Free agency is when everything is possible. No matter how small your market is, all it takes is one sensational pitch. Because we’re helpful people here at The Step Back, we’re each picking teams and penning our best offers to the free agents we think those teams should chase. Here’s what we have for Jrue Holiday
Dallas Mavericks
Jrue, listen my man, one thing I can tell you about your own career is that you have never been part of a front office that valued you. Obviously, right now, everyone is patting the 76ers’ current and past front office on the back but the reality is they didn’t treat you well. Didn’t treat your injuries well, then lied to the Pelicans about it when they shipped you off to them. The Pelicans, well, I don’t know much about their inner workings but I do know they had one of the top three best players in the game for years and now have two of the top six or so and still can’t figure out a team to put around them. Nobody made them give four hundred million to Omer Asik or whatever, Jrue.
Starting with injuries: The Mavs are known to have one of the absolute best training staffs in the league. You get me? The reason they’ve had all this talented veteran help over the years is Casey Smith and his talented team. They kept Deron Williams on the court, mostly. They revived Vince Carter’s career, and Shawn Marion’s. The Thunder turned down a Tyson Chandler trade for something that showed up on an x-ray. He went to the Mavs and became one of the greatest defensive players of all time.
Then, of course, there’s coaching. Rick Carlisle is one of the absolute best in the game, and he will know exactly what to do to help a guy like you put all the pieces together here. He’s done it for so many. Come down here for a couple of years and don’t love it? No big deal, Jrue – go somewhere else and get paid a bunch of money because of how Rick helped you look, like Monta Ellis and al-Farouq Aminu, among many others, did.
And then finally there’s the young talent. You would be part of an emerging young core, with Harrison Barnes and Nerlens Noel, that the Mavs will be building on for years to come. And frankly, those are the core elements right there – a great PG, an athletic, two-way wing, and a defensive stopper at center? Easy to build on. Get in there! You’ll love it.
Our offer: Four years, $96 million
— Andy Tobo (@andytobo)
Los Angeles Clippers
Jrue, we really like your game, and we want to bring you home. Campbell Hall High School, the UCLA Bruins and now the Los Angeles Clippers? How does that sound? Just 27, you would infuse youth and athleticism into our starting point guard position and slot in nicely in place of the departing Chris Paul. With DeAndre Jordan and Blake Griffin jumping out of the gym, you can expect your assist count to rise, but even more importantly, our training staff would take the best care of you. We know how impactful you are when healthy. We also have a bench spot available for your brother, Justin, if he’s interested. Speaking of brothers, we heard Aaron is returning to UCLA for another season. What if you guys were all in Southern California next year? Let’s join forces and take the league by storm!
Our offer: Three years, $72 million
— Aaron Fischman (@byaaronfisch)
New York Knicks
Hi Jrue. For years, you and older brother Justin have fantasized about playing on the same NBA team. We’d like to give you that chance. Your brother really made his mark with us last year as a 3-and-D role player. We’d not only like to keep him this summer, but bring you on as well.
After taking a gamble on Derrick Rose last season, we’re well aware this team needs more of an orchestrating point guard. We’ve struggled in recent years, but an unselfish point guard who could really set the table for our budding stars in Kristaps Porzingis and Willy Hernangomez would go a long way. You’d be great in the pick-and-roll, but we know you could definitely score the basketball when necessary too. We still plan on trading Carmelo Anthony, so we could definitely see you picking up some of the slack. We need a veteran who can take the offensive pressure off our young guys and you could fill that role.
It might take us a little while to get the competitive juices flowing, but we’d like to see where we are with you on board. This could be a match made in triangle heaven, even after we nab a point guard prospect in the draft. He won’t be ready to run the show right away, so you could serve as a mentor and stop-gap as he develops. The type of deal we’ll offer you could present you with the opportunity to play with your brother under the bright lights of the big city, lead our youngsters, and still be able to secure another big contract well in your prime three years down the road. It’s the best of both worlds. Come lead the way.
Our offer: Three years, $66 million
— Keith Schlosser (@KeithBSchlosser)
Philadelphia 76ers
Hey, Jrue. Remember us? We’re the ones who allegedly hid your history of stress reactions when we traded you to the New Orleans Pelicans in 2013. Well, um… we forced that dastardly Sam Hinkie out, so we’d love nothing more than to have you back in the City of Brotherly Love. Since you’re only turning 27 in July, you’re more aligned with the developmental timeline of Joel Embiid, Ben Simmons and Co. than the likes of Chris Paul, Kyle Lowry and George Hill, which makes you our No. 1 free-agent point guard target this summer. Even though we traded for the rights to draft Markelle Fultz, we’d love to bring in a veteran floor general to serve as a locker room leader, someone who could help show Fultz and Simmons the NBA ropes.
Next: FanSided 2017 NBA Draft Tracker
You’ve long been an above-average 3-point shooter and defender, but your ability to play off the ball at times — as you demonstrated next to Tim Frazier this past season — entices us even more. As you’ve likely heard, we’re hoping to roll out Simmons and Fultz as our primary floor generals next season, so adding you to the mix would give us even more play-making ammunition. If you don’t want to risk running afoul of DeMarcus Cousins for the next five years, Embiid’s joie de vivre will be a welcome change of pace for you. With an unprotected first-round pick coming to us from either the Los Angeles Lakers (2018) or Sacramento Kings (2019), we’ll have the draft capital to continue improving even as we move into the playoff picture.
Come back to your first NBA home, and let’s go win some rings together.
Our offer: Two years, $60 million
— Bryan Toporek (@btoporek)