The Milwaukee Bucks were exceptional in their triumph to the NBA title last season. While Giannis Antetokounmpo and Khris Middleton earned most of the plaudits, Bucks General Manager Jon Horst felt that Jrue Holiday was the missing piece on the jigsaw.
Whenever a team wins the NBA title it is generally a very collective effort. While some players get more plaudits than others, but even the best of the bests need players who can support them and guide them to the elusive championship. Similarly, while the Greek Freak and Middleton worked in tandem, Holiday was equally important in their title triumph.
Jon Horst understood the problem with the Bucks last summer and hence he traded Holiday to fill in that gap. Holiday exceeded expectations and Horst claims the guard to be the missing piece.
In a recent interview with The Athletic, Bucks owner Marc Lasry came on as a guest. Lasry spoke about Holiday and his impact on the championship win and also spoke about some of the other players.
Lasry said: “Jon Horst was a huge fan of Jrue. You know, I knew who he was. I thought he was a really good player and I know he was a great defensive player. I just didn’t know the person he was. And Jon felt really strongly that we should go all in with Jrue and felt like if he’s on our team, he’s the missing piece. We signed off on that obviously and what you found is that Jrue, as an individual, is just off the charts. Smart, thoughtful, his parents did a phenomenal job. You would be proud to call him your son.”
He also revealed how Holiday covered Giannis on his first practice session. That session made the Greek Freak very aware of the quality of the guard. Lasry also feels that Holiday played a role in convincing Giannis to re-sign with the Bucks as he saw how far the franchise could go with the guard supporting the star players.
Holiday’s efforts were evident in his numbers as he put up 16.7 points, 9.3 rebounds and 6.2 assists in the finals giving the Bucks that crucial edge to win the NBA title.
