Jrue Holiday had been steadily improving since his rookie season, until the start of the 2012-13 campaign.

Holiday has exploded this year, going for career highs in almost every statistical category. Holiday is averaging 18.4 points, 8.9 assists, 4.3 rebounds and 45% FG, all of which are career highs. This kind of statline usually has players thrust into discussion for ‘top 5 PG’s in the league’ but Holiday has flown under the radar so far this year. You would think Holiday’s assist numbers would improve when Andrew Bynum returns to the team and may even climb above 9.5 per game. Below is a table of Holiday’s statistical improvement over his first 4 seasons in the league.

Even though Holiday’s turnovers are a little high, it is to be expected when he is given so much responsibility in running the 76er’s offence and trying to make plays for his teammates. However, Holiday still has a few areas to improve. Holiday is only making it to the charity stripe 3.3 times per game which could definitely use some work. If you look at players like Kobe Bryant, Russell Westbrook and James Harden, they are all getting to the line at least 6.5 times a game which creates easy points for their team. Holiday also needs to work on taking higher percentage shots. Below is Holiday’s shot chart and the percentages of where he takes his shots.

It is obvious that Holiday is taking too many shots from the left elbow where he makes only 37.1% of his attempts. If Holiday where to take a step out to the left 3 point line, his shooting would be much more effective because he connects on 41.2% of his shots from that area and gains an extra point for making the shot. Holiday is also an effective shooter from the free throw line out to the 3 point line, where he makes 43.9% of his shots. Like most players, however, Holiday is most effective from under the basket and the baselines, where he hits ~55% of his attempts. If Holiday were to take more shots from where he is an effective shooter, he would be even more beneficial for the 76er’s offence.

Jrue Holiday may be considered a star in some peoples eyes already, but with this kind of improvement every year, it won’t be long until everyone sees him as one.

The sixers did the right thing getting a contract extension through to the start of the 2017-18 season for Jrue. Holiday will earn approximately $41 million in salary over the next 4 years.