hood
97. Ryan Anderson

LINK to the whole article