Why the Detroit Pistons shouldn’t go all-in on Jrue Holiday

Jrue Holiday has been a trade target for the Detroit Pistons for a long time and it appears that he’s finally available. Should they go all in for him?

First of all, let me just say, Jrue Holiday is a great player. He’ll easily give you 19-20 points and 6-7 assists per game. He’s not extremely efficient, especially when his  3-point shot is not falling but he’s a really good playmaker and an elite defender.

Holiday can guard the best of them. I remember him matching up with Kevin Durant in the playoffs and doing a great job. He’s just one of the best and most versatile guard defenders in the league. God knows the Pistons need some perimeter defense.

Holiday doesn’t only fit with the Pistons’ roster but with any roster. He can handle the ball and space the floor. Shooting is not his strong suit but even when his shot is not falling he’ll find ways to be effective with crisp off-ball movement.

He’ll find his way to the basket with the ball or without it and he can play off of skilled big men, as we saw when Anthony Davis and DeMarcus Cousins were his teammates. That makes him extremely enticing for the Pistons as they can plug him right away in the lineup and expect him to fit.

Unfortunately, that’s what most teams in the league can say about Holiday, which makes him a prime trade target during this trade deadline. As you may know, this summer’s free agent class is kind of dull, so teams will be more trigger happy with the trades.

The Pelicans asking price will be huge. They said that Holiday was untouchable in the summer. While that may have been a PR gimmick, I do expect them to ask for more than a draft pick and salary filler.

A trade package of Reggie Jackson‘s and Langston Galloway‘s expiring deals, along with this year’s draft pick is not enough to outbid all the other suitors. Including Bruce Brown should be as far as the Pistons go with their offer.

Holiday is kind of the best-case scenario for Brown’s development, so they could feel fine replacing Brown with a better version. Giving multiple valuable future assets, on the other hand, is a big no-no with the current state of the Pistons.

Including Luke Kennard or Sekou Doumbouya should be off the table, even though that’s what it will probably take to make the deal. The Pistons are in no position to contend even with Holiday on the team, so selling their best young prospects is not a good decision right now.

If Brown and a pick doesn’t do the trick, the Pistons should be done with that offer. Including two picks instead of Brown is an intriguing idea but I doubt the Pelicans would have much interest in a 2022 draft pick.

However, there’s another idea on the table. Trading Holiday and Drummond straight up. Paying Holiday $26 million for two more years (player option in 2021) is better book keeping than paying Drummond $30 million for the next four. That’s just from an economic perspective.

If the Pistons are trying to usher a new era of Detroit Basketball, having Holiday next to Griffin for the remainder of his contract sounds like a good idea, if it means they’re not giving up additional future assets. They can develop the young guys in that time span and still be a winning team when Griffin is healthy.

The question becomes “are the Pelicans interested in Drummond and how much?”.

With Zion on the team, maybe they don’t want another non-shooter clogging up the lane. On the other hand, they could see this as an opportunity to have two freaks of nature on their starting lineup and bully NBA teams in the paint. Who knows?

They also have cap space to sign him in the summer as a free agent which further complicates things. However, Drummond is probably the best free agent in this class and could be sought after, which makes teams more inclined to trade for him. A long shot in any case.

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The Pelicans shouldn’t be interested in Blake Griffin at all. He doesn’t fit their roster nor their timeline and they have “Big Baby Blake” Zion Williamson on the team.

The Pistons have been waiting for Holiday to become available for a long time and the timing now is just terrible. The team is struggling and while they do have time to get into the playoffs, they’re in too much of a hole to have aspirations past the eighth seed.

If their season was going well, this would absolutely be a great time to sell the farm for someone like Holiday. But with the way the Pistons have started, they’re past the point of actually making noise in the playoffs, so giving up future assets is a very dangerous road.

If the Pelicans don’t find many suitors, then the Pistons could swoop in and snatch him only giving up Brown Jr, expirings and a first round pick. Or they could be enticed by a Drummond trade.

However, that’s not so probable, so the Pistons should be better off holding their horses on this one.