Live look at me checking Twitter yesterday the literal MINUTE that Woj tweeted that Damian Lillard is going to the Bucks:
I gasped. I had to make sure it wasn’t a parody account of some kind. ‘Wojbomb69’ or something like that. But it was really him, and that deal really happened.
With that news, we did our first every emergency pod yesterday. I just needed to say, ‘Damian Lillard is a Buck,’ out loud to someone other than my dog (who was trying to nap).
So we went over a LOT of the Lillard stuff yesterday, and there will be about a million different articles/blogs/pods about the Lillard component of the deal online today.
Because of that, I want to take a little bit of a different approach to today’s blog: Let’s talk about Jrue Holiday.
First things first, it was VERY unfortunate that on Tuesday the Journal Sentinel posted an article on Jrue where Jrue said he, ‘wants to be a Buck for life,’ and, ‘doesn’t want to play anywhere else.’ Rough. You almost have to wonder if he knew something was bubbling under the surface and was trying to convince Horst to reverse course.
Second things second: Jrue Holiday is going to go down as one of the most important players in franchise history. After the 2019 season ended in calamity in Toronto, most Bucks fans agreed that the most glaring weakness of the team was at point guard. They needed someone to replace Eric Bledsoe. They rolled with Bled in 2020, then suffered more heartbreak in the bubble as a pandemic up-ended a potential championship season (and one where they were pacing for 70 wins). Again, Bledsoe was a clear weakness in the playoffs.
Cut to November of 2020. The Bucks swing a trade that sends Bledsoe out, and Jrue Holiday in. MASSIVE deal. Jrue was an obvious upgrade on both sides of the ball, and widely regarded as one of the more underrated players in the league. The fan base and the team felt reinvigorated after two straight years of potential titles falling by the wayside.
A few weeks later? Giannis signs the Super Max extension. I’m not sure that happens if they don’t acquire Jrue. If they just intended to run it back a third time with the same roster, my feeling is that Giannis would have just let that season play out and then weighed his options as a free agent. Jrue was not only an upgrade on the floor, he was a message to Giannis that this franchise is always trying to improve the pieces around him.
Jrue’s first year in Milwaukee: A championship. Simply put: They don’t win the title without Jrue. Not an earth-shattering observation, I realize that. But it needs to be carved into the modern day cave-wall for all to see and remember forever. All three of the, ‘Big Three,’ were critical pieces to ending the 50-year drought in Milwaukee. That run doesn’t happen if any one of them isn’t on the team.
Jrue is also the main character in the most iconic single play in franchise history:
I could watch this clip 10000000000 times in a row and it would never get old. Jrue read that play PERFECTLY. And then to have the balls to throw the alley-oop pass. In the moment, I was thinking the same thing that Mike Breen said, ‘they have to foul!’ Hit two free throws and be up by three points. Holiday said, ‘NOPE.’ We’re going for the dagger. Can you imagine if that pass isn’t as perfect as it ended up being? If he leads him too far, or it hits it off of the backboard, the ball goes out of bounds and the Suns get it back down only 1 point with 15 seconds left?? He would have been KILLED for attempting such a risky play when all he had to do was hold the ball and wait for a foul. But then we don’t get that moment. This franchise could exist for another 100 years and I don’t think it will ever be topped.
Lastly: Jrue, and his wife Lauren, were as advertised as community people. We heard all about their philanthropic endeavors in every city that Jrue played in, but we saw it in action his three years in Milwaukee. There are a BUNCH of non-profs in Milwaukee that are devastated today that Jrue is gone. A very good basketball player, but truly and elite human being and family.
We will miss him. We’ll miss his personality, his work in the city, and his hard-nosed defense. Acquiring Lillard is a once-in-a-lifetime trade that they had to make, but we will never forget Jrue’s contributions to this franchise. His #21 will likely be retired one day in a ceremony at Fiserv Forum, and he will have earned every bit of the adulation he’ll receive that night.
PS: I have already come to terms with the fact that the Blazers are likely to swing Jrue to Philly or Miami and he’ll somehow find a way to alter a future playoff series against the Bucks. Mortal lock.
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