Chicago Bulls: The curious case of Justin Holiday

Justin Holiday definitely has some talent but his inefficiency and inconsistency are not a good fit for the new-look Chicago Bulls.

What are the Chicago Bulls going to do with Justin Holiday?

For the entirety of his relatively short five year career, Justin Holiday has always retained a reserve role on whatever team he’s played for. Up until this past season, the 6’6″ guard had started in just 9 of 176 total games.

When he landed with a young, rebuilding, and injury prone Bulls team during the 2017-18 season, he finally got the chance to be a consistent starter. While he did show some flashes of being a high-level scorer and perimeter defender, his extreme inconsistency and inefficiency derailed what could’ve been a breakout season for him.

With the recent Jabari Parker signing and the expected development of late first round pick Chandler Hutchinson, Holiday will likely never get the chance to be a consistent starter for the Chicago Bulls again and may even be traded this upcoming season.

Thrusted into the spotlight

The beginning of the 2018 NBA season was anything but pretty for Bulls fans to watch. Not only were Zach Lavine and Kris Dunn out with injuries, but Nikola Mirotic and Bobby Portis had a scuffle that ultimately left Portis out for 8 games and Mirotic out for 23. Thus, key players were missing and the depth of the roster suffered tremendously leading to an abysmal 3-20 start.

Even when guys like Dunn and Portis returned, Holiday was still generally a top 3 scoring option and took a lot of shots throughout the season. After playing an average of just 14.2 minutes per game for the entirety of his career before Chicago, he received an average of 31.5 minutes in 72 games as a starter.

With the plethora of injuries and the team being extremely young and inexperienced, Holiday had the perfect opportunity to elevate his game. While he did to a certain extent, he was no where near close to reaching his full potential.

In the 72 games he played this season, the 30-year-old forward averaged 12.2 points, 4.0 rebounds, 2.1 assists, and 1.1 steals on a dismal 37.1 percent shooting from the field and an underwhelming 35.9 percent shooting from beyond the arc. Furthermore, he achieved these stats on 10.9 field goal attempts per contest, 6.2 of which were three pointers.

While he certainly had his moments, Holiday’s inexperience as a starter and consistent scoring option was definitely on full display this season.

If you take a look at the four games the Bulls played from April 3rd to the 9th, for example, Holiday started with a 19 point, 43.8 percent shooting night only to follow that with three straight games of underwhelming offensive productivity. Over those next 3 games, he shot an average of 31.1 percent shooting from the field and 18.8 percent from beyond the arc on 12.6 total attempts and 7.3 three point attempts per contest.

Obviously, these 4 games aren’t representative of the whole season but stretches like these happened for him more often than not.

A more beneficial reserve?

While it became clear this season that Holiday is not meant for a top 3 role, that doesn’t necessarily mean he doesn’t have game. He’s proven to be a solid perimeter defender due to his 7’0″ wing span and quick feet and would probably benefit from catch and shoot situations.

Assuming Jabari Parker can stay healthy, Holiday is going to come off the bench this season and I feel it’ll be more beneficial for his game. He won’t need to attempt 6 threes a game or feel pressured to hit big shots with all of the potentially healthy talent now surrounding him. He’ll be able to come off the bench and hit shots within the system and focus on being more of a mentor and contributor than a volume shot taker.

However, he’ll be battling with Valentine for the backup 3 spot and Chandler Hutchinson will likely be getting some time at the shooting guard or small forward depending on who he’s out there with. Holiday’s future with Chicago doesn’t seem to have too much of a positive outlook as the Bulls have put a clear emphasis on young talent.

With that being said, the 30-year-old was averaging around 14 points per game near the halfway point of last season and will likely have some value for other teams that need depth. Holiday still has a place in the NBA, it’s just not likely with the Chicago Bulls.

A talented player with an unfortunate situation

Coming into the league as an undrafted 23 year old doesn’t necessarily bode well for a bright NBA future. Throw in the fact that he only now received over 30 minutes per game at 30 years old and last season’s struggles make a lot of sense.

There were a lot of factors that led to his inconsistent and inefficient play least season and it should’ve been expected at least to some degree but Holiday is still a capable shooter and wing defender in the right situation. For the Bulls, however, he may not be the best option to keep long term.