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NBA: 20 Players Turning Their Seasons Around

By Gerald Bourguet

Feb 3, 2016; Dallas, TX, USA; Dallas Mavericks forward Chandler Parsons (25) drives to the basket past Miami Heat guard Goran Dragic (7) during the first half at the American Airlines Center. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports
Feb 3, 2016; Dallas, TX, USA; Dallas Mavericks forward Chandler Parsons (25) drives to the basket past Miami Heat guard Goran Dragic (7) during the first half at the American Airlines Center. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports /
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Feb 23, 2016; Washington, DC, USA; New Orleans Pelicans guard Jrue Holiday (11) shoots over Washington Wizards guard John Wall (2) during the first half at Verizon Center. Mandatory Credit: Brad Mills-USA TODAY Sports /

3. Jrue Holiday

That 2013 draft-day trade for Jrue Holiday couldn’t have looked worse for the New Orleans Pelicans than it did at the start of the 2015-16 season when the world discovered he’d be on a tight minutes restriction in the 15-20 per game range. Luckily that restriction has since been lifted, and Holiday has gone back to looking like the All-Star point guard he was in Philadelphia before a slew of injuries devastated him in NOLA.

Anthony Davis is the only player on this team who is truly untouchable, and the season is all but lost for the Pelicans at this point. But we also shouldn’t ignore that Holiday has been playing surprisingly well lately, averaging 18.6 points, 7.3 assists, 3.6 rebounds and, most encouragingly, 29.9 minutes per game since the start of 2016.

Holiday has also shot 44.2 percent from the floor in that span, so even though his three-point shot isn’t falling (25.7 percent), those numbers are all vastly superior to what he was posting in November, when it seemed like he’d never be the same player again: 9.9 PPG, 4.5 APG, 1.5 RPG, 20.9 MPG, 39.6 FG%, 32.0 3P%.

Next: No. 2