{"id":50161,"date":"2025-07-31T13:50:15","date_gmt":"2025-07-31T13:50:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/50161\/"},"modified":"2025-07-31T13:50:15","modified_gmt":"2025-07-31T13:50:15","slug":"jrue-holiday-is-ready-to-be-the-trail-blazers-new-jerk-its-exactly-what-portland-needs-right-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/50161\/","title":{"rendered":"Jrue Holiday is ready to be the Trail Blazers\u2019 new \u2018jerk.\u2019 It\u2019s exactly what Portland needs right now"},"content":{"rendered":"

TUALATIN \u2014 They toured China together as ambassadors for Adidas. They won gold medals together on Team USA<\/a>. They talked regularly about joining forces together one day on the same NBA<\/a> team. <\/p>\n

But before Jrue Holiday<\/a> and Damian Lillard<\/a> could officially celebrate becoming teammates, the pair of veteran All-Star point guards had to put one pesky little annoyance behind them. <\/p>\n

Wi-Fi.<\/p>\n

During Lillard\u2019s two-year stint with the Milwaukee Bucks<\/a>, he rented Holiday\u2019s home in Milwaukee. It was filled with toys, a rock-climbing wall and a special playroom, which made it uniquely perfect for Lillard\u2019s trio of young children. But it also was plagued by spotty Wi-Fi that created a barrage of first-world problems for a modern NBA player. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe texted me a couple times about the Wi-Fi,\u201d Holiday said Tuesday, during an introductory news conference<\/a> at the Blazers\u2019 practice facility in Tualatin. \u201cThat\u2019s my bad. Sometimes you just want to be off the grid. But, no, seriously, I ended up getting it fixed and everything was cool. Sometimes dealing with life without Wi-Fi can be hard.\u201d<\/p>\n

Things should be much easier moving forward. The star players have finally found a home together with the Blazers, thanks to the trade that brought Holiday to Portland<\/a> and the free agent signing<\/a> that lured the injured Lillard back to Rip City. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve always been a fan of Jrue, I\u2019ve always wanted to play with him,\u201d Lillard told reporters last week at his youth basketball camp in Portland. \u201cI think we\u2019ll play well beside each other.\u201d<\/p>\n

The feeling inside the Blazers\u2019 front office is that Holiday will play well alongside everyone in Portland\u2019s locker room. The 6-foot-4, 205-pound point guard seems to be the perfect piece for an organization trying to navigate the tricky evolution from rebuilding afterthought into playoff contender. Holiday is not only widely regarded as one of the NBA\u2019s best perimeter defenders, but also as one of the league\u2019s best people, and his combination of talent and character will carry immeasurable weight inside the Blazers\u2019 young locker room.<\/p>\n

Holiday and Lillard likely will have to wait a year to play together, as Lillard is expected to miss all of the 2025-26 season recovering from Achilles tendon surgery. Meanwhile, part of Holiday\u2019s charge is to mentor third-year point guard Scoot Henderson, the No. 3 pick of the 2023 NBA Draft.<\/p>\n

When Holiday was a young-and-hungry rookie in Philadelphia, he leaned on veterans like Andre Iguodala and Elton Brand and assistant coach Aaron McKie, who collectively showed what hard work looked like and taught Holiday to harness his basketball creativity.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust be solid,\u201d is what Iguodala used to tell Holiday, day after day after day, a message that became so irritating and so monotonous, Holiday joked that Iguodala was a \u201cjerk.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now, at age 35 and with 16 seasons in the rearview mirror, Holiday is ready to be the Blazers\u2019 jerk.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy rookie year, he was just on me,\u201d Holiday said of Iguodala. \u201cHe was on me about a lot. And I didn\u2019t really understand why until later. He obviously saw something in me that I guess I hadn\u2019t seen yet. And just constantly being on me and harping on me about being consistent and things that I have to do were super important. I also had Aaron McKie as a coach. So he was kind of like my player-coach, who really instilled in me a lot of hard work. And because we were the same position, he coached me up a lot on how to be solid as a not just as a player, but as a human, and how kind of how that translates on and off the court. <\/p>\n

\u201cI know when I was younger and first coming in, I had vets. But I tried not to look at them as vets, more just kind of like study everything around me. And even though I\u2019m at this age now, I feel like I still try to do the same thing, even though guys might be younger and I might not like the same type of music or we might not be into the same thing. But I also feel like that\u2019s what makes us a team \u2014 finding commonality and be able to mesh over that and then kind of translate to the court.\u201d<\/p>\n

Between Holiday, Lillard and coach Chauncey Billups<\/a>, a Hall of Fame point guard, Henderson will have a drool-worthy collection of mentors.<\/p>\n

But any guidance from Holiday will also come with an eye on something the Blazers haven\u2019t done regularly since 2021: Win. <\/p>\n

The man who has played in two All-Star games and been named to six NBA All-Defensive teams is most proud of directing two NBA championship teams, and he made it clear Tuesday that his thirst to win will not dry up on a team that has jockeyed for lottery position four consecutive seasons. <\/p>\n

\u201cHonestly, I can just be me,\u201d Holiday said. \u201cI don\u2019t really know how to do anything else. So come here and just be the person that I\u2019ve always been, and, again, try to not just help out as much as possible, but to try to win. I think as a current player who\u2019s won, (who\u2019s) kind of been through the struggle not too long ago to win the championship, I still have that feeling and that itch. So I\u2019m kind of closer to what that feeling is like and how hard it is to actually win.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for his role, Holiday said, he is \u201chere to fit in wherever I fit in.\u201d He said he believes his defense fits \u201canywhere\u201d and his offense is equally adaptable. <\/p>\n

While fans and pundits have spent the last five weeks debating how Billups and the Blazers\u2019 coaching staff will split up point guard minutes, Holiday said he doesn\u2019t see any reason why he and Henderson can\u2019t play many of them together. <\/p>\n

\u201cScoot is aggressive,\u201d Holiday said. \u201cAnd how he gets to the basket is amazing. I think that me being able to space the floor and shoot the three is something that would help him out. And I know he\u2019s been shooting the ball better and he\u2019s been in the gym and working. But I think for me, just being able to play off him, knowing that Scoot is kind of the next one up and to be able to go out here and really just showcase what he can do.\u201d<\/p>\n

The same goes for a future alongside Lillard, whenever that might come. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think I play every position,\u201d Holiday said. \u201cI think I\u2019ve proven that and shown that throughout my career. I\u2019m a complete basketball player, so you can\u2019t just put just one position on me. And even the way the game is changing now, there\u2019s so many guys who may have never played point guard, and you come into the league and they\u2019re playing point guard now. So I feel like I\u2019m a good fit with anyone. And, again, Dame\u2019s game is so easy to play with. He opens up the floor because of his scoring ability and his shooting ability. And he gets you open shots because his of his driving ability. So I feel like what\u2019s not to want to play with?\u201d<\/p>\n

Especially now that the pesky Wi-Fi situation is no longer an issue.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy Wi-Fi wasn\u2019t that bad,\u201d Holiday deadpanned as he sauntered away from his Tuesday news conference.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Joe Freeman<\/a> | jfreeman@oregonian.com<\/a> | 503-294-5183 | @BlazerFreeman<\/a> | @freemanjoe.bsky.social<\/a> <\/p>\n

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