Memphis Grizzlies: Breaking Down The Justin Holiday Trade

The Memphis Grizzlies have needed to make a move for a while and now they have. They made a deal to acquire Justin Holiday Wednesday evening.

Success breeds change, and so does a lack of it as our beloved Memphis Grizzlies are experiencing first hand currently. After lockerroom fights and losing 14 of the last 20 games, by trading for Justin Holiday.

Memphis brass has finally shipped out Marshon Brooks and Wayne Selden to Chicago. The deal was done in exchange for Holiday who briefly can be described in basketball comparisons as a slightly younger Garrett Temple.

A career eight points per game along with essentially three rebounds and nearly two assists per game. Justin who is the older brother of both Aaron and Jrue Holiday is a versatile wing capable of playing small forward as well as shooting guard on both sides of the basketball.

Justin is a decent three-point shooter with a career number at 35%. He isn’t the most efficient scorer with a career effective field goal percentage at 49% and his 2-point efficiency is just 44%.

He is a swiss army knife wing that provides a little bit of everything including another capable ball handler though he’s best served in catch and shoot scoring situations as he isn’t the best finisher.

With the recent woes on the wing, Justin should certainly become one of our more reliable wings, as Selden and Brooks were never able to seize the opportunity given to become a core guard and be in play for long-term roles.

Both of the former were inconsistent and after the Kelly Oubre trade debacle, Brooks seemed to have totally checked out which isn’t the way to go for a guy just returning to the league from a three-year hiatus.

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Now with Holiday on board, I suspect that if Temple continues to struggle that we see Holiday begin to take on more of his role on the court. Him being a three-and-D guy should be perfect for head coach J.B. Bickerstaff.

The fact that Holiday is now a vet at a very ripe age of 29 is the cherry on the sundae for the coach ever loving of journeymen veterans.

I personally am thrilled with Holiday being he was already the 2nd target on my bargain bin list of guys who fit the Grizzlies interest behind my main preference who was Jonathan Simmons but Holiday comes at nearly half the price of the Orlando Magic wing.

My only concerns with this move are for starters is though I would also take Holiday over Selden and Brooks, That’s a no-brainer.

The two 2nd round picks can be huge since the 2019 draft is expected to have quite a bit of high potential raw talent in the 2nd round.

One of the big names is point-forward Darius Bazley who has been projected in some circles to possibly fall to the 2nd round.

I definitely would not want to miss out on potential like that for a 29-year-old Holiday who can definitely be helpful but may not even be resigned in free-agency. We lost several cheap assets and managed to get a lot older on an already well-seasoned Memphis roster.

Also, will this quick band-aid be used by the front office as an excuse to ride this roster out as is when there is clearly a void for talent, specifically guard/forwards?

Grizzlies are known to make moves like this that barely if anything move the needle let alone serving as a long-term solution and we won’t hear from them again sink or swim.

Here is to hoping this is part of more moves being wiggled out with sheer creativity and ambition to truly contend despite a lack of assets. Hopefully the bin out back finally gets a steak for once.