Indiana Pacers: Best candidates for 2018-19 NBA awards
By Owen Nelson
Rookie of the Year: Aaron Holiday
It’s highly, highly unlikely that Aaron Holiday will win the Rookie of the Year award. Way too many variables are in his way. For one, Holiday will not be the starting point guard. Second, there are already an abundance of rookies who will get starter’s minutes. Third, Holiday will be battling Cory Joseph for backup minutes.
As we learned last season, however, we can’t write anybody off. Who thought Donovan Mitchell, the 13th pick, and Kyle Kuzma, the 27th pick, would earn All-Rookie First Team honors? Nobody. If given the opportunity, Holiday could have a fantastic rookie season and could make a case for ROY.
In Holiday’s final season at UCLA, he displayed a wide range of scoring ability, while showing great leadership instincts. Holiday would go on to average 20.3 points and 5.8 assists per game while knocking down 42.9 percent of his 3-point attempts. A reliable measurement of whether or not a player’s shot can translate from college to NBA is free throw percentage, and Holiday was great from the line, hitting 82.8 percent of his free throws.
Holiday is destined to eventually be the starting point guard for the Pacers. However, this season may just be too soon for him to make a real impact. Therefore, it is extremely unlikely that Holiday will win Rookie of the Year this season.