We drafted 17, guys. 17. We are analyzing our pick like it was the 3rd pick in the draft. We got a lottery pick in most accounts. What more can be said. We need a point guard and according to most of the experts, we got a very good point guard down the road. Btw, I wanted Lawson and initially I was disappointed. But after 36 hours of time and alot of research, I am CONVINCED we got our best point guard of the future of choices in this draft. Lawson wlll be good but I believe Jrue maybe excellent. Time will tell.

I tend to be very optimistic but to think the sixers can compete this year is even beyond my optimism. The following year is a posibility DEPENDING on Sam and progressing of the young guys.

jemagee is right- Jrue committed to UCLA with the intention of playing point guard because Darren was exploring his draft options. Why would this even be a knock against him anyway? If anything, playing besides and against Collison has made Holiday a better player because of it.

No one’s going to deny that this is a project pick. Jrue did not post great numbers in college, but he’s young for his class at only 19. But upon second examination of his numbers, they’re not terrible, considering: a) the slow UCLA pace, and b) he wasn’t the priority option on offense. In 27 minutes a game, he grabbed 3.8 rebounds and 3.7 assists from the 2 spot. He also picked up 1.6 steals a game, which is a nice number. Compared to Russell Westbrook’s sophomore season, the popular comparison, 12.7 points, 4.3 rebounds, 3.9 blocks, 1.6 steals. Let’s not discount the fact that Russell played 6 more minutes per game than Jrue, too. Put those numbers next to each other and I can’t say there’s that much difference there. Now I’m not saying that this means Holiday is automatically as good or better than Westbrook, but I’m just saying that the numbers aren’t THAT bad, and while disappointing, they don’t mean everything anyway.

However, I don’t think that Holiday was drafted based on his numbers or his offense. It’s his defense. He played defense at UCLA, and that is something that a lot of 19 year olds are lacking coming into the NBA. He has excellent size and length at 6’4" with a 6’7" wingspan, and that’s really a luxury at the point guard position. You don’t have that with Lawson, at 6’0" with a 6’0" wingspan. Even with Maynor you get a guy that’s 6’3" with 6’3" wingspan and 164 pounds. Holiday is 200. His frame allows him to get much more physical on defense and shut down other players. You just can’t teach those physical tools, which is definitely something that needs to be taken into consideration here.

Finally, I disagree with the analysis that he doesn’t fit with the current Sixers roster. They are not built to win now with the exception of having Elton Brand on the roster. Just because you signed one big star doesn’t meant that you’re going to win now. Examine the rest of the roster. The core is built around Andre Iguodala, Thad Young, Mo Speights, Lou Williams, Jason Smith, and now, Jrue Holiday. Iggy is the oldest at an ancient 25 years old. Smith is 23, Lou is 22, Thad and Mo are 21, and Jrue is 19. This team is going to hit its prime in 4-5 years. They’ll get to play and grow together, which is plenty enough for Jrue to develop. Lawson or Maynor would have been nice too, but they just aren’t as imposing as Holiday. The flexibility that you get with Holiday out there is great too. Because he’s so big and plays defense, you can actually get Lou Williams out there on the floor at the 2. If you took Maynor or Lawson, you most likely don’t play Williams out there with them because your backcourt would be too small and sketchy on defense, especially with Lawson. Holiday is big enough and can be strong enough to mark NBA 2 guards. Even if Holiday never becomes a great shooter or scorer, which I think he’ll be pretty good in a couple years anyway, he’ll have lots of offensive firepower with Williams, Iguodala, Young, and Speights in the future. Brand might be older when Holiday hits his stride, but that’s why Speights is there, right?

Needless to say, I was clamoring for Jrue from the beginning. He was the top of my personal list, and it looks like the Sixers staff agreed. I love the pick, and at 17, there is no risk. He could end up being a great player without being paid a huge salary like top lottery picks. Just a great value at their spot. They have nothing to lose by taking a chance with Jrue Holiday.

A few things:

1) We are not contenders this year no matter what and most likely will not be until Sam and Willie Green come off the books and give us some flexibilty to allow a front office not run by someone named Billy King to make smart moves. They know what they are doing. The jurys still out on EB but hes gonna have to be a big contributor during the window with our current players

2) Holiday does not even need to be a great true PG…he can be just a really good guard. Tweeners are fine for the Princeton offense. You dont need guys with the best vision and Ricky Rubio style flashy passes. You just need the guards to make the cuts theyre supposed to, dump the ball off to whoever its supposed to go to next, and be able to knock down the high percentage shot when they get it, whether its from 12 feet or long range.

