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Season Review: Justin Holiday

Justin Holiday's short stint with the Kings so far has been disappointing.
By | 1 Comments | Apr 24, 2022

Apr 5, 2022; Sacramento, California, USA; Sacramento Kings forward Justin Holiday (9) during the first quarter against the New Orleans Pelicans at Golden 1 Center. Mandatory Credit: Darren Yamashita-USA TODAY Sports

The Domantas Sabonis-Tyrese Haliburton trade was the biggest moment of this Sacramento Kings season, but they weren’t the only players involved in that transaction. One of the other players was veteran swingman Justin Holiday, who started all 25 games he played for Sacramento this year.

Holiday is under contract for about $6.3 million next season, and because of that, it makes sense that the Kings would use him quite a bit as the season wound down in order to see what they have. In fact, his starting over Donte DiVincenzo (another trade deadline acquisition) caused some consternation in DiVincenzo’s camp, and rightfully so, as Holiday’s play as a King didn’t do much to warrant such heavy minutes.

Holiday ostensibly was in the lineup to provide some size on both ends and some much needed shooting. With no Buddy Hield or Tyrese Haliburton, the Kings had lost two of their best perimeter shooters. Holiday would hopefully ameliorate the situation. In Indiana, he had shot 37.8% from three on 6.9 attempts a game before the trade, a higher percentage than the outgoing Buddy Hield (albeit on a couple less attempts a game).  In his 25 games in Sacramento however, that percentage dipped to just 34.2%. While that’s not a terrible percentage, it was the inconsistency that was particularly egregious.  Through his first 20 games as a King, he only shot better than 40% from outside in consecutive games once. Before his last 5 games, he had only managed to shoot 29.9% from three and 32.8% overall, terrible efficiency for someone playing almost 27 minutes a game. It wasn’t until the last five games of the season that Holiday would end up having a bit of a hot shooting streak, as he made 12 of 19 of his threes.

Holiday’s shooting wasn’t just off from outside either, as he only made 36.2% of this two-point attempts in Sacramento as well, well below the 51.6% he had shot in Indiana and the 45.1% mark for his career.  Most of those attempts that weren’t threes came at the rim, and Holiday posted a paltry 43.5% mark from 0-3 feet, well off his career mark of 59.7%.  Sacramento’s gameplan mostly relied on him hanging around on the perimeter, but a few times he would be tasked with cutting and driving, and he wasn’t managing to convert at a high rate at all.

Holiday’s primary role throughout his career has been as a shooter and when he isn’t making shots, he isn’t providing much else.  He’s not much of a rebounder (his 4.7% total rebound rate was 2nd lowest to just 6’0 rookie guard Davion Mitchell) or a passer (just 1.5 assists a game during his career).  Defensively is where you’d hope Holiday could help you and he has shown some defensive chops in the past.  Holiday’s got good size for a guard at 6’6 and he’s long enough to guard some SFs as well, but in Sacramento, an already bad defensive team was 4 points per 100 possessions worse with him on the court.  Part of that is undoubtedly Sacramento’s lack of defensive talent anywhere else, and part of that is also the Kings asking Holiday to do too much.

Barring an offseason trade, Holiday will be on the Kings for next season as well. Both Monte McNair and De’Aaron Fox have expressed the need to add more length and shooting to the Kings roster. Holiday supposedly fits that bill, but he will need to be far more consistent next season if he hopes to maintain a rotation spot.

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ArcoThunder
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April 24, 2022 4:54 pm

If he is a starter next season then we aren’t making the playoffs. So, Monte has work to do. Find a serious starting SG. As we all know that also goes for PF.

If we can get a starting caliber PF or SF or SG in the draft then Monte needs to trade for the other two. One would think that selecting a SF or PF in the draft whether we pick at 9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2 or 1 should be the plan. That is unless it’s Jaden Ivey at the 4th or 5th pick. He is the only SG i think the Kings should select in the top 10. otherwise they need to and should select a PF or SF. There are many to choose from in the top 10. All of which should be starting on day 1!!! Therefore… Use Barnes and Holmes and Holiday and Len to trade for a starter at the position you didn’t select in the draft. Those are good players on good contracts with short commitments. They should be very tradable for something very good. If you need to throw in a 2023 first round pick and that gets you an all star SG for example, then I think you have to very seriously consider that.

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