The Utah Jazz were apparently very interested in Jrue Holiday.
The Utah Jazz may have their point guard of the future on their roster right now, or they may not. This isn’t really a controversial opinion, it’s pretty established that, of all the things the Jazz may possibly need, a solidified point guard is one of them. The team has options, and maybe even good ones with the likes of Keyonte George, Collin Sexton, and Kris Dunn on the roster, but they don’t know if they have the right one.
That’s where Jrue Holiday comes into play. He’s a sure thing. He’s not a long-term option, he’s already 33, and will likely have the last of his best years this and probably next season, but he would’ve given the Jazz time to see if someone like George, a rookie who blew a lot of people away during the summer, is the guy of the future.
Sadly, the Portland Trail Blazers, who Holiday was on right after the Damian Lillard trade, thought the Boston Celtics had the better package and sent Holiday to the Celtics.
Holiday was a unique blend of everything the Jazz needed, he was a great passer, a great defender and he was a good enough shooter that he’d be far from a liability. He would never be your number one option but the Jazz have two, maybe even three number one scoring options already.
Holiday didn’t need to be anything more than what he was. It was the perfect fit for the Jazz, aside from the age. So, it wasn’t surprising at all to hear that the Jazz did in fact try to get him. According to Zach Lowe of ESPN, (via MassLive.com), Lowe went on his podcast, the Lowe Post, and revealed the Jazz were in the running to land Holiday.
Lowe would go on to say;
"Utah was in it. I’m not sure they were on like the final, final Jrue Holiday list because they’re just not going to be good enough, and I like that Utah was in on it because Utah has so many picks from so many different places that they have the luxury of saying you know what — if we get a really good player and a really good role model for our young guys who also clears up what is kind of a cluster — you know what — random guards all put together and have so much stuff left over —why not, why not? Because we don’t need to tank necessarily as hard as some other rebuilding teams."
And Lowe’s right, the move would’ve possibly cleared up the log jam at guard, and allowed more minutes to go to guys. The team also wouldn’t have broken the bank to land him either. While it doesn’t say for sure why the Jazz didn’t get Holiday, it’s fair to say that the Jazz’ front office probably didn’t want to attach more than a player and a pick for the aging and expensive Holiday, which is fair.
We’ll likely see some more big names at point guard become available, and if that does happen, expect the Jazz to jump.