Also, Dionte Christmas and Blake Ahearn were invited to the 76ers summer camp squads.

 http://www.phillyburbs.com/news/news_details/article/117/2009/june/27/temples-christmas-former-ga-forward-kurz-added-to-sixers-summer-league-team.html

If he cant work with elton brand they trade him. I’d rather have an offense that works with elton brand as the concentrated point of the offense. if igoudala cant work with brand then drop him. i know this doesnt have alot to do with this article but its the turth!

he is a point guard. Fact, no questions. Just because he played out of his position for a year does not make him a tweener. Just like when Swisher (sp) for the Yankees played a pitcher for one inning does not make him a letcher.

I honestly don’t think a rookie point guard, no matter how “NBA ready” he may be, is gonna lead you to a championship unless there’s some ridiculous talent around him. I would put Lawson’s chances of leading the Sixers to a title this season the same as Jrue’s — a solid 0% for both. As for Brand, it’s unfortunate that he’s getting older, but he did miss the last 2 seasons. If he comes back healthy, then there’s 2 less seasons on his odometer. Plus, the Sixers are obviously comfortable with not being in win now mode. If they were going for that, they wouldn’t have wanted their starting PG to be a rookie drafted outside the lottery — you’ve gotta trade for a veteran in that case, or go all-out to resign Miller.

We’ve pretty well established that this is quite a young team, aside from Brand. But that’s OK: why do we need every single player to be under 26? Or even under 28 in 2 years? Think about it. Every championship team has a veteran or two on it. Having a highly skilled starter at an important position who can also provide some veteran leadership and mentoring for the younger players is not a bad thing. If Brand had been a 2- or 3-year contract, then yeah, you could interpret it as a win-now move. But this was a 6-year deal. I know there’s always been some acknowledgment that he might not last all 6 years here, but the fact that it’s 6 years at all indicates that ES was interested in having him around for some decent amount of time – meaning he realized that having a top PF locked up for six years might be useful. I’m just trying to make the point that having a single quality veteran is not a bad thing – indeed, it’s probably a good thing – for a team with championship aspirations. I don’t believe you can name a championship team that didn’t include an older veteran as a key cog.
The other thing: if he goes, who’s going to step in? It would have to be either Speights, who may never quite make it to Brand-like levels… or some other veteran. And there’s no guarantee that this replacement PF would be as good. So why not stick with what we have already locked up?

I am not slamming you, but there are a few observations that you are dead wrong about Holiday in this post. I am an avid UCLA fan and I just wanted to update/correct your observations on him.
 1. As many already said, he went to UCLA fully expecting Collison to jump to the NBA. When DC didn’t go, Howland had to play DC at the 1 and JH at the 2. Even though Holiday is the better PG, he could not play DC at SG and JH at PG. And there is no way that Howland was going to sit DC just so that JH could get better at his natural position.

2. You are correct in stating that JH outside shot needs work but you are wrong in stating that he has weak ball handling skills. He is a very strong ball handler and can dribble through traffic being double and triple teamed. You will learn very fast that he can stop on a dime and cross over at any given moment. Ball handling may be his biggest strength!

3. Westbrook didn’t start as a sophmore because of DC going down. Westbrook was the starting SG from the first game preseason. He was a starter all year. I don’t know where you got that one from.

4. Holiday is at his best at PG. He will not be a SG in the league. Again, the only reasons that Westbrook and Holiday played the 2 is because Collison was not going to be the SG or on the bench so that Holiday/Westbrook could play PG. Howland wanted to win and his best shot at that would be to have Collison and Westbrook/Holiday on the floor together.

5. Holiday’s number or lack of do not show his true ability. When he develops a good midrange/outside shot he will be an above average starting PG in the league. His defense makes him just as valuable as his PG skills. In a year or 2 he will develop into a beast on both sides of the ball. And he is a very standup person off of the court. He will become well liked by the fans in no time. 1-2 years from now he will be a fan favorite. You will be very happy with what you got at the 17th pick of a very bad draft.