The Pacers’ future point guard may be in their hands with Aaron Holiday
By Ian Hansen
Aaron Holiday showed a bit of his NBA pedigree this season, but the Indiana Pacers need him to step up heading into his second season.
As I am entering the Old National Center in Indianapolis to see a 60s band by the name of Chicago I see the familiar face of Indiana Pacers guard Aaron Holiday.
It takes me a minute to understand why a young NBA player would want to be in a crowd full of people generations older. Then I realized Holiday is totally accustomed and not afraid of hanging with the older crowd. It has been like that his whole life and was the motto of his rookie season.
In the shadow of his two older brothers, Jrue and Justin, Aaron Holiday was the final of the three siblings to make the NBA with the Indiana Pacers drafting him at the 23rd overall pick. Holiday played three seasons at UCLA and improved in almost every category from his sophomore season to his junior year, most notably his scoring.
Last season at UCLA, Holiday averaged 20.3 points per game and was the Bruins leading scorer. He also shot an efficient 43 percent from deep in his final college season. He played at a super high pace, was a reliable spot-up shooter, could create for others in transition or the pick and roll, could drive and force the defense to collapse, and most importantly fit what any locker room should want in an individual.
This time last season the Indiana Pacers were in need of a long term option at point guard. Yes, Darren Collison was coming off of the best season of his career, shooting a league-leading 46.8 percent from deep and Cory Joseph was content on coming back to Indiana for a second season, but those two are not the long-term options at the point.
Holiday came in knowing he would not have much of a role and would need to milk as much knowledge as possible from the two veteran point guards ahead of him. When his number was called he showed flashes of what he can provide in the long-term and was not afraid of taking on a bigger role.
His numbers were not eye-opening by any means as he averaged just 5.9 points and 1.7 assists on just 12.9 minutes a game but stepped up when he needed. In the little time he did play, he got valuable experience on a top-tier team especially in the playoffs which will carry into the future where he will have a more prominent role.
He may have not had the season everyone expected or performed as well as many would have hoped, but most 23rd overall picks have their rookie moments and bumps in the road and Holiday had his.