Aaron Holiday did not live up to his third-year expectations for the Indiana Pacers.
I had some high hopes for Aaron Holiday in his third season with the Indiana Pacers. He showed glimpses as a primary ball-handler off the bench with a dynamic skill set as a scorer that this team needed. I even went as far as to name Holiday a sleeper for the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year award prior to the season tipping off.
His lack of size was never really much of an issue as Holiday was a promising shot creator with the second unit. After he struggled to get going early in the season, his confidence went down the drain. Once that confidence came back, albeit, in small doses, Aaron Holiday was back to being that scoring threat we were accustomed to.
Aaron Holiday had a lot of ground to make up after his sluggish start and that led to him being reported in trade rumors pretty much all season up until the trade deadline. Despite his option being picked up before the season started, his future with the Pacers is up in the air.
T.J. McConnell was impressive as that bench leader and took minutes away from the young Holiday. The Pacers did not need to rely on a ball-dominant guard with clear limitations on defense and that left Holiday out of the rotation much more often than anyone expected.
With so many questions regarding the future of the team and Aaron Holiday, let’s dive into his 2020-21 campaign to assess how he performed when given his opportunity.
Can the Indiana Pacers rely on Aaron Holiday?
To say the season got off to a poor start for Aaron would be a drastic understatement. He played in each of the first 40 games before being left out of the rotation in two of the next three. He probably would not have played in the Milwaukee game in late March if not for the blowout that the Pacers endured.
Holiday played 16 minutes that night and missed each of his seven shot attempts. His failure to connect on shots was the reason for his absence on game days as the season dwindled down. In those first 40 games, Holiday averaged 7.1 points per game on .379/.342/.756 splits.
Shots just were not falling for Holiday even when he was left open. After Bjorkgren left Aaron out of the lineup briefly, playing just garbage time minutes in two games after his poor start, Holiday turned things around.
Holiday finished the season with two starts in 25 appearances that saw him shoot 44.3 percent from deep. He also improved his free throw shooting in that span to 89.5 percent and his field goal percentage to 42.8.
It took him a while but Aaron Holiday finally settled in and provided a scoring spark for Indiana off the bench. He posted several games of 15+ points including back-to-back outings of 20 or more points.
Confidence was the biggest key for Aaron Holiday this season. Once he got himself back to believing, he was a solid scoring threat off the bench. Was it enough to bring him back next season?
What was Aaron Holiday’s final grade for the Indiana Pacers last season?
His slow start turned plenty of fans away from him as a rotational player. Holiday was a common name at the trade deadline as a way to get rid of some guard depth but the Pacers stuck with the roster and gave him one more shot to prove himself.
I think Aaron bounced back pretty well after he was given a dose of reality. Losing his minutes for a small stretch seemed to ignite a fire in him as the Pacers pushed toward the finish line. Indiana has to figure out which backcourt players they want to roll with into next season. I do not think Aaron Holiday is out of the picture just yet.
If T.J. McConnell seeks a larger offer in free agency, the Pacers have their answer at backup point guard already in the building. Aaron Holiday may not ever be the starting point guard but his role as a creator off the bench is still very much important.
Final grade: C+
Looking at the back half of his season, Aaron Holiday probably was looking at a much higher grade. But essentially being a negative for 44 games to start the season hurt his case. A 25-game stretch to end the year was not enough to bolster his final grade too much.