After Team USA failed to medal in the 2023 FIBA World Cup, a lot of superstar-level players have expressed interest in playing for the team in the 2024 Olympics. Team USA also has some of their own changes in mind.
Recently, Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN revealed that Team USA has a great interest in Jrue Holiday suiting up in 2024, with the team being impressed by his impact in 2021.
“USA Basketball is aggressively pursuing Boston Celtics All-Star guard Jrue Holiday to return to Team USA for the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, sources told ESPN.”
“Holiday, 33, has yet to decide, but USA officials — with managing director Grant Hill leading the way — are hopeful Holiday will commit to being one of the 12 members on next year’s Team USA Olympic team, sources said.”
“USA Basketball officials use the word “beloved,” to describe how strongly they feel about Holiday, whom they considered the second most impactful player after Kevin Durant on the USA’s 2021 gold medal-winning team.”
It will be interesting to see if Holiday does end up committing to the team in the future. The team’s defense was certainly poor in the 2023 FIBA World Cup, and Holiday could be an answer for them. Holiday is considered one of the best perimeter defenders in the league,
This past season, Jrue Holiday averaged 19.3 points, 5.1 rebounds, and 7.4 assists per game, while shooting 38.4% from 3PT range. He has the perfect skill set to play with ball-dominant stars, and hopefully, he will join Team USA in 2024 to help them win a gold medal.
Some Believe That Jrue Holiday Should Have Multiple DPOY Awards
Even though guards don’t often win DPOY awards, Jrue Holiday’s perimeter defense merits at least a consideration when it comes to voting. In fact, Andre Iguodala gave huge praise to Holiday previously calling him the best defender of his time, and adding that he should have three DPOY awards.
“He’s the best defender in the league, one of the best defenders I’ve ever seen, and the best defender of his time… You can write this down. Jrue Holiday should have three Defensive Player of the Year (awards), and he should be first-team All-Defensive for the last nine years.”
There is no doubt that this was a controversial take from Andre Iguodala at the time. However, players tend to respect perimeter defense a lot more than fans, and it is certainly an important aspect of the game. Perhaps Holiday can put him in the conversation for DPOY this season, and we’ll see what happens in the future.
Jrue Holiday Can Greatly Help Team USA
There is no doubt that having Jrue Holiday could help Team USA win the gold medal in 2024. On a team with a lot of stars, you need players who are willing to do work on the defensive end and guard elite offensive players on the opponents’ teams.
In fact, it is quite clear that Team USA is placing an emphasis on the defensive end of the floor. In fact, it was previously reported that Bam Adebayo is guaranteed a spot on Team USA for the 2024 Olympics. He was also a member of the 2021 Olympics team, and his defense is what is likely to get him a spot on the roster.
It remains to be seen how Team USA does in 2024. They will have the talent to be successful and win gold, but they must value team play and be focused on the defensive end for that to happen.
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