Ron Holland is a bench player for the Detroit Pistons who only sees around 20 minutes per game, but that hasn’t stopped him from being one of the league leaders in steals.
Holland is currently 4th in the NBA in total steals with 37 and second in games with more than one steal, despite his limited playing time. In fact, Holland has played fewer minutes than any player in the top 10 of this category, which shows what kind of impact he’s making.
Holland is 6th in steals per game, and is only 20 years old, so despite what some may think about his offensive ceiling, Holland is making a huge defensive impact and doing it efficiently.
Ron Holland is quietly making a case for All-Defense
To put what Holland is doing into perspective, you need to look at some of the NBA leaders in steals.
Dyson Daniels is currently leading the NBA with 50 total steals. He has played 744 minutes and has a steal rate of 3.2 percent.
Cason Wallace isn’t far behind with 46 total steals in 599 minutes and a steal rate of 3.7 percent.
Then you have Mikal Bridges with 45 steals in 700 minutes for a steal rate of 2.9 percent. All three of the players ahead of Holland are starters who play far more minutes than Holland, who is getting it done from the bench.
Holland has racked up 37 steals in just 450 minutes and has a steal rate of 3.9 percent, which is currently leading the entire NBA.
He’s able to do this because Holland plays with a relentless, almost psychotic motor every time he touches the floor, regardless of whether he ever takes a shot.
He’s embraced his role as a bench disruptor whose job is to inject energy into the team and take on whatever defensive assignment he’s given, and Holland has defended everyone from point guards to power forwards this season.
Even when Holland doesn’t get the steal, he makes the offensive player work for every inch and has to be one of the players in the NBA you’d least like to go against, one of the others being his teammate, Ausar Thompson.
Coach JB Bickerstaff has talked about how Holland helps the team even when he isn’t scoring, and you always know when he’s on the floor because chaos follows him wherever he goes.
It’s exciting to think about what Holland’s steal numbers are going to look like when he’s playing more minutes, and it might be time for that to happen.
But for now, Ron Holland is the league’s most efficient thief and is providing real defensive impact from the bench.