Sixers Steal Jrue With A J, Holiday

With the 17th pick in the 2009 NBA Draft, the new old logo Philadelphia 76ers select Jrue Holiday from UCLA.

Coming into the night, Ty Lawson was the player I was hoping the Sixers would select. 

How can you not draft Lawson? He was the leader on both sides of the court for the NCAA Champion Tarheels, and he is the basketball version of Brian Westbrook. To see him get drafted with the very next pick after the Sixers by Minnesota, only to get traded to the Nuggets (who are going to be sick next year) hurt at first. It still feels like we missed an opportunity, but the more I see about Jrue the Damaja the more I like him.

Jrue is a 6′4", 200-pound, 19-year-old point guard who was the 2007-08 Gatorade National Boys (HS) Basketball Player of the Year and self proclaimed “Floor General” at UCLA last year.  He fits exactly what the 76ers needed, especially with Andre Miller leaving in Free Agency (probably/hopefully). We need to move on to a new era.

Forget Holiday’s 8.5 points, 3.8 rebounds, 3.7 assists, and 1.6 steals per game during his one year at UCLA. The kid plays defense, hustles, passes the ball, has handle, court vision, and can clearly score beyond what his college numbers indicate. They don’t give High School POY honors to kids who can’t score. 

Check out the highlights and full profile at www.SportsOnBroad.com, we might have a problem here.

http://www.sportsonbroad.com/philadelphia-76ers/jrueu-wit-a-j-holiday/