The Philadelphia 76ers made a bold move by trading away All-Star point guard Jrue Holiday. In the 2013 NBA draft, they replaced Holiday with Syracuse point guard Michael Carter-Williams. While it was seen as a backward move at the time, Carter-Williams has shown some real potential and it looks as if the Sixers might have pulled off a shrewd move. Jrue Holiday is a very good NBA player, but Michael Carter-Williams is the way to go for the future of this franchise.
Value
Jrue Holiday signed a massive 4yr/$41m deal with the Sixers. While this isn’t bad for a player of Holiday’s talent, it is not what you would call “cheap.” Having Holiday as your second-best player – which he currently is on the New Orleans Pelicans – will probably not win you an NBA Championship any time soon.
While Holiday is set to earn $11.2 million through 2016-17, Michael Carter-Williams will likely be earning $3.1 million. And with what we’ve seen from Carter-Williams, it’s highly unlikely that Holiday’s production will be worth over triple of MCW’s. Michael Carter-Williams is a much better option in terms of value for money. It is a small sample size, but Carter-Williams actually averages more points, rebounds, assists and few turnovers than Holiday.
Holiday Is Unlikely To Further Improve, MCW is an Unknown Commodity
Jrue Holiday has proved that he is an above-average point guard in the NBA. He even made an all-star team last year, albeit with Derrick Rose and John Wall out injured and a lack of top quality guards in the Eastern Conference. And while I hate to put ceilings on players, it is unlikely that Jrue Holiday makes any more significant leaps in production. Sure, he may refine his talent and become more experienced, but it is unlikely that he will ever be as good as Chris Paul, Russell Westbrook or players of that ilk.
Michael Carter-Williams will also probably never be as good as those point guards. But, we don’t know that for sure. He’s only been in the NBA for five minutes and already looks like he belongs as a starter. He hasn’t even begun to tap into his vast potential. The kid is 6’6’’ and will be a defensive gamechanger. His vision is already brilliant. If his jumpshot continues to improve and he cuts down the turnovers, there is no reason why Carter-Williams can not go on to be one of the best point guards in the league. Even if he is not, he’ll be earning less than Holiday.
He’s Worse At This Moment In Time
Jrue Holiday – even though he is averaging fewer points and assists – is currently a better player than Michael Carter-Williams. He would make the Philadelphia 76ers a better team, which is exactly the opposite of what they are trying to do. Michael Carter-Williams is young and his hot start probably won’t last. But that’s fine. He doesn’t need to be good yet.
Hinkie Chose Him
If you haven’t already noticed, I’m very on board with Sam Hinkie. Everything he does or says is well-thought out, well-reasoned and a part of the big picture to get the Sixers back into title contention. If Michael Carter-Williams is good enough for Hinkie, he’s good enough for me.